Pros And Cons Of Using Self
Pro: This yields the highest-quality audio for remote interviews outside of a studio setting. Theres a good chance that your guest has a smartphone with a native audio recording app, and if your guest holds their phone up to their ear during the video call on Zoom or Squadcast, youll get crisp audio from the interview thats a better quality than the recording done through an Internet connection.
Con: This requires a lot of reliance on your guest to make sure that they record themselves correctly, and for them to successfully send you long audio files. The advantage of the self-sync is that you will always have the Zoom or Squadcast recording of your interview to use as a backup.
Do Some Research On Your Guest
You need to be careful when researching your guests. Doing too much will make your conversations feel rigid. But not doing enough will come across as rude and disrespectful. You need to hit the sweet spot somewhere in the middle. Here are some of the basics worth checking out before you to sit down to record:
Rehearse Ahead Of Time
Experiment with how you might answer common questions. When we get nervous, we tend to start monitoring ourselves. Since youll be able to see your own image as youre talking during the interview, youre likely to get distracted. Staring at a face especially your own will make you lose your train of thought, says Markman. Be sure to rehearse in the spot where you plan to do the interview so you can see how you look. If you cant stop looking at yourself when you practice, you might want to close the window with your image in it. You dont want to be self-conscious to the point of distraction. But it can be useful to occasionally look at yourself during the interview, says Markman, to make sure you dont have a tag sticking out or something.
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Interview Your Podcast Guests Remotely
How to record guests remotely is one of the most common questions new podcasters and audio producers ask. You will rarely have the budget or the time to report a story or episode exactly the way you want. There is little chance of flying around to interview all your sources, to ensure consistent, high-quality sound. Fortunately, technology has provided us with several approaches to remote recording. You can still record high-quality audio without being there with your guest.
Prepare And Ask Probing Questions
As you do your research, think about questions you could ask. Try to find creative angles. Because if you ask the same questions everyone else does, youre probably going to get a rehearsed answer. Skye Pillsbury, host of Inside Podcasting recommends taking the following approach:
I try to take the questions theyve been asked before and take them one step further. For example, Ive heard you say X, but I didnt really get a sense of Y. Could you talk a bit more about that?
Forming your questions in this way achieves two things. First, by conveying what theyve already said elsewhere, you immediately move the conversation into more interesting territory. And second, youre showing your guests that you actually pay attention to what theyredoing.
If your show aims to help listeners learn, focus asking why and how questions. Try to get your guest to give concrete examples, anecdotes, tips, and case studies. These are much more meaningful to listeners than abstract theory. Always try to put yourself in the shoes of your listeners and ask the questions they really want answers to.
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Whats A Remote Interview
Remember back when you applied for a job and someone from the company called you up and asked you a few questions over the phone? That’s an example of a remote interview.
The primary challenge when doing remote interviews is the internet connection. Even if you have great reception but the person youre interviewing doesnt, its going to affect the sound quality, which, in turn, will also affect the quality of your episode. That said, you need to make sure that the software you use will be able to record the interview without compromising the sound quality.
Fortunately, there are remote interview recording tools that are free and can produce good sound quality. Here are three of them.
Interviewing Remote Podcast Guests: 10 Tips From Wistia Studios
Adam Day
Creative
Hey there, its Chris and Adam from Wistia! Were on the Wistia Studios team where we focus on creating innovative video series and podcasts for people like you to enjoy.
Weve done everything from fixing up an old station wagon while interviewing marketing leaders to spending $1111,000 on three different ads to test the impact production quality has on advertising. Needless to say, were not afraid to try crazy ideas, test new theories, and iterate the process to produce a memorable end result.
For this post, we wanted to break down a few tips that weve learned from interviewing podcasts guests remotely. This is our tried and true process for creating crisp audio and making guests feel at homeenjoy, and let us know if you have any other tips below!
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Build A Remarkable Brand With Video Podcasts
Live video podcasts will allow you to connect with your audience in real-time, building professional relationships that strengthen your brand.
Connect your community
Video connects you and your community, anytime and anyplace. It takes only a few clicks to go live.
Never stop creating
Live video podcasts can be repurposed into webinars, blog posts, slides, and so much more.
Start instantly
Livestorm launches right in the browser, and comes with ready-made landing pages, emails, and built-in features.
