Recording your first podcast episodes

Here’s the main thing to know about the first 1-3 episodes that you record: you don’t have to use them. They can just be practice. However, I will reiterate that you should plan the episodes out in advance. I do on occasion watch a movie and then almost immediately record an episode on it, so that’s a little different since it’s still very fresh and winds up being more of a first impression episode.

Once you’re all set up, you want to make sure you test your levels so you aren’t recording either too quiet or too loud. You might think recording too quiet wouldn’t be a huge deal, but if you do that and then crank it up later, you’ll hear more noise on your track. As you’re just getting started, I recommend talking for a few seconds, hitting stop, and then listening back so you get a feel for the volume level and how it correlates to what your waveform looks like. If you’re using something like Zencastr or Riverside to record, you can also check the levels for whoever you’re recording with and have them adjusted as necessary.

Any time that I recorded with a new guest, I noticed that sometimes it could take 5-10 minutes to find a good cadence. Even if you have a co-host who you’ve talked to before, recording is a whole different ball game. Especially if you aren’t in person, it’s easy to talk over each other. I frequently would just catch up with someone before the episode so we got a good little warm up and then hit record after talking for a little bit to get the episode started. Do whatever you’re most comfortable with though. That’s going to be a big theme as you get started since there’s no one way to do things.

Thankfully, recording is one of those things that from a technical perspective is pretty much the same no matter what app you’re using to record. Make sure your inputs are all correct and then hit that nice, red record button. We’re all human, so expect to forget to hit record at some point. Which brings me to another point: recording a backup.

If you’re using Riverside for instance, they record locally and record a backup in case anything goes wrong. So since they’re doing it for you, you’re usually all set. When I record, I’m usually recording locally and then I have a backup for myself and my guest recording via Audio Hijack. If you’re on your call on Zoom, you can also just record the call as a backup, which is what a lot of people do. Some even use it for their main audio, which I typically recommend against since it relies on an internet connection vs. recording locally. The main thing is that the audio sounds fairly good and is usable. As long as you have that, you’ll be good.

Here are some screenshots of what recording in Logic Pro X looks like (and it should be pretty similar in any other digital audio workstation that you use).

On the left-hand side, you’ll see a section where you can set your inputs. They may be a little different depending on what your USB mic or audio interface is. For instance, the microphone 1 input on a Rodecaster Pro is Input 3 in Logic because Inputs 1-2 are used for a stereo mix. As you’ll also see below, I have two tracks set up and you can just add as many as you will need and adjust the inputs accordingly.

And here’s a look at what Logic looks like when you’re recording. The little red R under Audio 1 means that your track is recording enabled and then you just hit the red recording button at the top to get going.

Using a platform like Zencastr is much more streamlined, so let’s take a look at that, too. This is the view when you’ve created a room for a recording.

As it turns out, in dark mode, the record button is blue instead of the usual red. Here you also have the option to turn on video like you would in a Zoom call and you can choose to record the video or not. Then if you click on call settings in the top right, this is what pops up.

This is the equivalent of setting your inputs and outputs like you would in your computer settings, with a few extra options.

If you have any quick questions about recording your podcast, feel free to contact me here.