AKA Design: Stylish and functional podcasting furniture from concept to installation

AKA Design specialise in the design, manufacture, and installation of stylish technical furniture for the Music, TV, and Film industries worldwide. Established for over 30 years and based in North London, they have a state-of-the-art design and production facility enabling total control of the entire design and manufacturing process from concept to installation. As well as their product ranges, they offer fully customised designs to fulfil their clients’ individual needs. They constantly push the ergonomics and styling of their designs using a variety of materials to create timeless studio furniture for Audio, Grading, Editing, Podcasting, and Broadcast environments.

To find out more about AKA Design, we asked them a few questions…

Over the years, what key changes have you observed in the podcasting industry, and how has AKA adapted its designs to meet the evolving needs of podcasters?

Since we started our first range of podcast desks 5 years ago, the main change has been the move to video recording rather than just audio. This creates more challenges for the various camera positions for clear headshots and has changed the shape and layout of our podcast ranges. Almost 50% of our podcast desks can come with an electric rise and fall frame for sitting, standing or stool working height. Within the range we have desks that go from a single user (lose gap), up to our ProVoice V6 that can accommodate six guests.

ProVoice V6

How has the increasing professionalism and production quality in podcasting influenced the demand for more specialised podcast furniture like the ProVoice V4?

The ProVoice V4 is a combination of years of feedback from our customers. It can have casters for moving in the studio for various setups, headphone holders, acoustic inserts for enhanced acoustics, and a universal mic and monitor arm mounting system, which enables all types of mic arms to be used including Rode, Yellowtec, Sure and Wave. It also ships in a fully recyclable box for transport and can be easily assembled on site with an allen key and screw driver.

ProVoice V4

As video podcasting becomes more popular, how is AKA Design adapting its products to cater to the growing demand for multi-purpose studios that accommodate both audio and video content creation?

Moving to the Vodcast mic arms has been essential and we have also been asked to create more “news desk” types of podcast desk, so that you can have the wider shot of all the guests, as well as the individual headshots. We have also been asked to incorporate monitors into the front vanity screen, so that various podcast shows can present their logo or animations seamlessly between various shows.

Custom podcast desk

AKA has equipped over 120 podcast studios globally, including prestigious brands like Spotify and NBC. Has feedback from such clients had any influence on the design and functionality of the ProVoice V4?

Although we now have a range of 9 specific podcast desk solutions, we also have a custom side to our podcast desk builds. This enables us to customise our clients’ desks with various shapes and finishes to suit their workflow and studio space.

Grand Central ProVoice V4

If people would like to talk more and learn more about your products what is the best way for people to reach out to you?

Please go to the AKA website and see the full range here or email us at sales@akadesign.com. We offer a free layout service on all our podcast ranges, so you can send us the floor plan of your studio and we will drop the scaled desk into the plan. You can then see how it fits in the studio and work out your camera placements etc..

And to get a closer look at the ProVoice V4, take a look at the video below:

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