Chat with viewers during the show, take questions, and ask for opinions by running polls.
Host any event you want
Livestorm can adapt to your needs. Host any event type, from one-on-one discussions, to live panels.
Add any content
Show what you want in your video podcast. Share your screen, upload media, or embed videos from YouTube.
Highlight your audience
Let your audience post questions and vote on the ones they want to see answered. Then center your podcast on the questions that received the most votes.
Handle the heat
Manage detractors of your live video podcast by moderating the chat and question tabs. You can block disruptive participants if necessary.
Collaborate with your team
Invite your teammates to join the room as moderators, and work together to engage your audience.
Integrate your favorite tools
Livestorm adapts to your existing setup. If you’re using OBS, XSplit, or any other streaming platform, you can broadcast on Livestorm.
Setting Up Your Home Recording Environment
You dont need to soundproof entire rooms. But make sure you choose a nice quiet space where youre unlikely to pick up pesky background noises. Move fans and other things that make a lot of noise into another room, or switch them off if possible. Recording in a room thats carpeted can also help as it dampens echoes.
You might want to put a Do Not Disturb sign on the door when youre recording to stop others in your home accidentally walking in during your recording .
If you want to achieve more professional audio at home, we recommend buying a reflection filter. These can be fitted just behind your microphone to eliminate echoes, giving your recordings a studio-quality feel.
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The Process For Using A Remote Recording Service:
Conduct Interviews Via Video Where Possible Even If Youre Only Going To Use The Audio
Many podcasters choose to record video interviews, even if they only end up using the audio portion. Being able to see each others expressions and gestures can make the conversation feel more natural than if you could only hear each others voices.
Plus, if you capture video, you can repurpose the interview beyond just your podcast. Some podcasters choose to upload the video to YouTube in addition to publishing the audio on a podcasting platform.
After the interview, you can use editing software to remove the video portion and use only the audio for your podcast.
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Remote Podcast Recording Success
We hope that with these tips, recommendations, and samples youre feeling all set up for remote podcast recording success!
Remember, not everything will be perfect especially not the first several times. Be patient, and know that the more you practice and test different things out, the faster youll find a setup that works great for you and your podcast.
If youre looking for even more great podcast tips, be sure to check out our Ultimate Guide: How To Podcast!
Hardware Option For Recording A Remote Interview
This is old fashioned recording were talking about recording a phone with a recording device. The advantage here is your guest knows how to use a phone. They dont have to worry about navigating some new software they havent seen before.
If you go this route, make sure you get consent from your interviewee to record the call and try to record somewhere quiet.
You can record a call by connecting up your phone to a device like a Zoom H5 or H6 recorder. This video from Resonate explains how you can do it
If you have the portable recording kit weve spoken about before , then the main thing youre going to need is a cable to connect your recording device to your smartphone.
Essentially what youre doing is hooking up your phone to one input and your own mic to the other.
Make sure the SD card in your recorder has plenty of room on it.
If all of the above falls apart and you get really desperate you can put your phone on speaker with a recording device near it to record your interview. Its completely basic and not advisable, but better than nothing.
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Pros And Cons Of Using A Remote Recording Service:
Pro: Remote recording services are easy to use, affordable, and record decent quality audio for your guest while requiring little effort from them.
Cons: Zoom relies heavily on a good internet connection. If the connection is bad, the audio can be unusable and may result in a lot of the interview getting cut. If you use Squadcast, audio drift isnt as much of a problem. Also, the audio you get from remote recording software is better than phone audio, but can sometimes still sound robotic and hollow.
How To Record A Podcast Remotely And Get It Right The First Time
Remote interviews are a fact of life for every podcaster, and in todays era of social distancing, more so than ever. Since you rarely get the chance at an interview do-over, nailing down your remote recording workflow is essential. Well show you how to prepare for and record a remote interview, so you get it right the first time with some additional tips along the way to make sure all your bases are covered.
