The Best Way to Record a Remote Guest or Podcast Co-Host
Do you know what’s annoying? When you tune into a podcast promoting a really great guest, you find that the entire 30-minute interview with that guest is a telephone recording.
The sound on the phone can be so bad that I personally stop listening to the show because of it. This is especially frustrating because there are easy ways to record a remote guest (or co-owner) with better quality. So, podcaster, stop torturing your audience with awful sound and read on.
Here is a flowchart to help you on your journey.
Difficult, isn’t it? Before we start analyzing this, we’ll start with how to record yourself and then move on to how to record your remote guest or co-owner, including all the hardware you need, with various options for those who want a podcast simply and cheaply, as well those who have a little more time and money to spend.
Recording yourself
A budget option
The cheapest way to record yourself is to use any recording app that comes with your smartphone, like the iPhone Voice Memos app.
The Voice Recorder app will give you a pretty decent sound; however, be mindful of the environment you are in when you record and how you handle your phone. You want to be in a non-echo space, and while the phone is recording, you want to hold it to your ear, as if you were talking to someone on it. DO NOT put your phone right in front of your mouth and speak directly into the microphone. This will pick up tons of wind noise from your mouth and explosives that will cause someone to blow sharply directly into your ear.
You might also consider buying a USB microphone like the Blue Yeti and record yourself on your laptop with readily available software like Audition, Garage Band, Audacity, heck, you can even record yourself via QuickTime.
A little bit about microphone placement: Whenever you use a microphone, whether it’s a Blue Yeti or something more sophisticated, placement is key. As a general rule, the microphone should be placed at a 45-degree angle to the side of your mouth (so it is not directly in front of your face and to minimize explosives), and make sure your mouth stays within about 3-4 inches of the head of the microphone.
Quality option
Choose a good audio interface, voice recorder and microphone
There are many equipment to choose from and these can all be quite expensive. One cheaper way is to buy a USB audio interface like the Focusrite Scarlett 18i8 and record the sound using a program like Pro Tools or Audition (even GarageBand will do).
You can also purchase an audio recorder such as the Zoom H6 or the Marantz 661 that records in very good quality. It will be a little tricky to record audio on Skype (or Google Hangouts) or on your phone using this hardware. The only thing you can do is purchase a TRS male to jack cable , as well as a TRS male to female cable that will allow you to connect to your phone – or laptop / tablet for Skype – send the plug to the recorder and use the jack for your personal headphones. You won’t be able to control the level of your voice, but you will be able to control the level of your guest.
Using an audio interface or recording device also gives you the ability to listen to your voice while recording it, which is very useful for finding the correct microphone placement and preventing explosive devices (you don’t have this option with a phone recorder such as voice memos).
If you don’t want the hassle of setting up an audio interface or recorder to record your Skype or phone call, you can use an application like AudioHijack or TapeACall, although it will sound better when recorded through hardware. One thing is for sure: the recorded end will sound much better than using voice memos.
If you are very serious and you have money
I would recommend getting an audio interface like Sound Devices MixPre-6 Audio Recorder / Mixer and USB Audio Interface . Audio devices allow you to record yourself on a microphone, a guest in the studio on a microphone, a person on Skype, and someone on the phone.
To record a phone call through audio devices, you will need a cable such as the Azden i-Coustics HX-Mi TRRS for microphone and headphones, for smartphones and tablets , so that you can connect the voice recorder to your smartphone.
Equipment for examination
Microphones
For studio microphones, I recommend purchasing the Shure SM7B . They record a little quietly, but they sound good, durable and reliable. I’m also a fan of the Shure Beta 87A , especially if you’ve gone down the route of buying an audio recorder and want a good portable mic.
Headphones
I love the Sennheiser HD 280 Pro Closed-back Studio and Live Monitoring headphones . They take a little time to get comfortable, but they are really solid, sound great, and fold nicely. However, the headphones you’ll see in most studios are the Sony MDR-7506 closed-circuit professional headphones .
If you are partial to using headphones, I will also love the Shure SE215 sound isolating headphones . They sound great, especially for the price, and have a detachable 3.5mm cable that can be disconnected using a Bluetooth cable.
Recording your remote guest or co-owner
Cheapest option: self-sync
As shown in the flowchart at the beginning of this article, the first question you should ask yourself is, “Am I willing to spend the money to record this guest?” Otherwise, the most economical option is to connect to a guest or co-owner via Skype or Google Hangouts on your computer. You record them on your side via Skype, while they record themselves on their side at the same time using their smartphone voice memo app or similar.
If you haven’t used an audio interface or a recording device designed to record Skype conversations, there are apps like Audio Hijack . This program allows you to record audio to your computer from any open application. This is a really powerful software that will give you reliable recording. Just select the output device (where you want to hear audio from) in your headphones, set the recorder quality to WAV, 24-bit stereo and install the app for the application you want to record audio from (in this case Skype) and press the big red button.
Now that you are connected to your guest via Skype and are recording him, ask him to record the end of the interview using the iPhone Voice Memos app. This is called self-synchronization.
If they don’t know how to use the Voice Recorder app yet, you can send them the following instructions:
1. Swipe down from the top of the iPhone screen to the bottom. This will open the search bar.
2. Enter “Voice Recorder” and click the application.
3. Press the red record button and bring the phone as close to your mouth as possible (I know holding two phones to your head can be awkward, but it will provide the best sound quality).
