January 4, 2024 • 23 mins
In Episode 04 of How to Start a Podcast, we cover the best recording and editing software for new podcasters.
Next Steps:
- How to Record a Podcast on Zoom [Best Settings for 2022] (Blog)
- Best Podcast Recording & Editing Software (Video)
- Top 3 Transcription Services for Podcasters (Video)
Remote Recording Software:
- Zoom
- Riverside
- Squadcast
Editing Software:
- GarageBand
- Audacity
- Hindenburg Journalist Pro
- Descript
Other Software:
- Otter.ai
- Magic Mastering
- Audio Hijack
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Gilon (00:00):
What is some software that we're not really a fan of
(00:02):
that you see people using forpodcast recording?
Alban (00:04):
This isn't as common anymore, but Skype it's not 2007
anymore. We've got betteroptions, so shots fired.
Gilon (00:15):
Welcome back to the fourth installment of How To
Start A Podcast podcast. I amone of your host, John Mart's
here with
Alban (00:22):
Alban Brooke, and we're excited to have you back. If
you've made it this far, itmeans that you're probably gonna
make it the whole way. So youbought the equipment, you've
figured out the concept, youknow, the format, you picked out
your co hosts, we're kind of onthe homestretch.
Gilon (00:37):
This is true. At this point, you have probably already
committed to this. And nowyou're just like, Alright, now
how do I do this?
Alban (00:44):
Today, we're gonna talk about software, we're gonna talk
about how to actually recordthese podcasts and edit these
podcasts. Well, not gonna do theactual editing. But we're gonna
talk about all the software thatyou should be considering. When
we're setting up our package.
We've got
Gilon (00:58):
some nifty other kind of apps or software that might also
be helpful in the process ofrecording or editing your audio.
Yeah. And we're
Alban (01:05):
talking about all this at once. Because it can get
overwhelming when you're like,I'm recording with this and
somebody is like, but do you usethis app? And you're like, I
don't know if I need that app?
And they're like, What aboutthis one? You're like, how do
these all work together? What dothey do? So this is all the
software that we recommend thatwe think is really good, that
you probably will want ifthere's other stuff you're
(01:27):
hearing about, we think isprobably maybe a bit more niche
focus, it's not for likeeverybody, and you probably
don't need to stress about itwhen you're starting out.
Gilon (01:37):
So let's start with recording remotely, because
we've all probably had to dothat over the past year or so.
And so you talked in theprevious episode about how
recording in separate places cansometimes be a pretty
inexpensive option if you've gotmultiple hosts. So what are some
software that we recommend forpeople to be able to record when
they're not in the same physicallocation?
Alban (01:59):
Yeah, so the same conferencing software that
everybody uses two years nowsince the beginning of COVID.
Time is a flat circle, it makesno more sense anymore, does it
feel like it's been two years itfeels like it's been 10. But if
you're used to using Zoom, zoomis a good option. There's so
many options and zoom andpreferences and stuff. And you
(02:19):
can actually tweak it to turn itinto pretty good software for
recording a podcast, I actuallyput out something on Twitter the
other day, that was, Hey,everybody, like what software
using to record and zoom is oneof the most popular apps for
people to record remotepodcasts. And it works well, if
you're trying to just everybodyhave their own Samsung cue to
you, and record online ratherthan in person.
Gilon (02:43):
And I'd imagine most of us probably have a PhD in zoom
at this point. So it's prettyaccessible. It's low entry, you
don't necessarily have to payfor any really paid option or
version of it. If you want tojust hop on and kind of watch
your time, it's a really niceoption. As far as software goes
for just getting into longdistance recording.
Alban (03:00):
And we'll put like a blog post or a video, I'm sure Travis
will link one of those at theend. But we'll put it in the
show notes as well, on how toget the best audio if you do use
Zoom, because there's a fewthings that you want to do, we
can maybe run through those oneturning on HD audio is a little
bit heavier on the internet, itdoesn't get as compressed as
much, but the audio quality isimproved Is there any others
Gilon (03:21):
make sure that you hit record, I think that's probably
the most important is you know,with Zoom, you just hop on and
start talking. And you need tobe mindful that you go in and
actually ask it to like give youthe record option. And then the
other kind of piece I would sayis ask it to record multitrack.
So that you know if there's anyfeedback happening or somebody's
(03:42):
audio is a little not sostellar, you can kind of do what
you need to do on thatindividual track. And it's not
all interwoven into your audioas well,
Alban (03:49):
we should probably explain separate tracks what
that means. If we wererecording, and all of a sudden a
dog started barking in my housewhile you were talking, that's
not going to be a problem. If wehave separate tracks, that means
that both of our voices arecaptured totally separately. And
so when we are editing, we couldjust mute me and the dog, and
(04:11):
you could just be talkingnormally, and then it can bring
it back. If you have one trackyour audio editor that could be
you can be someone else is goingto hate it when they're trying
to get those sounds out becauseit gets really really difficult
to do that if people aren't onseparate tracks.
Gilon (04:28):
Definitely multitrack is really the goal. So
Alban (04:31):
we will link that and show you exactly how to set all
of that up. Zoom is a greatoption. 15 bucks if you want to
have a bunch of people on there,or you can just make sure you
stay under the 40 minute limit.
Maybe you can record a couple ofdifferent audio files and save
yourself in cash.
Gilon (04:45):
Okay, what's next? What's maybe a little bit more geared
toward podcasting when it comesto recording software.
Alban (04:50):
So the problem with Zoom is that it's really just made
for video conferencing. And sowhat's actually happening on the
audio level Is I'm talking intomy computer, and my computer is
compressing it. Do you remember,like, when we talked on old
phones actually had a wirehooked into the house, and
everyone had a different voice,their phone voice was different
(05:13):
than their normal voice?
