Tips from the PROs – How to Easily Record Your Business Podcast
uStudio Staff | Customer Support, Industry Trends, Podcasting
For those of you getting ready to start a business podcast for your employees, you might be overwhelmed with the idea of podcast production. Lucky for you, recording your business podcast is easier than you might think and you don’t need to break the bank to get killer sound quality. We’ve compiled some of our best practices, tips and tricks to easily record your private, business podcast.
We recently spoke with Host and General Manager of Austin 360 Radio at Austin American Statesman and Co-Host of THE MOVE Podcast with Lance Armstrong, J.B. Hager, who claims he uses the online tool Zencastr, for only $20 a month, to record remote interviews for his podcast.
J.B. shared with uStudio that he made a recording kit to share with his podcast guests. He ships it to them before each podcast interview using a Pelican case with return postage.
“They can plug the equipment into any computer, Mac or PC, change their sound card settings, connect to Zencastr and it sounds great.”
Interested in this method but not sure what equipment to include? Here’s exactly what you can find in J.B.’s podcast recording kit for his remote guests:
“Although the mic, converter, stand, cable and case probably costs around $600 - $700, it should last you forever and ensures good quality on the other end,” says J.B. “If your guest doesn’t have proper setup on their end, it will sound bad.”
We also sat down with Emmy-winning Audio Engineer, Reid Mangan to discuss the audio essentials for getting started with your corporate podcast. You can listen to our full discussion or read the conversation highlights regarding the 5 audio essentials needed to start private podcasting here.
“Having a plan for your content is essential before you actually start shopping for gear,” Reid said. “The kind of content you plan to make will influence everything from what gear to buy, to who creates the content, to where it’s recorded.”
“A classic mistake people make when they’re just getting started is that they start buying gear before they have fleshed out their shows. Sometimes buying gear feels like momentum. It’s tangible, it can be done quickly, and it doesn’t take as much mental energy as planning the content. But that’s like shopping for groceries before you’ve decided what’s for dinner.”
“You can have a great show on terrible gear, and for the most part, it’s still a great show. You can have a terrible show on great gear, and it’s still terrible. No amount of gear is going to save a terrible show. It’s important to think and plan before you shop,” Reid told uStudio.
For those who are recording a business podcast episode individually, there are also several ways to record via the iPhone.
Recording on a cell phone is easy according to this article shared by NPR.
“The internal mic on your phone is surprisingly good — there's no need to add headphones or any attachments to make a great recording. The easiest way to get the mic in a good position is to hold it to your ear, as if you're talking on the phone. If you'd rather hold it out in front of you, make sure it's not too close — you want it about 4 inches away,” the article states.
One of the easiest methods to record audio content on your iPhone is recording through the Voice Memos application available on the home screen of your phone.
Once you have finished recording your business podcast, give the audio file a name and save it. You are able to trim the audio file directly on your iPhone by clicking the “more” feature on the bottom left of your recording. This feature looks like three horizontal dots.
You can also share the file via email and edit it on alternative software.
For those who are using other equipment to record their business podcast, there are still proper field recording techniques to keep in mind. Best practices include insuring the mic is positioned slightly off to the side of the mouth and is fist-wide distance away. It is important to stay consistent with your mic positioning the entire time while recording your business podcast.
Remember that you can always edit your audio. It is better to cut something out than to miss it completely by taking multiple breaks in your recording. The more you record, the better!
Don’t let the fear of production for a business podcast stop you from creating something for your enterprise that can benefit internal communications, training and learning, sales enablement and more. Request a free personalized demo of our private podcasting solution today!
