It's becoming easier and more popular for podcasts to have guest and hosts in separate locations. At first, a few years back, there were only a few ways you accomplish this; now there are a lot of great ways to produce content remotely. In this tutorial we're taking a look at Riverside.fm, a podcasting solution that makes managing, editing a remote podcast a breeze.
To get started, head over to Riverside.fm and sign up for the free to use account so you can get a taste of what the software is all about. The plans for personal accounts range from $15-$24/month and provide you with a lot more flexibility.
Helpful Note: You'll need to use Google Chrome as your browser.
Setting Up A Virtual Studio
The first thing you'll notice is how clean and simple the user interface is. To start a new podcast, click create your first studio to start recording. This opens up a new page with a few prompts to fill and select; a title, selecting whether you'd like to record audio only or with video, scheduling, and inviting participants. You can create multiple sessions and recordings within a studio.
Next, you'll join your studio and be greeted with a green room type page. Here you can select your camera and microphone settings, as well as get a visual of what your frame looks like.
Riverside will ask you if you plan using headphones or not to monitor you sound. This is because they have an echo cancellation built-in, but it's recommend to monitor using headphones regardless.
When you're ready, select Join Studio.
Recording Your Podcast
When you are in your studio, you can invite your guest and they'll have the same opportunity to use the green room.
Once everyone is ready, click Record. When you're done, select Stop.
Both you and your guests will have to stick around for a second or two while Riverside.fm backs up the session. This is a great time to debrief and once again give thanks for the time.
If on the off chance your guest leaves before their clip is uploaded, not all is lost, you'll be able to send them a link to finish the uploading process. This is available under the download feature.
Accessing and Editing Your Session
Now that you've finished your session, you can select View recordings from the studio to access your files. Here you can either download your files to edit in your chosen video editor or to use Riverside.fm's built-in editor. If you want to full control your edits it's best to download your session and finish it elsewhere, but let's take a look at what you can do inside the interface.
Select Edit & export. The first thing you'll see is that you're given the ability to choose what you want to edit for. This is broken up by story, post, and full length. This is really just a way to choose the video layout; 9:16, 1:1, 16:9. I'll select full length, 16:9.
The editor is basic, and you won't need prior experience to use it. Here's the rundown:
- Tracks allow you choose between your camera, and your guests, as well as selecting audio only if that's preferred.
- Size lets you toggle between 9:16, 1:1, and 16:9 formats.
- Layout gives you the option to choose how you'd like shared screen to be displayed. There is also a built-in AI tool that automatically gives the person speaking priority on screen.
- Background: Choose one of the many fun backgrounds to be part of your layout. Of course you can go without or choose to use your own.
- Use Logo to add your visual branding.
Export Options
Once your done and ready to export, click on the button and choose your export settings. You have the options here to choose the video quality all the way up 4K, manage background noise, and normalize audio levels.
That's it! Thanks for following along. In the next tutorial, we'll explore how to set up to get a great interview from your guests.
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