4. At the end of the interview, press the red button again.
5. Click Finish next to the red button.
6. Name your entry and click Save.
7. Click the new post and then click the Share button in the lower left corner.
8. Click your email attachment and send the file to this email address.
When talking to a guest on Skype, make sure you and the guest are both using headphones with a microphone, such as the regular White Apple EarPods. You want the audio that you record for yourself, as well as the audio that they record on their own, is isolated, which means you just want your voice to be picked up by the recording device and not the Skype call itself. This will save you the trouble when you sync audio later. Audio sync is when you replace one recorded audio track with a (hopefully) more sounding track of that audio. (In this case, you will sync the audio of your guest’s voice memos with the Skype audio you just recorded with AudioHijack.)
To sync audio, you still need audio editing software like Pro Tools, Audition, GarageBand, etc.
Here’s a short video on how to sync your recorded guest audio with the audio sent to you:
This is an audio snippet of a voice memo from an interview for the Lifehacker The Upgrade podcast for the episode titled “How to Identify a Cult with Rick Alan Ross.” The guest, Rebecca Stott, lived in the UK and we called her and asked her to do a self-sync. Lifehacker Assistant Editor Alice Bradley, who asks the question at the beginning of the audio, is recorded in our podcast studio.
Telephones
If your guest doesn’t have access to a laptop, see if they have a landline (or an additional phone other than their primary iPhone). You cannot use the Voice Recorder app on the same iPhone you are calling on. The same self-sync method described above can work with your guest connecting to you on a different phone. To do this, they will need to bring the stationary receiver to one ear and the iPhone to the other ear, but reassure them that getting good audio during the interview is worth making them look stupid for a while.
If you haven’t equipped your audio interface or recorder to record phone calls, there is a smartphone app called TapeACall that will record any phone call you make on your smartphone. If you yourself use voice memos to record yourself, the same applies to you as your guest: you also need a second smartphone to use TapeACall, because, again, you cannot call the same phone you are using. application “Voice notes”.
If your guest doesn’t have a smartphone on which they can use the self-sync recording app, just use the Skype recording you’ve collected. Skype and Google Hangouts audio usually sounds a little timid, empty, and erroneous, but it should be at least legible and much better than regular phone audio (and for future reference, landline audio usually sounds much better than mobile phone audio) ).
Best-sounding options: studios and tape recorders.
If you’re willing to spend some money on recording your guest, try booking a radio station or recording studio where technicians can hook them up to contact you and record your guest in good quality. Here is a neat list of radio stations in the United States with email addresses and station engineer numbers. Depending on the station, they will be able to connect you with your guest by phone or Skype. Be sure to ask the engineer to provide your guest’s “isolated audio” so that after you finish the interview he can send you an audio-only file from the guest that you can sync with any phone or Skype audio you recorded the guest at your end.
If your guest can’t go to the nearest studio, ask if they would mind if someone with a dictaphone came to their home, office, or somewhere else to record their end of the interview. This is called a tape sync, and the person who writes it is called a tape sync. There are email listings and places like the Association of Independent Broadcasters (AIR) where you can call and ask for a tape synchronizer available in your guest’s area. Once connected to a ribbon synchronizer, ask them what kind of recording equipment they will be using, and ask them to send you a sample of one of their ribbon synchronizers.
On the day of recording, when your ribbon sync is with your guest, connect to it by phone or Skype and MAKE SURE your guest is talking to you using headphones with a microphone, so that you just get its isolated sound, not the sound of yourself. also goes by phone. A good ribbon synchronizer should be able to provide headphones if the guest does not have them, but check the ribbon synchronizer to make sure they do. After the interview is complete, the tape syncronizer will send you the conversation audio on your guest’s side, which you can sync with the phone or the Skype audio you just recorded on your side.
Renting a ribbon syncronizer will set you back about $ 150. Using a studio can give you more than just a tape syncronizer, but it depends on the studio and how long you will be using its capabilities for your interview. For about $ 120, you can get an hour in a good studio, but if you exceed the scheduled time, it can double right away.
Everything you just learned can also be used to record a remote host. Except, instead of having your other host record themselves using the Voice Memos app, convince them to buy an SM7b microphone and one of the audio interfaces or recording devices listed at the beginning of the article (Focusrite, Zoom H6, etc.).
If all else fails …
But Levy! What to do if a guest does not want to go to the studio, a strange tape recorder came to his house, he does not have access to a laptop for which you can use Skype, or a landline (or additional phone) for self-synchronization, and they want to talk to me ONLY on a mobile phone?
Here you have to ask them one final question: “Are you ready to download the Skype app to your phone?” If so, connect to them via Skype and use this entry. Even if they are talking to you on the phone using the Skype app, it will sound at least a little better than just recording a regular phone conversation.
But what if they don’t even want to download the Skype app on their phone ?!
In this most tragic of events, take a deep breath and ask yourself: “Is this guest worth the junk audio recording that I am going to record from a mobile phone and which I will put on the ears of my dear listeners?” Sometimes guests are worth it, especially if they are high-level guests and you know they will provide you with amazing content – in which case, any sound is better than no sound. But for the most part, if the guest is too complex, you can probably find another guest who talks about the same topic and is more willing to work within your recording settings.
Fact Checking by Jamie Collazo and Brad Fisher.