Absolutely. It's because thephone was really, really
compressed audio. So thingssound different when they're
compressed, and they don't soundas good or crisp or clean. Zoom
isn't doing that to the phonelevel. But it's definitely
compressed a little bit. Andwhen it's compressed, the audio
isn't as clean and crisp. Sothere's software and what
(05:35):
they've decided to do is, youknow, John, your voice is
recorded to your computer, myvoice is recorded to my
computer. And then maybe once wewere finished the recording or
maybe a little bit later, itactually sends both of those up
to the cloud. So we have crystalclear audio that's not been
compressed. And that's whatwe're able to work with. It
(05:56):
gives us higher quality audio.
So the two pieces of softwarethat we use for that are
riverside.fm, and squad cast.
And they're both doing prettymuch the same thing. They're
they're saving that audioseparately. And they're also
doing this for the video. So ifanybody does want to record a
video podcast, these are reallylike the top of the top of the
(06:18):
line, what we're doing is we'regetting those really nice video
from your camera, or from yourcomputer, whatever you're using
for your camera. It's notgetting compressed is saved
locally. And it's uploaded whenyou've got the bandwidth.
Gilon (06:34):
So those are two options for you. We like both of those
really. And I think I'veexperienced using both of them
for different things here withBuzzsprout.
Alban (06:41):
Over the years, they've gotten much more reliable,
that's the critical piece forthese, right. If they ever fail,
then it's like a huge bummer.
And those are two that have beenaround for a long time that have
gotten better and better overthe years. And there are so many
new options coming out. So youknow, they've got apps for
phones, so that if you'rerecording someone who only has a
phone, they can actually get areally good recording on the
(07:02):
phone itself. They support lotsof different browsers, Riverside
has some interesting featureslike streaming recording live to
like YouTube, there's some clipsyou can cut up and share to
YouTube. So you can check thoseout for like individual
features. But if you want tolevel up your recording game,
beyond zoom, those who wants tolook at but you're comfortable
(07:25):
with Zoom, and your co hosts arecomfortable with Zoom. And
you've been doing it for a longtime. That's a good spot to
start. When I did the survey, itwas something like 40% of people
who didn't remote recordings,were using zoom to actually
record that. So you would not bekind of weird for using zoom,
you'd be in good company.
Gilon (07:46):
Alright, so we've talked about things that we do like
what is some software that we'renot really a fan of that you see
people using for podcastrecording?
Alban (07:54):
This isn't as common anymore, but Skype where there
is a time when like Skype wasthe thing? Yeah, for sure. And
what you had to do is like youcalled on Skype, and then you're
using other software, like AudioHijack, we can talk about that
later, to record the audioitself. And Skype has gotten
(08:15):
better, but they used to, andthey still are compressing the
audio pretty hard. And I've notseen them be as reliable as
zoom. So like in almost everyway, Skype is not as good as
zoom. And so I would just gofocus on Zoom. And if you want
to upgrade at squad casterRiverside for you, rather than
(08:36):
really considering the going theSkype way.
Gilon (08:39):
Yeah, that makes sense. I definitely am have probably used
Skype in the past.
Alban (08:43):
There's nothing wrong with Skype, except, you know,
it's not 2007 anymore. We've gotbetter options. So
Gilon (08:48):
shots fired. Yeah.
Alright, we've talked about howto record software that's really
helpful for that. What a lot ofpeople don't realize when you're
just starting out is that whereyou record is not necessarily
always where you edit. So whatare some editing software's that
you know, people use prettyoften? Yeah, what do you use? I
like GarageBand. That's my goto, I don't think I'm a very
(09:08):
techy person. So I was lookingfor a drag and drop kind of
technology. And that looked likewhat I could do.
Alban (09:17):
GarageBand and Audacity are the two that are by far the
most common for sure. And youcan guess the reason why the
price point is zero. Yeah,that's what people like. So
GarageBand if you have a Mac,you get it for free, and
originally was made so thatpeople could like, create music
and beats on their computer. Andthat was cool. But then people
(09:38):
were like, hey, I can actuallyrecord like a podcast and edit
it here. It's intuitive. Andit's kind of that clean Apple
feel. That's like, hey, there'smuch options that aren't here.
But the fact that there's not aton of options makes it a little
bit easier for me to use.
Gilon (09:52):
I definitely think I gravitated because I looked at
both of them when I firststarted out and Audacity was
intimidating for sure just bylooking at it. GarageBand did
feel a little bit more intuitivefor me and my learning curve. So
I definitely appreciated that aswell as the $0. I had to spend
because we're buying all thispodcast equipment, right? So can
I get something for free?
GarageBand
Alban (10:13):
audacity is the other one. It's Mac, it's Linux, it's
Windows, everybody everything,but it doesn't look good. And it
is definitely intimidating. Andone of the downsides is, how can
you like too nerdy here, it'sdestructive editing. So in
GarageBand, if you say, like,cut this clip, and like, pull it
(10:34):
together, and like part of it'snot being played anymore, if you
decide to undo that, and youmove something back, it's still
there. And there's no harm, nofoul, you know? Well, with
Audacity, when you startdeleting stuff, you're gonna
have to like Ctrl, z all the wayback to a spot to get it back.
Like as you're editing it out,it's actually getting deleted.
(10:54):
And so it's pretty easy to losesomething because it's
destructive editing. So I'm nota huge fan of Audacity, even
though it is by far the mostpopular and it's free. It's only
popular because it's free. Andif you're using a Mac GarageBand
is so much better. But we'vealso got some really good paid
options. Yeah.
