Recording a podcast remotely.
Software, gear and guest briefing for interviews where you are not in the same room.
For a remote podcast you need software that records every voice directly on the speaker’s computer and saves it as a separate track. Then your guest sounds as if they were sitting next to you, even if they are 500 kilometers away and the connection stutters in between.
My team and I use Riverside for this and recommend it to every client. In this article you learn why a normal video call is not enough, which tools exist, what they cost and how to prepare your guest so nothing goes wrong on recording day.
Why a normal video call is not enough
With Zoom, Teams or Google Meet, your voice is compressed and sent over the internet to the other side. If you record this conversation, you record everything that happens along the way. Dropouts, tinny voices and audio jumps as soon as the Wi-Fi briefly weakens.
Remote recording software works differently. Each participant is recorded on their own computer in full quality, and the software uploads this recording in the background during the conversation. If the connection stutters, you hear it in the conversation, but not in the recording.
On top of that, every voice lands on its own track. If your guest coughs while you speak, we simply cut it out. If they are quieter than you, we only level their track. With one shared track, neither is possible.
That the effort pays off is shown by a study by the psychologists Eryn Newman and Norbert Schwarz (Science Communication, 2018). They played nearly 200 participants talks and radio interviews by researchers, once with good and once with bad audio. With bad audio, listeners judged the researchers to be less intelligent and less likable and their research less important. The content was the same every time.
What matters in the software
- Local recording: Every voice is recorded on the speaker’s device, not after the trip through the internet. That is the most important point of all.
- One track per person: Only that way can volume, noise and slips be edited for each person individually.
- Upload during recording: The more is already uploaded when you are done, the less your guest has to wait afterwards.
- Easy for the guest: Click the link, choose the microphone, done. Hardly any guest likes installing a program for an interview.
- Video if you need it: Whoever publishes on YouTube needs a separate high-resolution video track for every person. Whether video is worth it for you is in the article Audio or video podcast.
The tools compared
| Tool | Local recording | Own track per person | Video | Price (approx.) | Suited for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Riverside | Yes | Yes, audio and video | Up to 4K | Free trial, Pro $24 a month with annual billing, otherwise $29 | Anyone who wants audio and video in studio quality |
| Zencastr | Yes | Yes | Up to 4K | Free plan with up to 6 participants | Small budget |
| SquadCast and Descript Rooms | Yes | Yes | Yes | Included in the Descript subscription | Anyone who edits with Descript anyway |
| Cleanfeed | No, very good live connection | Only from Pro | Only in the expensive Cinema plan | Lite free, Pro $12 a month, for companies $36 | Pure audio podcasts |
| Zoom | No, guests come through the line | As an audio file, in the desktop app | Compressed | Usually already available | Stopgap |
Prices and features according to provider sites, approximate and subject to change.
A few notes on the table.
- SquadCast has belonged to Descript since 2023. According to Descript, the recording feature “Rooms” is meant to replace SquadCast at some point; there is no date yet.
- Cleanfeed transmits audio in very good quality but does not record your guest on their own computer. In the free version everyone also lands on one track.
- Zoom can save a separate audio file for each participant in the desktop app. You find the option in the recording settings. But your guests’ voices in it are the way they came through the line, with all the dropouts.
Why I recommend Riverside
The other tools are fine. But Riverside offers the most of all providers, with the best quality and the most features. Nobody matches its value for money. My team and I work with it ourselves.
- Studio quality, even with bad internet: Riverside records every participant locally, with video up to 4K and audio at 48 kHz. If your guest has a shaky connection, at most the conversation stutters. Audio and video in the recording stay good because they are created on their computer and only uploaded in full afterwards.
- The upload runs alongside: Riverside uploads during the recording and shows you for every guest how far the upload is.
- Easy for guests: Your guest enters the studio via a link, on a computer with Chrome, Edge or Safari or with the Riverside app on their phone.
