How to record a professional quality podcast remotely for free
So you've decided you want to record a podcast, and you don’t have a budget to do it? You’ve watched countless videos on “Essential Podcast Items to Buy” and “How to Start a Podcast” and still haven’t done it? Why? Because all of them require money. You don’t want to put your hard-earned cash down for something you don’t even know if you like doing yet!
You’re not alone. The internet is a scary place full of conflicting information about what you need and what to use (most of which make you pay at some point). Before starting on your journey and knowing if it’s RIGHT for you, you’re expected to invest in something you don’t even know how to use. I’m going to level with you; having worked in the music industry for over a decade, many excellent free software options will let you do this without spending anything.
What’s more, learning these skills is transferable so that when you decide that this is right for you and invest, you did not waste your time.
Time = Money
Strap in; let’s get you set up with the right tools and mindset that will carry you forward on the journey you’re about to embark on. It’s not for the faint of hearted, it may seem daunting at first, but after this, it will empower you to go out there and record your podcast, and you’ll have created strong foundations for you to build upon as you progress on your podcasting journey. Welcome to my world.
Podcast Recording 101
TL;DR (TOO LONG DIDN’T READ)
Use the built-in voice recorder on your phone (set the recording to ‘lossless’ or the highest quality possible).
The host should create a folder for the podcast in the cloud storage platform of their choice. Inside that, create an “Episode …” folder, share only the “Episode” folder with the collaborator(s) for that episode.
Each participant should find a quiet room that has less room sound (reverberation), position the phone on a flat surface a fists distance away from your mouth (roughly 5cm) (optional, use a pop-filter).
Each of you should start your call on your computer without headphones plugged in, turn the speakers to full volume.
Optional: as a backup precaution, record the call on the computer (Skype, Zoom, and Teams (most others too) have this feature built-in).
Each starts the recording on your phones.
The host should clap loudly and sharply.
Everyone should plug their headphones into the computer.
Start chatting; this bit is all you!
After you’ve finished talking, leave a 15-second gap of silence before each hitting stop.
Each renames the recording with a name that’s easy to find in the future.
Each of you needs to export the recording to the cloud storage app of your choice on your phone, save it in the “Episode” folder you created earlier.
And breath…hopefully you’ve just finished recording your podcast - well done! In my opinion, you’ve completed the hardest part of the entire process (the talking bit). All that’s left to do is to edit! But first, take a breather - grab a tea (or coffee).
What are the prerequisites?
If you’re recording with another person(s) remotely, you’ll each need:
A phone for recording the audio (I’m using an iPhone X)
A laptop or computer (with speakers) (I’m using a MacBook Pro)
A calling application installed on the computer, e.g. Skype, Zoom, FaceTime, Discord, Teams, “insert other internet calling service here”
Headphones
Cloud storage application on your phone, e.g. Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud, OneDrive, etc. (I use Google Drive)
What recording application should you use?
We’ll start using the built-in ‘Voice Memos’ application on your phone (or equivalent Android version).
Setup is required first, but you’ll only have to do this once on each device you use. On iPhone:
Go to Settings
Voice Memos
Audio Quality
Change to “Lossless”
Lossless recordings contain more information than compressed recordings. Similar to photography, when taking a picture in RAW, the file contains a lot of data that lets you manipulate colours and light with greater control. In contrast, a JPEG file (which is compressed) has the colour and lighting information is somewhat fixed; tweaking the colours on a JPEG will cause artefacts to appear much sooner, and that’s something we want to avoid as much as possible. Even if we’re going to be outputting a compressed file at a later stage, we’d rather have as much control as possible during the editing process.
RECORDING COMPARISON: COMPRESSED VS LOSSLESS
Note, you may not be able to hear the difference between the two but taking a look under the hood at the files and performing a null test (this is where we subtract the contents of the two recordings from one another to work out the difference between them) reveals there is information we end up missing out on when using the compressed file. FOR EXAMPLE?
What cloud collaboration platform should I use?
I use Google Drive. You get 15GB free with a Google account which should be more than enough for a while. I’d recommend setting up a folder in your cloud storage for your podcast in advance of recording. My suggestion is to create a file structure system that will be sustainable for the future; you’ll want to create folders that look something like this:
INSERT WITTY PODCAST NAME HERE
Episode 001
Recordings
Episode …
Recordings
Episode 099
Recordings
Resources
Or, if you’ve planned out a bunch of episodes, you could group them into a season:
INSERT WITTY PODCAST NAME HERE
Resources
Season 001
Episode 001
Recordings
Episode …
Recordings
Episode 012
Recordings
Even if you’re not planning on using the word “Episode” in your podcast name, it’s worth using a numeric identifier for the folder as a reference so you can easily find it in the future. From here, you’ll share the FOLDER location with your collaborator(s); make sure to use the “View and Edit” option if using Google Drive (or the equivalent option) so that they can put files in here themselves. AND YOU BOTH HAVE ACCES TO THIS?
How do you position the phone for professional sounding voice recording?
The phone's positioning is vital to a professional sounding podcast. The microphone(s) in modern phones are surprisingly good! If you’ve ever recorded footage a gig and listened back to it on headphones, you’ll hear a lot of bass (low end).
