May 1, 2026
OnPod
SKAARHOJ in Action: Building a self-serve podcast studio with Epiphan Pearl
About OnPod Studios
OnPod Studios builds fully automated podcast studios that make professional content creation genuinely simple. Their studios sit inside coworking spaces, so entrepreneurs and creators can walk in, hit record, and walk out with broadcast-quality content the same day. With 30 locations planned across Canada and the US in five years, they are turning podcasting into an everyday business tool.
Project: Fully Automated Podcast Studio
The studio is self-serve. Users access the space with a keycode, and once seated, SKAARHOJ controls embedded in the desk give them everything they need to run their session. They can start and stop recording, adjust the coloured lighting and even raise or lower the TV.
When the session is over, the system automatically delivers a download link with their recordings and a fully switched program, so creators walk out with broadcast-quality content the same day.
The Challenge
OnPod set out to build a professional broadcast studio that any creator could walk into and use without any technical knowledge. To make that possible, every device in the studio needed to work together through a single, simple interface.
Multiple Devices: Lighting, cameras and TV mounts all needed to communicate through a single control surface.
User Simplicity: Non-technical creators needed to operate professional broadcast equipment without any training.
Automation: The entire studio experience needed to run itself from start to finish, without a technician present.
Behind the scenes, there’s a lot of precision engineering and smart integration. One core piece of that puzzle is the use of SKAARHOJ hardware, which gives us flexible, networked control over lighting, camera systems, and other devices from a single interface.
-Jeremy Prud’homme, Founder OnPod Studios
Why SKAARHOJ
OnPod needed a single control surface that could talk to every device in their studio, from lighting rigs to video recorders to motorised TV mounts.
They turned to the SKAARHOJ Quick Bar, a compact panel that connects to everything over IP and puts full studio control in one place.
The Setup: A Custom Control Surface
For OnPod's Montreal studios, they developed a custom control case around the SKAARHOJ Quick Bar, configured as the central control surface in the studio rack.
Quick Bar: Every button and encoder on the panel was mapped to a specific studio function through Blue Pill Reactor, giving operators instant access to everything they needed from one place.
Blue Pill Server: Controls DMX lighting via Art-Net, triggers start, stop and preset switching on the Epiphan Pearl video recorder, and manages the motorised TV mounts, raising and lowering displays on cue from the same panel.
Professional Results Without the Learning Curve
SKAARHOJ's Quick Bar turns a complex studio setup into something any creator can walk up to and use from day one.
Customisation: Every button and encoder on the panel is mapped exactly to what the studio needs, through SKAARHOJ's Blue Pill Reactor, so operators always have the right control at their fingertips.
Scalability: New lighting fixtures, cameras or devices can be added to the setup without rewiring, just assign them to the network and map them to the panel.
Simplicity: One panel replaces multiple apps and interfaces, so creators can focus on their content rather than their technology.
We’ve turned a broadcast-grade control surface into a studio nerve center that elevates production workflows at OnPod Studios.
-Jeremy Prud’homme, Founder OnPod Studios
The Sky’s the Limit
With the SKAARHOJ Quick Bar at the heart of their setup, OnPod has built a studio that grows with them. New devices, new lighting scenes and new recording triggers can all be added and mapped to the panel without rewiring.
As OnPod expands across North America, the same architecture scales with them every step of the way.