About obychnyzo
Who we are, how we approach studio work and what you can expect when we plan, set up or train a crew with you.
A Brighton consultancy for working studios
obychnyzo was founded in 2014 by Helen Carter, after many years in broadcast studio engineering. We are based in Brighton and advise teams who make television news and live shows. Our work is practical and focused on the studio floor.
Helen started the company because she kept seeing the same avoidable problems in studios: cables across walkways, lighting that changed a presenter's appearance from one segment to the next, and talkback that left crew guessing. None of these needed expensive new equipment. They needed someone to look at the whole room and plan it carefully.
Today the consultancy covers five areas: studio setup and layout, camera operation training, lighting design, studio sound and talkback, and live show workflow planning. Each is handled by someone who does that work themselves, so advice comes from people who have stood in a gallery during a live programme.
We work with producers, studio managers and camera, lighting and sound crews. Some are opening a new studio, others are tightening a routine that has grown untidy over the years. We start by listening to how a show actually runs, then suggest changes the crew can realistically adopt.
We prefer plans that people can maintain without us. A lighting rig should be understandable by the engineer who inherits it, and a run-sheet should make sense to a new operator on their first week. We write things down plainly and leave your team able to carry on.
Our size is deliberate. A small team means the person you speak to at the start is the person who visits your studio and writes your plan. It keeps the advice consistent and means nobody is learning your studio at your expense.
A good studio is one where the crew can stop thinking about the room and concentrate on the programme. Most of my work is removing the small things that get in their way.
Helen Carter, Founder and Studio Consultant
What working with us looks like in practice
Our approach is the same whether the job is a full layout or a single training day. We look at how your crew works, plan around it and leave you with documents your team can use.
Hands-on experience
Advice comes from people who have worked in studios and galleries, so suggestions take account of kit, space and the pressure of a live show.
Clear written plans
Layouts, lighting plots and run-sheets are written so that the whole crew can read them and a newcomer can follow them.
Crew involved early
We talk to the operators, engineers and directors who use the room every day, because they know where time is lost.
Rehearsal before air
Where possible we watch a run-through, so adjustments are tested on the floor and not left as ideas on paper.
What we stand for
Clarity
Plans, drawings and run-sheets are written in plain language. If a producer, an engineer and a new operator can all read the same page and agree what it means, it is doing its job.
Reliability
A studio has to work on the day of the show. We favour practical rigs, tested routines and equipment arrangements that hold up under pressure, and we do what we say we will do.
Craft
Good framing, even lighting and clean sound take care and practice. We pay attention to small details, such as where a cable lies or how a key light meets a face, because they add up on screen.