- Noise can be filtered: If your guest sits in a noisy place, the “Magic Audio” feature pulls background noise and echo out of the track and levels the volume. That works well in our practice.
- Everything in one place: Transcript, text-based editing and short clips for social media are included in the Pro plan.
There is one catch. In the Pro plan you can download the separate tracks for only 15 hours per month. For a weekly podcast with one hour per episode, that is easily enough.
If your budget is currently zero, take Zencastr. According to the provider, even the free plan records locally and delivers a separate track per person.
The gear on both sides
The best software does not save bad gear. That applies to you and to your guest.
- Wired headphones: Without headphones, your voice comes out of your guest’s speaker into their microphone, and you have echo on the track. That is why Riverside advises all participants to wear headphones. The headphones are for listening, not for speaking. AirPods are not a good choice for this.
- A real microphone: The built-in microphone in a laptop picks up the whole room. Headsets or the small microphone in the cable of in-ear headphones are just as useless, even if those are trending again right now. For a podcast that is nothing. Even a simple USB microphone sounds considerably better. Which ones are suitable is in the article Video podcast equipment for your home studio.
- Cable instead of Wi-Fi: With us, a guest’s Wi-Fi crashes every now and then. In Riverside that does not harm the recording because it is created locally. But the conversation stalls, and you lose the thread. A network cable or a spot right next to the router helps.
- A quiet room: Carpet, curtains and a sofa absorb echo. Kitchens and glass offices are bad places for a recording.
- A prepared computer: Close other tabs and programs, briefly switch off VPN, browser extensions and ad blockers, no incognito window. Riverside also recommends at least 5 GB of free storage.
Preparing the guest
Most problems on recording day do not arise in the software but because the guest did not know what to expect. That is why with us every guest gets a briefing in advance. This belongs in it.
- Date and link: Date, time with time zone, duration and the link to the studio belong in it, plus a note on which browser to use.
- The tech in five points: They need wired headphones, an external microphone, a quiet room, a network cable and a computer plugged in. Write that briefly and as a list so they can tick it off.
- The format: Clarify whether you record only audio or video too. With video, a camera at eye level, light from the front and a calm background are part of it.
- Topic and structure: What you will talk about and how the conversation is structured, so they can prepare without memorizing answers.
- What happens afterwards: When the episode comes out, whether they can hear it beforehand and how they may share it.
- An emergency contact: A phone number in case the link does not work or they are running late.
The day before, a short reminder goes out. That way the briefing does not end up in an inbox nobody has opened in days. The bonus prompt at the end is exactly for that.
How recording day goes
- Join ten minutes early: Check together whether the right microphone and the right headphones are selected in the software. Often the built-in microphone is still set.
- Test briefly: Riverside recommends a short test recording in which you listen to your guests’ tracks. That costs two minutes and saves you a lost episode.
- Talk first, then record: A few minutes of small talk take away your guest’s nervousness. The first sentences after the start then already sound like mid-conversation.
- Keep an eye on things during recording: In Riverside, a red dot shows that a guest is being recorded, and the sidebar shows how much has already been uploaded.
- Wait after stopping: Your guest leaves the window open until their upload is finished. In the past, guests sometimes closed the tab too early. Today Riverside itself points this out, and with us it practically never happens anymore. If it does, the recording is still on their computer and can be uploaded afterwards.
Bonus
The AI prompt that writes your guest briefing
A good briefing is personal, short and leaves nothing out. That is exactly what costs time if you write it anew for every guest. This prompt does it from a few inputs. You get the invitation with tech checklist, a reminder for the day before, a short message for shortly before the appointment and your own checklist for recording day.
It works in ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini. Fill in the inputs as well as you can. What is missing, the AI marks as a placeholder instead of inventing it.
