A TV studio is just a large empty room with a lighting grid overhead, everything else is usually brought in for each TV production. Studios are usually either purpose built spaces or adapted industrial buildings which must be sound proofed and have high ceilings with large access doors so that scenery and equipment can be easily brought in when required.

The studio floor is where the production takes place, sometime with a seating area for an audience. As cameras often run across the floor it must be seamless and superflat to BS8204 with no more than +/-1mm deviation over 3m, take a load of 7.5kN/m2, a point load across a square with 300mm sides of 4.5kN and have a high impact resistant and anti-static. There are flooring companies that specialise in TV studio floors and though expensive, it can often work out cheaper to get it right in the first place rather than having to make several attempts.

All around the studio floor there need to be audio visual and communications facility panels to allow for connection of camera, microphones and any other equipment that might be required in the studio without the need for long trailing cables. These panels would normally connect bacl to a central apparatus room (CAR) or central technical area (CTA) where all the main equipment racks and patch panels are located.

There will need to be a number of control rooms or galleries from where all the technical equipment is controlled, although in smaller studios these are sometimes combined. Lights are controlled from the lighting gallery, sound is mixed from the sound gallery and the show is directed from the production gallery where the director, producer, script supervisor and vision mixer work. A multi-channel talkback system should be provided between the galleries and the studio floor to ensure that everyone working on the production can communicate with each other and hear the instructions of the director.

High-quality TV studio lighting plays a major role in creating unforgettable scenes in TV productions. |Effective studio lighting design provides much more than just the right level of brightnessl; it creates exciting moods and supports the compositions and concepts of the lighting designers. The most important factors here are optimum and flexible lighting positions, first-class colour rendering, different stable colour temperatures, maximum colour fidelity and reliability.Tungsten incandescent lighting has dominated the television broadcasting world for more than 50 years.Now solid state lighting mainly from Light-Emitting Diodes (LEDs) is leading a new revolution in television studio production lighting. Solid-state lighting can now match – and in some cases exceed – the performance of tungsten with increased light output, better efficiency, smooth dimming, high colour rendition and longer lamplife.

Whether the studio is a new build, an upgrade or relocation of an existing TV studio, it is essential that you find a TV studio design consultant or systems integrator to assist with the design and layout of the building and to develop a detailed design brief and specification for all the TV studio technical systems. This will normally save money by eliminating unnecessary items that you don’t need and clearly defining what you do need to ensure the long term success of the project.