How to record a podcast episode
How do I record my first podcast?
You need three things for a podcast, the first is the idea, the second is somewhere to make it and the third is somewhere to host it.
Recording your first podcast episode can be quite daunting for any new podcaster, regardless of how much experience you have being a guest.
When you’re a guest you just show up and be the star. You don’t have to think about how to make the technical bits happen and produce the final product.
When you’re the host you know that the buck stops with you in terms of getting audio of a good enough quality to use in a podcast - and then turning it into an episode if you’re doing all the behind the scenes work yourself.
It’s actually a lot easier than a lot of people think to record a podcast episode, the hardest aspect for most people is to have the courage to start, to ask guests to come on and then release the episode.
That all comes down to confidence and feeling worthy of doing it, which you totally are.
Recording platforms
Let’s just say you’ve got your first guest ready, they have said yes, you know what you want to talk about with them but that’s as far as you’ve got.
Thanks to the pandemic most people are now versed in using remote meeting platforms, such as zoom.
Zoom
I’ve been using zoom for online meetings since 2014 (and google hangouts before then) so when we could no longer meet in person, or when I started my own podcasts, it was not too alien to me.
I still use zoom now but there are other platforms that you can use.
What I like about zoom is that my guest has typically used it before. That familiarity means that when I send them a link to join they know what to expect.
I record audio and video, as I like to see my guest’s face, but I only use the audio.
My zoom settings are set up so that I record both my track and the guest’s track, plus the combined one. This means that if I need to mute either one of us it makes it easier in the editing.
When I record I choose to record to the cloud, which means I can access my recording wherever I’m logged into zoom. This is helpful if you find yourself recording on your phone, or from a different computer.
Zoom gives you 40 minutes free but if you want to meet for longer then you have to upgrade to a paid account.
As someone who uses Zoom several times a week this was a good investment to me, but if you’re not going to be using it often then you might choose a different platform.
You can get around the 40 minute limit by ending a call and then starting another one, but there is a 10 minute stand-down in between.
Streamyard
Streamyard is a platform most commonly used for live-streaming to multiple facebook destinations (ie groups and pages simultaneously) but it can also be used to record an interview.
They have a free account which allows you to record up to 20 hours of content a month.
Once you have ended your recording you can download it to your computer, share or embed it, or leave it in your dashboard to come back to.
Streamyard is mostly used for video but when you go to download you can choose to download just the audio track.
I have used streamyard for streaming live guests into a facebook group, so if you wanted to give your podcast a live aspect you can do this as well as release as a podcast episode.
Riverside
There is also Riverside, which a lot of podcasters are using now though I have yet to try it out.
With Riverside you can record your track and your guest’s track locally, which means that the recording takes place on the computer instead of over the internet.
The advantage of this is that the recordings are in-studio quality and after downloading the recording you won't hear the disruptions caused by bad internet connections.
For each guest you get a separate locally recorded track.
The free plan gives you access to unlimited hours of high quality audio and video recording, editing features, plus separate tracks for up to two hours of recording.
After two hours, you will get a single track for the entire recording. If you would like to continue getting separate tracks beyond two hours or would like to remove the watermark from your recordings then you would need to upgrade to a paid plan.
As noted, I have yet to try Riverside out. This is mostly because zoom is working well for me right now.
Something similar to Riverside is Squadcast. This was recently acquired by the software company I use for editing, Descript. Again, I’ve not used it because I like using Zoom.
These four options - Zoom, Streamyard, Riverside and Squadcast - are all for recording a podcast with a guest.
Recording solo
You can use the same for doing solo episodes but you have a few more options as a solo podcaster.
I use Descript for my editing and when I record solo episodes I record directly into descript.
This saves me the step of recording, downloading the file to my computer and then uploading the file into Descript for editing.
Editing
Descript is how I prefer to do most of my editing as it is a visual form.
You upload your files and then transcribe them - you can choose how many speakers and give each speaker a name for the transcript.
Then, with the transcript, you edit by removing the words or sentences you don’t want in your finished file.
You can reduce filler words, like um, copy and paste to move segments around, plus create shorter audiograms to use in your social media.
The free account gives you one hour of transcription a month, which I think is a good way of testing whether you want to use this for your editing going forwards.
There are other editing platforms, Audacity and GarageBand are what you would probably imagine editing to be like. There are heaps of tutorials online on how to use these (GarageBand is for mac users, Audacity for everyone else).
I use Audacity to splice all my files together (music, intro, interview etc) and also for anything that I am having difficulty using Descript for (it’s happened maybe twice in 50 episodes).
I love Descript so much that I have an affiliate link to them, if you choose to sign up with Descript I’ll get a little kickback but at no extra cost to you.
So that’s how to record a podcast in terms of which platform you can use to talk with your guest.
Before recording your first proper guest I would encourage you to test out the platforms first, especially if you choose to use something you’ve not tried before.
Ask a friend if they can meet with you online, record it and then see how easy it is to download the file and upload to your editing software.
Links
Please note this post includes affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links you won’t pay a penny more, but I’ll get a small commission which helps keep the lights on. Thanks!
Zoom: www.zoom.us
Streamyard: Get $10 credit here: https://streamyard.com/pal/c/5154633463103488
Riverside: https://riverside.fm/
Descript: https://www.descript.com/?lmref=UnXDyg
Audacity: https://www.audacityteam.org/
Garageband: https://www.apple.com/nz/mac/garageband/
Got any questions? Please get in touch by email, alison@alisonfraser.co