Gilon (11:15):
So what are paid options?
Someone here that's not presentin the room right now. Is a big
fan of one of them.
Alban (11:22):
Yeah, I mean, Travis, our producer uses Hindenburg.
Hindenburg did that's really,really cool is we've inherited
all the software for music. Solike all these people were
editing music. And then theysaid, Hey, let's use the same
software to edit the humanvoice. And so you're kind of
(11:43):
focused on all these things thatare built for music. They're all
options inside of GarageBand. inAudacity, Hindenburg came along
and said, This is going to besoftware for the spoken voice.
So the is really for radio, for,you know, anything you're going
to put out in audio books orpodcasts. So it's a little bit
(12:05):
more focused. It's also a littlebit more money, you have the
price point for us Jalon.
Gilon (12:09):
So with Hindenburg, the journalist pro option, you could
buy it outright for $400. Or youcould pay $10 A month annually.
Alban (12:18):
Okay, so definitely, we're getting into something
more pricey, right? You couldtest it out, I think they give
you a 30 day trial, you couldjust pay by the month for like
12 bucks a month. But if you'regoing to be in this for a while,
maybe a $400 price tag issomething to start considering.
Gilon (12:34):
So that's one of the places where if you're really
looking to invest, you canrecord your audio, edit it, can
you record an Hindenburg?
Alban (12:42):
Yeah. So Hindenburg, if you're recording in person, you
can hit the record button,you're gonna want Hindenburg
Journalist Pro, so that all thetracks get recorded separately.
And then you're able tomanipulate, track, edit, cut
stuff out, fade in, add music,publish directly to Buzzsprout.
Like, all of that is alltogether. And it's a really nice
(13:04):
piece of software. I think ifyou're a Buzzsprout user, you
can go into our partnersdiscounts inside the app, and
get a nice discount forHindenburg. But there's a ton of
great software there. And wehighly recommend it. There's one
other that I personally love.
And I would love, you know, ifmore people were using it, and
that's the script. So the scriptkind of built on what Hindenburg
(13:29):
had done. Hindenburg was like,hey, what if we didn't inherit
all the stuff people needed forrecording music? We'll do it for
the voice. And descript said,Why are we editing waveforms?
Because what we really want toedit are words. And so I have an
English background. I'm muchmore comfortable writing things,
and editing like a Google Doc.
(13:53):
Well, what the script does is werecord and while we're
recording, it's actuallytranscribing the episode. So you
actually end up with not justthe audio, but you also got a
nice transcript. And then youedit the podcast by editing the
word so you see, like where youmisspoke or you had kind of a
(14:15):
flub for a little bit. Youactually just scroll over the
whole thing, and then you deletethat section. It's super, super
nice.
Gilon (14:23):
Sounds a little bit like witchcraft, but it is very, very
cool.
Alban (14:27):
The witchcraft piece of it is even the next level, which
is something they call overdub,and that is, if you forgot to
say something. This is like,definitely weird. Theory, if you
forgot to say something. Andthen you're like, ah, do I
really want to record that?
Well, if it's like a couplewords, the script will have
listened to enough of your voicethat it's like, I think I know
(14:50):
how you sound if you say thosewords, and you can type them and
then it creates the audio thatsounds like you, and we'll drop
it into that spot. They've got aton of stuff built around this
so that you can't do it forsomebody else's voice. But it's
really nice. If you're like, Ah,I said the wrong word I said
(15:11):
$40, when the number wasactually $50, you can make that
change in the script withoutgoing and rerecording from
scratch,
Gilon (15:20):
Wild Wild tech. So the price point for descript varies
from $0, they do have a freeoption, which is pretty nice.
And then they have a 12 to 24kind of price per month,
depending on the kinds ofcapabilities you'd like to have.
So this is a pretty niceinvestment. I think we're
talking about software thatcould be making your life much
(15:41):
easier.
Alban (15:42):
Yeah, there's so many cool other features like filler
word Pro, which I say lots ofarms and ahhs, you can just say,
find all the arms and deletethem. And then it runs through,
like I found 200. And you'relike, Yeah, take them all out,
and it will take them all out.
So it can make all the editingso much easier. And it's really
nice, because once you're done,you've got a great transcript,
(16:03):
and you publish that toBuzzsprout. And we will not only
take the audio file, but we'llalso get the transcript which we
can talk about those in futureepisodes. But if you're using
the script, you're gonna have alot of benefits there as well.
Gilon (16:18):
So on the heels of talking about transcripts,
there's some other types ofsoftware that we like that I
think really just enhance, or atleast simplify your workflow.
Alban (16:27):
If you aren't using the script, and you still want to
create transcripts, therecommendation we have for you
is otter
Gilon (16:34):
otter is a transcription service. It's one of the ones
that we partner with as well.
And that little custom codesituation within your Buzzsprout
account, they are atranscription service that we
partner with.
Alban (16:44):
Yeah, and we give you I think it's 20% off if you sign
up for a year. But what it doesis you upload your audio file it
transcribed, and it's all doneby machine, so it's not very
expensive, and it comes outsounding pretty dang good. So
it's not perfect, thetranscriptions not 100%
accurate. But instead of youtrying to sit there and type the
whole thing, otter is reallygood at giving you something
(17:08):
it's very close. And then youare going through and just like
making corrections rather thanhaving to type the whole thing
from scratch, right
Gilon (17:15):
and like just a little worn in case you didn't hear
him, you do need to read it overafter it kicks it out to you,
just to make sure that it's asclean and as accurate, as you
know it to be from recording it
Alban (17:25):
with any transcription software. It's important
remember, like, this issomething that's really nice for
people who speak StandardAmerican English, like if you
don't have much of an accent,you're probably set. But if you
have a bit of an accent, are youusing slang, or you're speaking
another language, your mileagemay vary, you want to test this
(17:45):
stuff out, because sometimes itcan be pretty far off. And if
you're using more automatedsolutions, the quality
definitely changes. And youmight need to actually say like,
Hey, I'm actually speaking inSpanish here. This isn't me
trying to speak English. So justmake sure you check. And if you
are speaking other language,make sure that the software
(18:06):
you're using actually has beentrained on your voice.
