Speaker 1: How can you record your podcast if your guest or co-host lives far away? Today, it's easier than ever to record high quality audio remotely, but I've noticed that a lot of smart hosts are still missing key steps in the process, even if they have the right tech. That's why today I'm excited to share my favorite tools, equipment, and strategies to help with your next remote podcast recording. Hey, I'm Melissa, and welcome back to Wit & Wire, where I help creators turn their skills and passions into profitable online businesses. I've been interviewing guests remotely for, I think, four years. And as the host of both Everything is Teachable and the Wit & Wire Podcast, I had the opportunity to interview guests in Spain, Australia, France, and all across America from my tiny apartment here in New York City. The good news is that anyone with an internet connection, and ideally a microphone, can record remotely. No surprise, but remote recording technology has only gotten better over the last few years, which is a huge advantage for podcasters. Not only that, but today guests are more accustomed to talking virtually, so your pool of prospective guests has probably never been larger. With that in mind, here are my goals for this video. First, we're going to talk about the five tools you'll need to record remotely with a guest. I'll recommend my favorites, and I'll try to include a free option, too, whenever possible. Second, I want to offer a few tips to actually use those tools properly and to save you some time in the process. Then third, I'll answer some of the frequently asked questions I'm always getting from Wit & Wire students, including some simple corrections to common mistakes. Let's start with tool number one, which is, of course, your microphone. As a podcast host, no matter if you're recording locally, which means on your computer, or remotely, done over the internet, you will need a mic. Today for this video, I happen to be using the Shure MB7, but I'll include a link in the description below with all of my favorite podcast microphones for different budgets and different preferences. Check that out if you're looking for your mic. The second tool that you'll need is headphones. This is actually the most crucial tool for your guest. Let's say that we were doing an interview and I wasn't wearing headphones. That would mean that as we're recording remotely, I could hear your voice coming out of my computer, but it could also potentially mean that my microphone could pick up the sound of your voice, and that could create an echo. That's one of the reasons why it's so crucial that both of you wear headphones, just to minimize the odds of that echo happening. The second reason why your guest definitely needs headphones is because chances are the headphones will have a microphone, like those white Apple headphones can work really well, and that microphone will always be better than them just talking to their laptop. So if they don't have a separate microphone, then definitely the headphones with the mic are crucial. Tool number three is somewhere to keep your notes. If you're doing an interview, I always prepare questions going into it. And if you're doing a co-hosted recording, odds are good that you've both prepared a little something that you'll want to have as a reference. And I personally use Google docs, but anywhere that you like to keep notes should work perfectly. Up next is tool number four, and that's your remote recording platform. This is probably the tool of the hour. The reason you clicked into this video, because you're wondering, how do I actually do this recording with a guest or a co-host? The purpose of your remote recording software is to, of course, capture all of the voices in the call. And although Zoom is now a household name, the tool that I recommend for most podcast hosts is called Zencaster. And I'm going to talk about the differences between the two and then offer a few other alternatives. So with Zoom, you have to download something to your computer, but with Zencaster, all you'll do for a guest is send them a URL and then they'll join via a browser on their computer. This is really nice because they don't need to log in. They don't need to download anything. And as soon as they click, they'll be in the room with you. And before you start the recording, you'll be able to do a little bit of a sound check to make sure that both of you sound good before you get into things. Another major reason why I like Zencaster is because it records in slightly higher audio quality than Zoom. And by default, it does what's called multi-track recording. So let's say we're in a podcast interview and you say something brilliant and I sneeze. If we're doing what's called single track recording, both of our voices have recorded onto the same audio track, which means it is impossible to edit out that sneeze. Now, instead what Zencaster does by default and admittedly what Zoom can do if you turn on a specific setting is it records what's called multi-track recording. So as you're recording with a guest, you'll see two or more waveforms on the screen, each one of those indicating one audio file per person. And that makes the editing process a lot more flexible, whether you are editing or whether you're outsourcing to another editor. Another thing I like about Zencaster is the ability to see each other. So there are three different recording settings in Zencaster. Setting number one is the classic where you can't see each other and you're just recording audio only. Setting number two is recording audio and video, and you do get two separate files per person. So if there were two people in the recording, you would each have an audio file and a video file. Now it's the third setting that I think is personally my favorite, and that is where you can see each other over video, but only the audio records. I do like to see the other person. I think that eye contact and body language can really help an interview flow smoothly. But just my personal preference is not to use the video itself. And in a future video, if you're interested in learning more about the differences between podcasting and YouTube strategies, and if it is a good idea for podcast hosts to publish their episodes on YouTube, leave me a comment below and tell me that you're interested. And if I get enough, I will add that to the queue. If you do already use Zoom and that's what you're comfortable with, I'll say this about most tools I talk about. But I do really believe that the best tool is the one that you already have and like. So although Zencaster may have some nice additional features and I do think the audio quality sounds better, if Zoom is what you're comfortable with, use it. There are other great tools in this space. Squadcast is a longtime favorite, and I have no complaints other than the fact that it's a little bit pricey. And then there are a couple newer options like Riverside and Boomcaster, and those two have a few extra