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Remote Podcast Equipment Checklist
If youre striving to create the most professional-sounding podcastpossible getting the right equipment is essential. Your setup should strive to match your podcast goals. Ensure that your guest is made aware of these suggestions before its time to record so they have a chance to prepare. Below is a list of basic equipment any podcaster and guests, needs to record remotely:
Convey Warmth During The Interview
The crisis has made people more eager to connect with colleagues on an emotional level and your interviewer may have a higher expectation about how much warmth you convey during the interview. Markman recommends that you follow the lead of the interviewer on small talk, but it may be appropriate to ask the interviewer how they and their loved ones are doing right now. And you should have a good response prepared for the same question should it come back to you. He suggests something like, Thanks for asking. Im doing as well as possible under the circumstances. You dont need to go into unnecessary detail.
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Configure Call Recorders Settings
When you launch Skype, a window will open that asks if youd like to configure Call Recorder. Click Yes. This opens Skypes Recording preference pane. Its within this window that you can configure Call Recorders audio and video settings. Choose Uncompressed in the Audio Encoding pop-up menu and your Skype calls will be recorded in AIFF format, which result in quite large files. If youd like good sounding files that dont take up as much space, choose AAC Compression from the Audio Encoding pop-up menu and High from the Audio Quality pop-up menu. As were not recording video, leave the video recording options as they are and close Skypes Preferences window. A small Call Recorder window will appear.
The Conventional Wisdom Is Wrong
There are methods that have been around for years and have been used by countless podcasts to record countless episodes remotely, yet despite that, they are a terrible way of doing it.
Theyre popular because its the only method that many people know about, but they leave you with terrible quality audio, skips, disconnections, and dropouts – an editors nightmare and a bad experience for the listener.
Weve all heard podcast episodes, even from very popular podcasts, where the sound is just subpar. Whether its a one-off due to unexpected technical difficulties, or the earlier catalogue of a podcast thats gone on to grow and upgrade their quality since then, these early growing pains can be avoided.
This is one area where it truly pays to get it right as soon as possible. Because for all the magic that can be worked in post-production, audio quality is fixed at the state its recorded in. Nothing has a bigger impact on the overall sound of a finished podcast interview than the way it is recorded. Luckily, with a few simple tools, you can get great results right out of the gate.
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Can You Record A Podcast Outside
If you were very determined, you could probably manage to record a podcast outside. Were not saying you should, because it presents several complications:
- Poor internet connection. Wi-Fi outside is rarely better than indoors. This is because routers tend to be kept indoors, and walls get in the way of a strong signal. Although we would like to give a shout-out to that one Greek landlord we stayed with who kept his Wi-Fi router in an olive tree. Perhaps he made outdoor podcasts.
- Background noise: theres a lot of noise outside. Birds, bees, cars, people, and perhaps most significantly wind. The wind messes with your audio quality. You can use a pop filter or get high-end microphones that minimize background noise they use these on news channels. However, unless youre recording a visual clip why are you outside if you dont want background noise?
- Breathing: if youre walking outside, then you will naturally breathe more heavily than when sat at your laptop. This can be a distracting and unwanted sound for viewers.
Theres nothing to stop you from recording audio or video outside. You may have a very cool reason to want to do it perhaps even recording some sounds of nature.
If you need to record a segment like this, wed recommend recording it as a separate audio file and fixing consistency in post-production. Especially with remote podcast recording, its a tricky one to do well without your indoor recording setup.
Pick Up Some Remote Podcasting Tools
Recording a podcast remotely is actually quite easy if you have the right equipment and tech. Fortunately, none of these items are very expensive. If you have recorded episodes already, you probably have some of them. Heres what you need:
- A computer
- An XLR or USB microphone
- Mixer
- A good set of headphones
- Microphone stand
- Podcast hosting provider
- A strong internet connection
For a complete list of our podcast gear recommendations, including specific suggestions, read our full guide: A Podcast Equipment Checklist For Any Setup Or Budget
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Record The Conversations Locally
To capture high-quality sound that makes it seem like you and your guest are in the same room, youll each need to record your side of the conversation locally on your own computer. If youre on a Mac, you can use free software like QuickTime or Garageband, and if youre on a PC, you can use something like Audacity.
And if that seems like a bit too much to ask of your guest, consider checking Zencastr, which is a web app that can record higher-quality audio for remote conversations.
Another must, wearing headphones is a non-negotiable for you and your guest. We cant stress this enough! So again, make sure you mention to your guest that theyll need wired headphones during the interview.