Gilon (18:09):
So next, let's focus on audio. So we are big fans of
magic mastering
Alban (18:15):
when you've edited your episode, that's the editing,
then you've got mixing andmastering. And what mastering is
doing is, let's imagine werecorded it for some reason,
your mic was like super quiet.
And mine was like way
Gilon (18:30):
too hot, which is not an uncommon issue. It's like the
Alban (18:33):
most common is correct.
Let's imagine that one of us hada bunch of background noise that
even though we got that dynamicmicrophone, we're still getting
that background noise. Let'simagine that we've just got all
these little interruptions, youcan become a person who's
mastering episodes like this isa full time job for a lot of
people. But we actually have onBuzzsprout, some software called
(18:56):
Magic mastering that will do allthis for you. Yeah, and
Gilon (19:01):
magic mastering is basically like we describe it as
like an Instagram filter foryour audio. So it is not
witchcraft, in that it can getrid of sounds that are very much
so in there, it might lessenthose sounds. And sometimes
people will try it out and don'tnotice too much of a difference.
And that may be because youalready have some pretty solid
audio, right. So it's just anenhancement. It doesn't put
(19:22):
things there that are notalready present. And it doesn't
completely erase things that arevery much still present. But it
is a nice little filter thathelps level things out. Nice
little glossy filter over theaudio.
Alban (19:33):
Yeah. So if I was really loud, it would bring me down.
And if you were a little quiet,bring your audio up, and we had
some background noise. It'sgoing to do his best to reduce
that. And it's just going toimprove the audio throughout.
And it's automated. So if youturn it on inside of Buzzsprout
and you say yeah, I'm interestedin that. I think we give
(19:53):
everyone a free episode to tryit. And if it does sound quite a
bit better. You just leave thatoption on and you don't After
stress going through trying tofigure out how to also become an
audio mastering master,
Gilon (20:06):
right, so it's a really cool feature that we offer, it
does come at a small fee on topof your paid plan. But I mean,
it's just kind of worth it.
Unknown (20:14):
Well, you can decide if it's worth it. Sure, as long as
we vouch for us, we think it'sworth it.
Alban (20:20):
The last one that a lot of people really love is Audio
Hijack. There's lots ofdifferent setups that this is
useful for. So if you're usingkind of a different setup, let's
imagine, I don't know you'reusing Twitch for some reason, or
stream yard or you're using somesoftware that's a little bit out
there. It's not one of the oneswe mentioned, Audio Hijack, make
(20:41):
sure that no matter what you'redoing, you can record your
voice. The first time Idownloaded this, I was doing a
webinar, where I wanted to showpeople me editing something real
time. But I wanted for thewebinar for people to be able to
hear the edits. And what AudioHijack was able to do is I said,
Alright, I want my microphone tobe an input. And I want this
(21:02):
software to be an input. And Iwant you to bring them together.
And both of those to be sent outover zoom. So you're able to
configure all of that stufftogether. I think it's just a
one time fee. It's not all thatexpensive, maybe $30. But if you
find yourself in one of theseweird situations where you're
like, I want to be able to playclips or sound bites or
(21:25):
something in real time on mycomputer, look at Audio Hijack,
it's got a ton of people wholove it, and definitely a lot of
rave reviews. So
Gilon (21:33):
we have given you so many good things here. You've gotten
software recommendations whenyou want to record long
distance, we've talked aboutaudio recording, we've talked
about editing, we've even givenyou some freebies, Travis, where
can they go next to get somemore information if they want to
dig deeper,
Travis (21:48):
so that probably felt like a fire hose of information
and names of software's thatyou've never heard of. So I just
want to break it down into threeresources to really help you
dial in the right software foryou. So first and foremost, you
can find a link to the blog postthat Alban mentioned for how to
record a podcast on Zoom and allthe settings that you want to
have turned on to get the bestaudio quality possible. It
(22:10):
really is a great solution ifyou're just trying to get
started and get your feet wet alittle bit in remote recording.
So definitely check out thatblog to make sure that you set
everything up correctly. Andthen there are two videos that
will really be helpful for you.
The first one is called the bestpodcast recording and editing
software where we compare eachof the software options that we
talked about in this podcast.
And you can see the pros andcons of each of them kind of
(22:30):
side by side and get a visualidea of what they would look
like to use to record an edityour podcast. And then for
transcripts, we talked aboutotter.ai And that's really our
go to that we recommend for mostpodcasters but Alban mentioned,
if you have a heavy accent, orif you're speaking in a
different language, there aresome other options that will be
better for you in in that videobotter lays out our top three
(22:52):
transcripts services, and Iguarantee you that one of those
is gonna be perfect for you andyour podcast. And as always the
links to those next steps andlinks to all the software
options that we talked about inthis episode are in the episode
shownotes just scroll down onyour phone and you'll see all of
those links there. All right,
Alban (23:07):
well, we're super excited you decided to stick with us in
our next episode we are going tostart recording. So set up the
equipment that you have. We'lltalk through how to write
outlines what you should bethinking about before you
actually record with processthat John and I are going
through to record this podcastwe'll talk about all of that
setting everything up runningtests, and making sure that when
(23:28):
you record you know you'reactually getting a recording. So
we'll hope to see you in thenext episode. Till then keep
podcasting via
What is some software that we're not really a fan of
(00:02):
that you see people using forpodcast recording?
