As academic institutions increasingly rely on video production for instructional materials and student assignments, the need for accessible, affordable, and flexible studio setups has never been greater. Yet many so-called "one-button" solutions are anything but simple, often proving difficult to set up, expensive to maintain, and overly reliant on proprietary hardware and software that can go obsolete without warning.In this session, I will share my experience developing the Simple Studio, a media production model built for academic libraries that prioritizes affordability, modularity, and long-term sustainability. Unlike vendor-dependent solutions, this approach uses components that can be sourced through multiple vendors, assembled in-house, and maintained without specialized expertise.The session covers the full process: assessing your space, selecting components, and implementing a studio design that centers both user ease and back-end manageability. I will also address common challenges including budget constraints, staff training, and ongoing upkeep. By examining both the front-end user experience and the back-end realities of running a studio, this session offers an honest and practical counterpoint to the complexity often hiding behind "simple" solutions.Whether you are starting from scratch or renovating an existing setup, attendees will leave with adaptable strategies and a clearer sense of what becomes possible when the workflow from both the front-end and back-end are truly "simple."
