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The only way to become an expert in any field is to make every conceivable mistake. When it comes to remote recording, we have made a few mistakes. Jan, why don’t you tell us a bit about what remote recording is and why we do it? So we want to have guests on our podcast, but sometimes they aren’t in the same province or even on the same continent.
And remote recording allows you to bring them into the interview remotely using Zoom or Google Meet. Or there’s a few other softwares, but basically it allows you to interview someone for your podcast without them being here at the table with us. Okay. And Carl, why does something seemingly so simple cause so many issues?
So it’s all about the fact that we’re recording and we’re creating a piece of content. So it’s not the same as taking Janet’s laptop and talking to someone because we need to record that person’s audio. We need to record that person’s video. They need to see us. But we’re also recording through these microphones and we’re recording through cameras.
So how do we combine all the sources together? And I think what people underestimate is the audio side of things, which causes the most problem, because if the laptop is giving you audio through your speaker, that audio is going down this microphone. Okay. And this microphone is only supposed to be recording my voice.
So then you need headphones. If you’ve got multiple people sitting around the table, everybody needs headphones. So you’ve got to design your podcast studio in such a way that all the people around the table can have headphones, all the people around the tables, microphones are recording, and there’s a way to record what’s happening on the remote side.
Um, so we’ve tried to do it. The cheapest, most easy, simplest way. Simplest way. With software that everyone has, right? Yeah. With software, everybody has. So we’ve been experimenting with that to begin with and we’ve been quite successful. Yeah, I think the, the thing that I’ve now learned through the couple of interviews that we’ve done is that you test beforehand, everything seems to be working as it should.
And as soon as the guest arrives, there’s 1 or 2 things that now suddenly aren’t working for whatever reason. So from the perspective of someone who doesn’t understand all the technical stuff, I don’t understand where all the sound and video goes and and how that all works through your clever machinery over there.
But from the perspective of someone who’s in the interview or giving the interview and are participating with this remote guest, To getting them prepared for the fact that when they first log in to the interview, we’re actually not going to be. It’s not like we’re recording now and you’re on. It’s actually 15 minutes of chatting, making sure they can hear us really well.
Can they see us? Can we see them? Can we get the audio right? Can we get their visuals right? Even as the internet connection strong enough, you know, if they’ve got a slow connection, um, it can make the video. Yeah. So it is. They’re sad. Right? It’s. Yeah. They’re subtle. It could be both. It could be either.
Um, so the way to get around that is to be able to record on their side as well. Okay. And and does Google meets do that. So Google meets as far as I know doesn’t do that. Um, so so Zoom’s got some fancy features like that. And then there’s some bespoke for podcast online software. Um, that will put some links down in the below, but they’re changing all the time, and they’re getting really clever and do all sorts of different things.
But the important part is to try and do that remote recording. We’ve found it because we’ve been experimenting with Google meets, um, we’ve done the recordings on our side. Um, and because internet’s is okay in most circumstances, we’ve been fine. But the audio quality is not great. So, um, and unfortunately, with remote guests, you’re at the mercy of the microphone on their laptop,
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um, and their lighting and lighting and their internet connection. So what are the options for recording a guest that isn’t in the studio with you? Yeah. So I would say there’s an easier middle and a expensive road to go. Yeah. And the easiest is what we’ve been playing with, which is using the existing stuff you have.
Everybody’s familiar with it. You sacrifice a little bit of audio quality and video quality and. But you live with it. Yeah. The second kind of middle of the road for me is all the little softwares that’s popping up that’s specifically trying to solve this problem for podcasters. So there’s the Riverside one and what’s the other one?
One squad costs. And I think there’s going to be a new one popping up every day. Right. So we need to look and then you can compare all those. But that’s kind of the middle of the road. There’s a little bit of a fee to pay for some of them. And but they do a really nice job of recording on both ends specifically designed for this problem, specifically designed for this problem, and a great solution in in my view.
Then the third option is the pricey one, which is the one where you really just need the quality. Your audience is not going to accept a zoom call, and that’s when you send a crew remote. Oh, wow. Okay, so then you’ll you’ll phone up your local guy that’s around the corner, your videographer or your production company, and ask them to do a remote recording for you.
And you pay them to do that. But it’s absolutely probably the the, the best results you’re going to get when you’re doing that. Is it happening independently to what you’re doing on in studio, or are you there on a camera still asking the questions? Yeah, you’re still on a camera asking the question. I guess it would be the same as what we have here on our.
Except without recording the zoom, there’s a whole yes, they’re doing the same on that side. And then we would be sending a video feed to them remotely so that the other person can see us, and they would be sending us a remote feed, but recording high end on both sides. And yeah, laughing guys make up everyone.
Depending on how much do you want to put into it. But yeah. So so that’s what the a lot of, um, TV shows will do. Oprah’s and all those higher budgets, higher budgets. Yeah. Although that said Oprah used Skype for years, so you know, it’s up to you if you want to do that. But that’s that’s like the high end side of things.