Alban (00:04):
This isn't as common anymore, but Skype it's not 2007
anymore. We've got betteroptions, so shots fired.
Gilon (00:15):
Welcome back to the fourth installment of How To
Start A Podcast podcast. I amone of your host, John Mart's
here with
Alban (00:22):
Alban Brooke, and we're excited to have you back. If
you've made it this far, itmeans that you're probably gonna
make it the whole way. So youbought the equipment, you've
figured out the concept, youknow, the format, you picked out
your co hosts, we're kind of onthe homestretch.
Gilon (00:37):
This is true. At this point, you have probably already
committed to this. And nowyou're just like, Alright, now
how do I do this?
Alban (00:44):
Today, we're gonna talk about software, we're gonna talk
about how to actually recordthese podcasts and edit these
podcasts. Well, not gonna do theactual editing. But we're gonna
talk about all the software thatyou should be considering. When
we're setting up our package.
We've got
Gilon (00:58):
some nifty other kind of apps or software that might also
be helpful in the process ofrecording or editing your audio.
Yeah. And we're
Alban (01:05):
talking about all this at once. Because it can get
overwhelming when you're like,I'm recording with this and
somebody is like, but do you usethis app? And you're like, I
don't know if I need that app?
And they're like, What aboutthis one? You're like, how do
these all work together? What dothey do? So this is all the
software that we recommend thatwe think is really good, that
you probably will want ifthere's other stuff you're
(01:27):
hearing about, we think isprobably maybe a bit more niche
focus, it's not for likeeverybody, and you probably
don't need to stress about itwhen you're starting out.
Gilon (01:37):
So let's start with recording remotely, because
we've all probably had to dothat over the past year or so.
And so you talked in theprevious episode about how
recording in separate places cansometimes be a pretty
inexpensive option if you've gotmultiple hosts. So what are some
software that we recommend forpeople to be able to record when
they're not in the same physicallocation?
Alban (01:59):
Yeah, so the same conferencing software that
everybody uses two years nowsince the beginning of COVID.
Time is a flat circle, it makesno more sense anymore, does it
feel like it's been two years itfeels like it's been 10. But if
you're used to using Zoom, zoomis a good option. There's so
many options and zoom andpreferences and stuff. And you
(02:19):
can actually tweak it to turn itinto pretty good software for
recording a podcast, I actuallyput out something on Twitter the
other day, that was, Hey,everybody, like what software
using to record and zoom is oneof the most popular apps for
people to record remotepodcasts. And it works well, if
you're trying to just everybodyhave their own Samsung cue to
you, and record online ratherthan in person.
Gilon (02:43):
And I'd imagine most of us probably have a PhD in zoom
at this point. So it's prettyaccessible. It's low entry, you
don't necessarily have to payfor any really paid option or
version of it. If you want tojust hop on and kind of watch
your time, it's a really niceoption. As far as software goes
for just getting into longdistance recording.
Alban (03:00):
And we'll put like a blog post or a video, I'm sure Travis
will link one of those at theend. But we'll put it in the
show notes as well, on how toget the best audio if you do use
Zoom, because there's a fewthings that you want to do, we
can maybe run through those oneturning on HD audio is a little
bit heavier on the internet, itdoesn't get as compressed as
much, but the audio quality isimproved Is there any others
Gilon (03:21):
make sure that you hit record, I think that's probably
the most important is you know,with Zoom, you just hop on and
start talking. And you need tobe mindful that you go in and
actually ask it to like give youthe record option. And then the
other kind of piece I would sayis ask it to record multitrack.
So that you know if there's anyfeedback happening or somebody's
(03:42):
audio is a little not sostellar, you can kind of do what
you need to do on thatindividual track. And it's not
all interwoven into your audioas well,
Alban (03:49):
we should probably explain separate tracks what
that means. If we wererecording, and all of a sudden a
dog started barking in my housewhile you were talking, that's
not going to be a problem. If wehave separate tracks, that means
that both of our voices arecaptured totally separately. And
so when we are editing, we couldjust mute me and the dog, and
(04:11):
you could just be talkingnormally, and then it can bring
it back. If you have one trackyour audio editor that could be
you can be someone else is goingto hate it when they're trying
to get those sounds out becauseit gets really really difficult
to do that if people aren't onseparate tracks.
Gilon (04:28):
Definitely multitrack is really the goal. So
Alban (04:31):
we will link that and show you exactly how to set all
of that up. Zoom is a greatoption. 15 bucks if you want to
have a bunch of people on there,or you can just make sure you
stay under the 40 minute limit.
Maybe you can record a couple ofdifferent audio files and save
yourself in cash.
Gilon (04:45):
Okay, what's next? What's maybe a little bit more geared
toward podcasting when it comesto recording software.
Alban (04:50):
So the problem with Zoom is that it's really just made
for video conferencing. And sowhat's actually happening on the
audio level Is I'm talking intomy computer, and my computer is
compressing it. Do you remember,like, when we talked on old
phones actually had a wirehooked into the house, and
everyone had a different voice,their phone voice was different
(05:13):
than their normal voice?