Prompt
You are the producer of a business podcast and prepare guests for remote recordings. You write clearly, warmly and briefly, like a person who really wants to prepare their guest well. The goal is for the guest to come into the recording relaxed and with working gear. ## My podcast [Name of the podcast, what it is about, who it is for, a link to an episode if available] ## Me as host [Name, role, phone number for emergencies] ## The guest [Name, role, company, how we know each other, formal or informal address] ## The recording – Date, time, time zone: [ ] – Total duration and of that recording: [e.g. 60 minutes, of which 45 minutes recording] – Tool and link: [e.g. Riverside, link] – Format: – Flow: [e.g. 10 minutes tech check and pre-talk, then recording] ## Content – Topic of the episode: [ ] – Three to five topic blocks or guiding questions: [ ] – What the guest should prepare, if anything: [e.g. an example from their daily work] ## Afterwards [When the episode comes out, whether the guest can hear it beforehand, what we send them for sharing] ## Working rules – Invent no facts. If an input is missing, put a placeholder in square brackets and list it at the end. – Stick to the form of address I specified for the guest. – Always write times with time zone. If the guest is in a different time zone according to the inputs, convert the time for them and state both. – No marketing phrases, no cascades of exclamation marks, no dashes. – The tech checklist may have at most eight points. Each point is a concrete action the guest can tick off. – Adapt the checklist to the tool. For Riverside: on a computer Chrome, Edge or Safari, no incognito window, close other tabs and programs, briefly switch off VPN and browser extensions, leave the window open after the recording until the upload is finished. On a phone, the Riverside app. For other tools, name only points you know for sure and mark the rest as placeholders. – For all tools: wired headphones, no AirPods, an external microphone instead of the built-in one, no headset and no microphone in the headphone cable, a quiet room with soft surfaces if possible, network cable instead of Wi-Fi, computer plugged in, notifications off. – Video only: camera at eye level, light from the front instead of a window behind, calm background, look into the camera instead of at the screen. – The guest gets topics and flow, but no answers to memorize. ## Procedure Step 1, check. Check my inputs for gaps and contradictions, such as a missing time zone or a duration that does not match the flow. If date, time or link are missing, ask first and wait for my answer. Step 2, write the texts. Step 3, self-check. Before output, check every time, every date, every name and the link against my inputs and count the points of the checklist. ## Output A. Invitation email with briefing. Subject line, then at most 250 words plus checklist. Order: personal opening, date and link, flow, topics, tech checklist, what happens afterwards, emergency number. B. Reminder for the day before. At most 80 words, with time, link and the three most important tech points. C. Message 15 minutes before the appointment. At most 30 words, suitable for WhatsApp or SMS. D. My checklist for recording day. At most ten points, from the tech check to the completed upload. E. Open placeholders. List of all spots I still have to fill in. Reply in English.
Save the completed inputs about your podcast and about you as host. Then for the next guest you only enter the guest, the date and the topic.
Conclusion on the remote podcast
A remote podcast sounds like a studio when every voice is recorded locally and on its own track. Take Riverside, make sure your guest uses wired headphones and an external microphone, and send them a clear briefing beforehand. Then nobody hears that you were not in the same room.
Frequently asked questions
It works best with remote recording software like Riverside. It records every participant on their own computer, saves every voice as a separate track and uploads the recordings during the conversation. That way the quality stays high even if the internet connection fluctuates.
We recommend Riverside. It records every participant locally with video up to 4K and audio at 48 kHz, guests join via a link in the browser or via the app, and noise can be filtered afterwards. The Pro plan costs about $24 a month with annual billing.
Yes, Zencastr offers a free plan with local recording and a separate track per person for up to six participants. Riverside you can try for free. The free version of Cleanfeed, on the other hand, records everyone on one shared track.
It works, but only as a stopgap. In the desktop app, Zoom can save a separate audio file for each participant. But your guests’ voices in it are the way they came through the line, with compression and dropouts. For a regular podcast, a real remote tool is worth it.
A computer with a current browser or the recording tool’s app, wired headphones, an external microphone instead of a headset, a quiet room and a stable internet connection, ideally via network cable. After the recording, they leave the window open until their upload is finished.