features. So not only can you record video, but they also have options to live stream that video as it's being recorded. You'll find links to everything in the description below. But in terms of the recording software, you do have an endless number of options these days. But Zencaster remains my tried and true favorite that I've been using for over four years. And did I mention it's free? We love free. You may have thought that tool number four was the most important and arguably it is, but tool number five cannot be skipped. And that is a file storage system. When you start recording your podcast, you will start accumulating a lot of audio files and having a set place where all of those files stay is crucial. So two popular options are Google Drive and Dropbox, although there are others like Box. And as long as you have one place where all of your raw audio files and edited audio files live, then you should be in great shape. But I would definitely make sure that you have a dedicated place in the cloud, if not also on a hard drive for your podcast audio. Now, although we've gotten through the five core tools, I do have three bonus tools I want to talk about that you may be interested in depending on your recording setup. First up is a webcam. We did talk about some video options. And if you do plan to either record video for your podcast or even just see your guest, you may want to invest in a webcam. So I use a Logitech webcam and I'll put a link in the description. The next bonus tool to talk about is your editing tool. Although I love Zencastr and all of the other tools listed are also great for remote recording, very few of them have advanced editing tools. What I do is I record in Zencastr and then I export the audio and I import it into Hindenburg, my one true love for editing. I will talk about editing tools at another time. And for now, you'll find a link in the description to my favorite editing tools. And my love affair with Hindenburg will be very obvious, but I do find it to be the most user friendly option. One other noteworthy editing tool I want to mention is called Descript. Hindenburg is a classic editor. You see waveforms on a screen and you can edit visually by making cuts in the audio. But Descript is totally different. Instead, you see a transcript on your screen and by deleting words on the screen, it actually edits the audio file. You can go to wittenwire.com slash Descript for a free trial or find links to both of those tools in the description. The third bonus tool I have to mention is a scheduling tool. Now, is this strictly part of remote recording? No. But does it save me a ton of time to use a scheduling tool? Definitely. I personally use Calendly for all of my interview scheduling. So once a guest says yes, the absolute first thing I do is send them a link to book the Calendly recording and they'll be able to see my calendar and when I'm available for the podcast. I think this is such a crucial first step because until it's on the calendar, in my mind, it's not real. So if you don't already use a scheduling tool, you'll find a link to Calendly in the description. And there are plenty of other great options as well. There are three lightning round questions that I get frequently from Wittenwire students that I want to address, because even though you already have the tools in mind, there are some small details that I definitely want to cover. So the first question is, does my guest need a microphone? This is a great question. It shows you're thinking about the overall quality of your episode. And as we briefly touched on earlier, your guest really just needs to have headphones that have a microphone. So the worst case scenario is that they're only using their computer. And the reason why that's bad is because their voice is speaking so far away from the built-in microphone from the computer. And on top of that, we've already talked about the echo issue that comes up when they don't wear headphones. So scratch that. What I will say, though, is that as long as you, the host, have a good microphone, then listeners are more willing to forgive the quality of the guest's audio. It almost sounds like they are literally calling in and something about that meets the expectations of what your guest expects psychologically. As long as you've got a mic and they've got headphones, you should both be all set. Another question I'm frequently asked is about taking notes. And do I recommend taking notes while you're conducting an interview? This is a great question on two accounts. Number one, should you do it? And number two, how can you take notes in a way that doesn't make noise? You may not realize this, but everything you do is super noisy. If you have your notes up on a computer and you're typing, you are definitely going to hear that in the recording. You'll also hear mouse clicks. You'll also hear pen or pencil writing on paper. And that's why my overall best tip to take notes during an interview is to use your phone in airplane mode. I keep a notes app up on my phone and I don't take complete notes of the interview. I don't recommend that. Instead, what I do is I listen really intently. And if the guest says something that I know I want to circle back to, I'll just write down a few key words so that I know what to ask about. I found that when I didn't do that, I got a little bit caught up in trying to remember what I wanted to ask. And because I was doing that, I wasn't able to actively listen as well to the guest. I do recommend taking notes, but I don't mean take notes as though you're a student. Just take quick notes in case you want a small reference of something that you want to ask when the guest finishes. The third question that I'm often asked about is, should I record from my phone or from my computer? Because the remote recording tools we talked about are browser based, I do recommend that you use a computer. And the second reason why I think it's going to be a lot simpler is because you as the host probably already have a podcast microphone and your podcast microphone is probably a USB microphone that plugs into your computer. So that means that your highest quality audio using the tools you already have is going to be your computer based microphone. The phone audio honestly sounds better today than ever before. But for ease of use with the tool and your best possible audio quality, I would recommend using a computer and your guest as well. It'll just be easier for them to navigate around the platform that you're using to record together. If you found any of these tips useful, I hope you'll give this video a thumbs up so that I can learn more about what kind of videos you'd like to see from Witten Wire in the future. And if you haven't already, make sure you subscribe to Witten Wire's new channel and click the alert bell so you don't miss a single video or strategy to help you build your online business. I believe in you and I can't wait to see what you'll create. See you next time.