Absolutely. It's because thephone was really, really
compressed audio. So thingssound different when they're
compressed, and they don't soundas good or crisp or clean. Zoom
isn't doing that to the phonelevel. But it's definitely
compressed a little bit. Andwhen it's compressed, the audio
isn't as clean and crisp. Sothere's software and what
(05:35):
they've decided to do is, youknow, John, your voice is
recorded to your computer, myvoice is recorded to my
computer. And then maybe once wewere finished the recording or
maybe a little bit later, itactually sends both of those up
to the cloud. So we have crystalclear audio that's not been
compressed. And that's whatwe're able to work with. It
(05:56):
gives us higher quality audio.
So the two pieces of softwarethat we use for that are
riverside.fm, and squad cast.
And they're both doing prettymuch the same thing. They're
they're saving that audioseparately. And they're also
doing this for the video. So ifanybody does want to record a
video podcast, these are reallylike the top of the top of the
(06:18):
line, what we're doing is we'regetting those really nice video
from your camera, or from yourcomputer, whatever you're using
for your camera. It's notgetting compressed is saved
locally. And it's uploaded whenyou've got the bandwidth.
Gilon (06:34):
So those are two options for you. We like both of those
really. And I think I'veexperienced using both of them
for different things here withBuzzsprout.
Alban (06:41):
Over the years, they've gotten much more reliable,
that's the critical piece forthese, right. If they ever fail,
then it's like a huge bummer.
And those are two that have beenaround for a long time that have
gotten better and better overthe years. And there are so many
new options coming out. So youknow, they've got apps for
phones, so that if you'rerecording someone who only has a
phone, they can actually get areally good recording on the
(07:02):
phone itself. They support lotsof different browsers, Riverside
has some interesting featureslike streaming recording live to
like YouTube, there's some clipsyou can cut up and share to
YouTube. So you can check thoseout for like individual
features. But if you want tolevel up your recording game,
beyond zoom, those who wants tolook at but you're comfortable
(07:25):
with Zoom, and your co hosts arecomfortable with Zoom. And
you've been doing it for a longtime. That's a good spot to
start. When I did the survey, itwas something like 40% of people
who didn't remote recordings,were using zoom to actually
record that. So you would not bekind of weird for using zoom,
you'd be in good company.
Gilon (07:46):
Alright, so we've talked about things that we do like
what is some software that we'renot really a fan of that you see
people using for podcastrecording?
Alban (07:54):
This isn't as common anymore, but Skype where there
is a time when like Skype wasthe thing? Yeah, for sure. And
what you had to do is like youcalled on Skype, and then you're
using other software, like AudioHijack, we can talk about that
later, to record the audioitself. And Skype has gotten
(08:15):
better, but they used to, andthey still are compressing the
audio pretty hard. And I've notseen them be as reliable as
zoom. So like in almost everyway, Skype is not as good as
zoom. And so I would just gofocus on Zoom. And if you want
to upgrade at squad casterRiverside for you, rather than
(08:36):
really considering the going theSkype way.
Gilon (08:39):
Yeah, that makes sense. I definitely am have probably used
Skype in the past.
Alban (08:43):
There's nothing wrong with Skype, except, you know,
it's not 2007 anymore. We've gotbetter options. So
Gilon (08:48):
shots fired. Yeah.
Alright, we've talked about howto record software that's really
helpful for that. What a lot ofpeople don't realize when you're
just starting out is that whereyou record is not necessarily
always where you edit. So whatare some editing software's that
you know, people use prettyoften? Yeah, what do you use? I
like GarageBand. That's my goto, I don't think I'm a very
(09:08):
techy person. So I was lookingfor a drag and drop kind of
technology. And that looked likewhat I could do.
Alban (09:17):
GarageBand and Audacity are the two that are by far the
most common for sure. And youcan guess the reason why the
price point is zero. Yeah,that's what people like. So
GarageBand if you have a Mac,you get it for free, and
originally was made so thatpeople could like, create music
and beats on their computer. Andthat was cool. But then people
(09:38):
were like, hey, I can actuallyrecord like a podcast and edit
it here. It's intuitive. Andit's kind of that clean Apple
feel. That's like, hey, there'smuch options that aren't here.
But the fact that there's not aton of options makes it a little
bit easier for me to use.
Gilon (09:52):
I definitely think I gravitated because I looked at
both of them when I firststarted out and Audacity was
intimidating for sure just bylooking at it. GarageBand did
feel a little bit more intuitivefor me and my learning curve. So
I definitely appreciated that aswell as the $0. I had to spend
because we're buying all thispodcast equipment, right? So can
I get something for free?
GarageBand
Alban (10:13):
audacity is the other one. It's Mac, it's Linux, it's
Windows, everybody everything,but it doesn't look good. And it
is definitely intimidating. Andone of the downsides is, how can
you like too nerdy here, it'sdestructive editing. So in
GarageBand, if you say, like,cut this clip, and like, pull it
(10:34):
together, and like part of it'snot being played anymore, if you
decide to undo that, and youmove something back, it's still
there. And there's no harm, nofoul, you know? Well, with
Audacity, when you startdeleting stuff, you're gonna
have to like Ctrl, z all the wayback to a spot to get it back.
Like as you're editing it out,it's actually getting deleted.
(10:54):
And so it's pretty easy to losesomething because it's
destructive editing. So I'm nota huge fan of Audacity, even
though it is by far the mostpopular and it's free. It's only
popular because it's free. Andif you're using a Mac GarageBand
is so much better. But we'vealso got some really good paid
options. Yeah.
Gilon (11:15):
So what are paid options?
Someone here that's not presentin the room right now. Is a big
fan of one of them.
Alban (11:22):
Yeah, I mean, Travis, our producer uses Hindenburg.