So why, you know, in order to like reduce the barrier of having of having guests in your podcast, you know, a lot of it, the travel is the problem. Why don’t we just have everyone remote? Yeah. I think there’s a lot to be said for the energy of of having people physically together. And I suppose certainly personally when I’m interviewing someone remotely, it feels very different to having them across the table.
You can get a sense of their body language, and although you can see them, it’s hard to know. You know, should I speak or they’re still speaking. There’s the the audio issues that it causes when I’m speaking over the interviewer to interject or laugh or something like that. So the camera focuses on whether the noise, you know, there’s I don’t know, it’s just it is much more difficult.
Yeah. And so I think that if the, if the guest is available to you where you are. That’s first price. And then you don’t have to sacrifice the quality of the audio and the visuals. Um, I think you get a better interview when they’re in the same room. But, you know, we can’t always have that. Just the quality of the episode is better.
Everything. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So, you know, that’s always going to be first prize, I think. But you know, the software is getting better. Um, certainly we will be testing out all of these different softwares so that we can get a sense of the best possible solution for us. But, you know, again, the problem with answering this particular question, like which softwares should I use is everyone’s setup is different.
Yeah. You know, so you know, Kyle, you can maybe describe exactly our setup, but the, the other you know, the next podcaster along isn’t necessarily using the same gear. And so then our selection or our preference of Softwares won’t work for them. Yeah. Also, I think audiences are getting
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forgiving around the zoom call thing. Um, yes. It’s it’s just normal now. It’s so normalized. And I think it’s even all use the word zoom now to talk about a remote meeting. I mean, if I just look at the news industry, what it was. We used to have a van that went out with a satellite dish on for the quality. Now reporters are using handheld streamers.
Yeah. And their cell phone sometimes. And whatever gets the story. Gets the story. Yeah. So I think audiences are are a little bit forgiving in that sense. Yeah. To a point. Better have the content then. Yeah. At whatever quality than not have it at all. Yeah. Now, Kyle, have you got any horror stories with celebrities and and technical issues?
Well, celebrity is always fantastic I don’t know. No horror stories of celebrities, But I mean, we could talk about some of the, the, the things here. So our set up, um, is, is pretty simple. We’ve, we’ve tried to see, um, make sure that we’re still relating to what most people can afford. So we haven’t put in $1 million system here.
Yeah. We’re using what we have. So we’ve got a little Blackmagic Vision mixer that mixes and records our camera feeds, and we’ve got a guy at the back. They’re all still fun switching between the cameras to make our editing process a lot faster. And then we’ve got a RODECaster, which is a specifically built little sound desk that’s made for podcasts.
Biggest issues we’ve been having, um, leading up to doing a remote call, is with the RODECaster. Funnily enough, the thing that’s designed for podcasts, and it’s because it’s got this cool feature that you can link a computer to a Bluetooth. Right. So that means we don’t have to have all the cables on the table and things like that.
And we can send audio to the laptop and we can receive audio from the laptop. And I think two, two out of a few attempts we’ve tested, it works 100%. And then we walk away for five minutes, come back and the Bluetooth is not working or it’s connected to someone’s or it’s phone. It’s done something weird. And then we’re trying to get it back and you have to restart everything.
And it’s it’s it’s pretty frustrating to have technology that’s really cool but not reliable. We even suspected yesterday that the Bluetooth had connected to the neighbor’s TV or
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something like that. Right. So I’m I’m kind of old school in that sense that give me a cable. Oh, like a cable too. Yeah. I like to be tethered to things. Yeah. And that’s where I think for, for us, we’re a piece of equipment that’s designed for a specific purpose becomes really limiting because you can’t like a normal sound is just routed to another channel, or do this or do that because it’s limited this way.
So yeah, those are some of the little niggles that we’ve had. Um, but because Janet’s so good with the guests and all our guests have done this before, and I don’t think anybody’s done a remote recording without some sort of glitch. Sort of technical. Um, it’s been fine. I think the first 15 minutes are always just.
Yeah. And honestly, if you can just prepare your guests for the fact that when we first join the call, it’s going to be casual chat. It’s going to be technical whatevers. We just need to make sure that everyone can hear everyone. Everyone can see everyone. And then once we’re all comfortable, then the interview will start.
Okay. And if you set that expectation up front, then they’re not sitting there getting mad while everyone here is scurrying around, sweat dripping. Yeah, yeah. Plugging and plugging. I want to throw in another spanner, though. Okay. When you’re doing it alive. That’s a different story. Who would know?
Much more stressful. I just don’t know. It’s live is super cool because it got lots of engagement. All that stuff. But then you’ve got to manage that. But then use cables. No Bluetooth. Um, use a rock solid system. Don’t try. What stuff? Records. Things. Plug stuff together and get the professionals to help you.
Yeah, I think, and I’ve done lots of live television. It’s really great. And it’s stressful and it’s fun. It’s exciting, it’s exciting, but a lot more work goes into that. So it’s not something you’re going to just switch on one day and just say, hey, let’s do this live. Yeah. All the all the new gear has all the ability to do all those things.
But be wary. Make sure you know what you’re doing. Yeah. Have you guys got any horror stories to share with us from interviews that you’ve conducted? Let us know and we’ll see you on the next episode.