You’ll no doubt have had a call where you couldn’t be bothered to hold the phone to your ear on loudspeaker (no one really enjoys having long phone calls with the phone glued to your ear) sometimes the person on the other end will say they can’t hear you very well and you’ll have to put the phone closer to your mouth. What’s happening here is the microphones inside the phone are picking up equal amounts of your voice and the sound of the room, causing you to sound far away. We want to avoid as much room in the recording as possible. When you watch a podcast being recorded (think the Joe Rogan Show), they directly talk into the microphones.
RECORDING COMPARISON: TESTING PHONE MICROPHONE DISTANCES FROM MOUTH WITH INBUILT VOICE RECORDER
Demonstrate table distance (measure) WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
Demonstrate with a phone held close to the mouth
Demonstrate with a blanket over the head near to the mouth
As you can hear, the blanket over the head is the ‘closest’ sounding recording. Now, I’m not suggesting that you wear a blanket for recording your podcast, but it demonstrates a point - that we want as little room sound as possible in our recording. Go around your house/flat and clap in each room; you’ll begin to hear the room's tone - you want to find a location with the least amount of reverberation (this is what the room’s tone you’re hearing is called).
You’ll want to place the phone (ideally on a flat surface facing upwards) about a fist and a half from your mouth (roughly 5cm), any closer than this, and you’ll end up risking pops and clicks from your voice in your recording. These pops and clicks are created from your mouth when you speak; they are most prominent on plosives; p, b, t, d, k, g (placing your hand open in front of your face and saying the plosives will give you an idea of what we mean here). The further away you move the phone from your mouth, the less susceptible the microphones are to the plosives but the greater the amount of reverberation that will be introduced into the recording. Microphone placement is a balancing act.
Note, you can get fancy and use something called a pop filter to prevent plosives affecting microphones so that you can get the microphone closer to your mouth (6cm). To make one use a stretched out pair of tights, wire coat hanger, and some cable ties (or tape). More on this later.
I’d recommend doing some test recordings and listening back to them on headphones (or speakers) to find the phone's most practical location and ideal positioning.
Okay, so I know all of that, but how do I record the actual podcast?
As the old proverbial saying goes, “there is more than one way to skin a cat” (but please don’t do this, cats are great); there are many different ways to record a podcast remotely; the steps here are principles and should be translated to whatever software you are using to call with. I personally find using Zoom or Skype the best options, as most people are familiar with it by now! Video conversations are great because they tend to keep each participant focused on the podcast.
For ease down the line, it’s best if you pretend that there’ll be no editor (even if it will get edited), try to maintain the flow of conversation (make it natural, people can tell when things are forced).
As each podcast participant will be recording individually, we’ll need a marker so that we know where to synchronise the recordings to in the editing stage. We’ll be going fairly basic here and using a good old hand clap. Make sure the clap is loud and sharp (short). I’ll presume you’re both setting up your phones for optimal recording and have both hopefully read this article. I’ve included an optional step for a backup recording just in case you might have something salvageable (but not great quality - if something does go wrong, remember - it’s the content that matters the most).
Each of you should start your call on your computer without headphones plugged in, turn the speakers to full volume.
Optional: as a backup precaution, record the call on the computer (Skype, Zoom, and Teams (most others too) have this feature built-in).
Each starts the recording on your phone.
The host should clap loudly and sharply.
Each of you plugs your headphones into the computer.
Start chatting; this bit is all you!
After you’ve finished talking, leave a 15-second gap of silence before each hitting stop.
Note, the extra 15-second gap of silence that you recorded at the end of the podcast will be used later in the editing stage.
How do I get the recording onto my computer?
You’ll need to export the recording on your phone to the cloud storage platform of your choice (the steps here may vary, but the principles are the same, so don’t skip reading if you’re not on an iOS device). On iOS,
Open the Voice Memos app.
Tap the recording you just made (it will expand with more options; you should see a play button if you’re in the right place).
Tap on the name to rename the file; I’d do something like “[INSERT WITTY PODCAST NAME HERE] - [YYYY-MM-DD] Episode 001 - [NAME OF PERSON RECORDING]”, hit “return” on the keyboard to confirm.
Tap the three dots.
Tap “Share”.
Scroll to the far right of the apps list and tap “More”.
Select the cloud storage app you’re using (I tap on “Drive”).
Choose where you’ll store this (by default, it’ll be set to “My Drive”, tap on this to select a more specific location).
If using Google Drive and you’re not the folder owner you’ll have to search for the folder as it doesn’t show up in the list (alternatively, save it in your personal Drive and move it to the folder in the app or on the computer later; I only do it now so I don’t forget).
Tap “Save here”.
Wait for it to upload; this can take a while, depending on your internet upload speed.
Next steps…
Most people find the next part the scariest - listening back to themselves talk! Simple solution, get used to it by bearing through it - this is a barrier that most of us face at some point in our lives and will only be overcome by exposing ourselves to the sound of our own voices. Part of the mindset behind this is self-acceptance; you’ve got this far, don’t let ‘you’ hold yourself back.
I hope you’ve found this useful, and I hope you’re ready to go out and record your podcast - hit me up with a comment if you found this useful or have any questions!