Hindenburg did that's really,really cool is we've inherited
all the software for music. Solike all these people were
editing music. And then theysaid, Hey, let's use the same
software to edit the humanvoice. And so you're kind of
(11:43):
focused on all these things thatare built for music. They're all
options inside of GarageBand. inAudacity, Hindenburg came along
and said, This is going to besoftware for the spoken voice.
So the is really for radio, for,you know, anything you're going
to put out in audio books orpodcasts. So it's a little bit
(12:05):
more focused. It's also a littlebit more money, you have the
price point for us Jalon.
Gilon (12:09):
So with Hindenburg, the journalist pro option, you could
buy it outright for $400. Or youcould pay $10 A month annually.
Alban (12:18):
Okay, so definitely, we're getting into something
more pricey, right? You couldtest it out, I think they give
you a 30 day trial, you couldjust pay by the month for like
12 bucks a month. But if you'regoing to be in this for a while,
maybe a $400 price tag issomething to start considering.
Gilon (12:34):
So that's one of the places where if you're really
looking to invest, you canrecord your audio, edit it, can
you record an Hindenburg?
Alban (12:42):
Yeah. So Hindenburg, if you're recording in person, you
can hit the record button,you're gonna want Hindenburg
Journalist Pro, so that all thetracks get recorded separately.
And then you're able tomanipulate, track, edit, cut
stuff out, fade in, add music,publish directly to Buzzsprout.
Like, all of that is alltogether. And it's a really nice
(13:04):
piece of software. I think ifyou're a Buzzsprout user, you
can go into our partnersdiscounts inside the app, and
get a nice discount forHindenburg. But there's a ton of
great software there. And wehighly recommend it. There's one
other that I personally love.
And I would love, you know, ifmore people were using it, and
that's the script. So the scriptkind of built on what Hindenburg
(13:29):
had done. Hindenburg was like,hey, what if we didn't inherit
all the stuff people needed forrecording music? We'll do it for
the voice. And descript said,Why are we editing waveforms?
Because what we really want toedit are words. And so I have an
English background. I'm muchmore comfortable writing things,
and editing like a Google Doc.
(13:53):
Well, what the script does is werecord and while we're
recording, it's actuallytranscribing the episode. So you
actually end up with not justthe audio, but you also got a
nice transcript. And then youedit the podcast by editing the
word so you see, like where youmisspoke or you had kind of a
(14:15):
flub for a little bit. Youactually just scroll over the
whole thing, and then you deletethat section. It's super, super
nice.
Gilon (14:23):
Sounds a little bit like witchcraft, but it is very, very
cool.
Alban (14:27):
The witchcraft piece of it is even the next level, which
is something they call overdub,and that is, if you forgot to
say something. This is like,definitely weird. Theory, if you
forgot to say something. Andthen you're like, ah, do I
really want to record that?
Well, if it's like a couplewords, the script will have
listened to enough of your voicethat it's like, I think I know
(14:50):
how you sound if you say thosewords, and you can type them and
then it creates the audio thatsounds like you, and we'll drop
it into that spot. They've got aton of stuff built around this
so that you can't do it forsomebody else's voice. But it's
really nice. If you're like, Ah,I said the wrong word I said
(15:11):
$40, when the number wasactually $50, you can make that
change in the script withoutgoing and rerecording from
scratch,
Gilon (15:20):
Wild Wild tech. So the price point for descript varies
from $0, they do have a freeoption, which is pretty nice.
And then they have a 12 to 24kind of price per month,
depending on the kinds ofcapabilities you'd like to have.
So this is a pretty niceinvestment. I think we're
talking about software thatcould be making your life much
(15:41):
easier.
Alban (15:42):
Yeah, there's so many cool other features like filler
word Pro, which I say lots ofarms and ahhs, you can just say,
find all the arms and deletethem. And then it runs through,
like I found 200. And you'relike, Yeah, take them all out,
and it will take them all out.
So it can make all the editingso much easier. And it's really
nice, because once you're done,you've got a great transcript,
(16:03):
and you publish that toBuzzsprout. And we will not only
take the audio file, but we'llalso get the transcript which we
can talk about those in futureepisodes. But if you're using
the script, you're gonna have alot of benefits there as well.
Gilon (16:18):
So on the heels of talking about transcripts,
there's some other types ofsoftware that we like that I
think really just enhance, or atleast simplify your workflow.
Alban (16:27):
If you aren't using the script, and you still want to
create transcripts, therecommendation we have for you
is otter
Gilon (16:34):
otter is a transcription service. It's one of the ones
that we partner with as well.
And that little custom codesituation within your Buzzsprout
account, they are atranscription service that we
partner with.
Alban (16:44):
Yeah, and we give you I think it's 20% off if you sign
up for a year. But what it doesis you upload your audio file it
transcribed, and it's all doneby machine, so it's not very
expensive, and it comes outsounding pretty dang good. So
it's not perfect, thetranscriptions not 100%
accurate. But instead of youtrying to sit there and type the
whole thing, otter is reallygood at giving you something
(17:08):
it's very close. And then youare going through and just like
making corrections rather thanhaving to type the whole thing
from scratch, right
Gilon (17:15):
and like just a little worn in case you didn't hear
him, you do need to read it overafter it kicks it out to you,
just to make sure that it's asclean and as accurate, as you
know it to be from recording it
Alban (17:25):
with any transcription software. It's important
remember, like, this issomething that's really nice for
people who speak StandardAmerican English, like if you
don't have much of an accent,you're probably set. But if you
have a bit of an accent, are youusing slang, or you're speaking
another language, your mileagemay vary, you want to test this
(17:45):
stuff out, because sometimes itcan be pretty far off. And if
you're using more automatedsolutions, the quality
definitely changes. And youmight need to actually say like,
Hey, I'm actually speaking inSpanish here. This isn't me
trying to speak English. So justmake sure you check. And if you
are speaking other language,make sure that the software
(18:06):
you're using actually has beentrained on your voice.
Gilon (18:09):
So next, let's focus on audio. So we are big fans of
magic mastering
Alban (18:15):
when you've edited your episode, that's the editing,
then you've got mixing andmastering. And what mastering is
doing is, let's imagine werecorded it for some reason,
your mic was like super quiet.
And mine was like way
Gilon (18:30):
too hot, which is not an uncommon issue. It's like the
Alban (18:33):
most common is correct.
Let's imagine that one of us hada bunch of background noise that
even though we got that dynamicmicrophone, we're still getting
that background noise. Let'simagine that we've just got all
these little interruptions, youcan become a person who's
mastering episodes like this isa full time job for a lot of
people. But we actually have onBuzzsprout, some software called
(18:56):
Magic mastering that will do allthis for you. Yeah, and
Gilon (19:01):
magic mastering is basically like we describe it as
like an Instagram filter foryour audio. So it is not
witchcraft, in that it can getrid of sounds that are very much
so in there, it might lessenthose sounds. And sometimes
people will try it out and don'tnotice too much of a difference.
And that may be because youalready have some pretty solid
audio, right. So it's just anenhancement. It doesn't put
(19:22):
things there that are notalready present. And it doesn't
completely erase things that arevery much still present. But it
is a nice little filter thathelps level things out. Nice
little glossy filter over theaudio.
Alban (19:33):
Yeah. So if I was really loud, it would bring me down.
And if you were a little quiet,bring your audio up, and we had
some background noise. It'sgoing to do his best to reduce
that. And it's just going toimprove the audio throughout.
And it's automated. So if youturn it on inside of Buzzsprout
and you say yeah, I'm interestedin that. I think we give
(19:53):
everyone a free episode to tryit. And if it does sound quite a
bit better. You just leave thatoption on and you don't After
stress going through trying tofigure out how to also become an
audio mastering master,
Gilon (20:06):
right, so it's a really cool feature that we offer, it
does come at a small fee on topof your paid plan. But I mean,
it's just kind of worth it.
Unknown (20:14):
Well, you can decide if it's worth it. Sure, as long as
we vouch for us, we think it'sworth it.
Alban (20:20):
The last one that a lot of people really love is Audio
Hijack. There's lots ofdifferent setups that this is
useful for. So if you're usingkind of a different setup, let's
imagine, I don't know you'reusing Twitch for some reason, or
stream yard or you're using somesoftware that's a little bit out
there. It's not one of the oneswe mentioned, Audio Hijack, make
(20:41):
sure that no matter what you'redoing, you can record your
voice. The first time Idownloaded this, I was doing a
webinar, where I wanted to showpeople me editing something real
time. But I wanted for thewebinar for people to be able to
hear the edits. And what AudioHijack was able to do is I said,
Alright, I want my microphone tobe an input. And I want this
(21:02):
software to be an input. And Iwant you to bring them together.
And both of those to be sent outover zoom. So you're able to
configure all of that stufftogether. I think it's just a
one time fee. It's not all thatexpensive, maybe $30. But if you
find yourself in one of theseweird situations where you're
like, I want to be able to playclips or sound bites or
(21:25):
something in real time on mycomputer, look at Audio Hijack,
it's got a ton of people wholove it, and definitely a lot of
rave reviews. So
Gilon (21:33):
we have given you so many good things here. You've gotten
software recommendations whenyou want to record long
distance, we've talked aboutaudio recording, we've talked
about editing, we've even givenyou some freebies, Travis, where
can they go next to get somemore information if they want to
dig deeper,
Travis (21:48):
so that probably felt like a fire hose of information
and names of software's thatyou've never heard of. So I just
want to break it down into threeresources to really help you
dial in the right software foryou. So first and foremost, you
can find a link to the blog postthat Alban mentioned for how to
record a podcast on Zoom and allthe settings that you want to
have turned on to get the bestaudio quality possible. It
(22:10):
really is a great solution ifyou're just trying to get
started and get your feet wet alittle bit in remote recording.
So definitely check out thatblog to make sure that you set
everything up correctly. Andthen there are two videos that
will really be helpful for you.
The first one is called the bestpodcast recording and editing
software where we compare eachof the software options that we
talked about in this podcast.
And you can see the pros andcons of each of them kind of
(22:30):
side by side and get a visualidea of what they would look
like to use to record an edityour podcast. And then for
transcripts, we talked aboutotter.ai And that's really our
go to that we recommend for mostpodcasters but Alban mentioned,
if you have a heavy accent, orif you're speaking in a
different language, there aresome other options that will be
better for you in in that videobotter lays out our top three
(22:52):
transcripts services, and Iguarantee you that one of those
is gonna be perfect for you andyour podcast. And as always the
links to those next steps andlinks to all the software
options that we talked about inthis episode are in the episode
shownotes just scroll down onyour phone and you'll see all of
those links there. All right,
Alban (23:07):
well, we're super excited you decided to stick with us in
our next episode we are going tostart recording. So set up the
equipment that you have. We'lltalk through how to write
outlines what you should bethinking about before you
actually record with processthat John and I are going
through to record this podcastwe'll talk about all of that
setting everything up runningtests, and making sure that when
(23:28):
you record you know you'reactually getting a recording. So
we'll hope to see you in thenext episode. Till then keep
podcasting via
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