Recording (Podcast)

After you've got all your gear set up and you've practiced your microphone technique, you're ready to hit the record button and go, right? Wrong. Recording is not something you should rush into. In fact, the more time you take to test, prepare, and practice beforehand, the better your podcast will be. You've seen it in the movies or on television — the rock and roll roadie going from mic to mic saying, "Check-one-two," over and over again. There's a good reason for this. He's checking to make sure:

- The mic works

- The monitoring desk at the side of the stage is receiving signal

- The mixing desk out in front of the house is receiving signal

- A person standing in front of this microphone will hear himself

Luckily, you won't have to check quite as many things, but you really do need to make sure everything is working before you start recording. It's time for your own version of a sound check.

Sound check
Sound check is what you do before you press the record button. It's the last sanity check before you commit to your podcast. Even if you've used your recording setup a hundred times before, you should always do a quick sound check to make sure everything is working as expected. Your mental check list may differ depending on your situation, but essentially you have to check the following:

- All your microphones are working and have enough gain

- Any other audio sources are working and have enough gain

- All the equipment in your audio chain is functioning properly

- Your recording device is getting a good level

- Your aux send levels (such as the send to a telephone hybrid) are good

- The level in the headphones is good (if you're using headphones)

Of course, to test whether a mic is working, someone has to be talking into it. This is where "Check-one-two" comes in. Always set and check levels with the actual talent, so you get the levels right. After all, not everyone is as much of a blowhard as you are. In fact, some of your guests may be downright wallflowers. If so, a common trick to get your talent talking before the interview is to ask them what they had for breakfast. Even if they can't remember, or if they say they don't usually have breakfast, it's usually enough to get them started and serves as an icebreaker for the actual show. Of course, you can ask your talent about anything you like — just get them talking for a few seconds so you can check your levels. After you've checked all your levels and are satisfied that they look good, you're ready to start recording.

The countdown
You need to do two things to start your recording session. First, you have to press the record button. It's actually not unheard of for complete interviews to be done before people realize that they forgot to start recording. Unfortunately, one of your authors knows from experience. Save yourself the embarrassment, and make sure to press the record button.

Next, let the talent know that the recording has actually started, and leave a good spot for you to edit later on. This is where the countdown comes in. After you've pressed the record button, put a little identifier at the start of your file, including the name of your interviewee, and a quick countdown, something like, "Interview with Charles Peterson, talking about Leica cameras, in five… four… three… two… one." Take a deep breath. Introduce your show, your guest, the topic, and you're off and running.

The countdown is important for a couple of reasons. First, leaving a small, silent gap at the beginning of your podcast makes it much easier to edit. A common mistake novices make is to go from the sound check straight into the interview, without even so much as a breath in between. It may feel natural at the time, but you'll find when you're trying to edit to clean up the start of the podcast that it doesn't sound natural when you cut out the sound check chatter. Second, the countdown is a focusing mechanism, both for you as an interviewer and for the talent. It doesn't matter how off-the-cuff you want your podcast to sound; you still want it to sound professional, and giving yourself and your talent that extra few seconds to mentally prepare works wonders.

Tip A great way to test your talent's levels is to have them say their name and then spell it. This way you know how to pronounce their name, and how to spell it!

Intros and outros
Every radio and television interview program with a host has an intro and an outro. They're important, because they tell the audience what they can expect during the program, and they provide an overview of the topic. The intro to your podcast should have a "hook" in it, meaning a sneak peek or hint about the subject matter that makes the show irresistible to your audience. Not everyone in your audience is going to be riveted by every single guest and topic you decide to cover. We live in a busy world, and you've got lots of competition for your audience's time. Use the intro to tell your audience why you're excited about the program, particularly if you're covering a slightly obscure topic or you have a guest without marquee name recognition. If you do a good job of getting your audience excited, they'll stick around for the entire podcast.

Similarly, be sure to wrap up every program with a good outro. Obviously, you need to thank your guest(s) and your audience. You should also summarize the program, highlighting the subjects you covered. Then use this time to talk about your next podcast. If folks have made it this far, chances are good that they'll come back for your next podcast, perhaps even subscribe to your RSS feed. You can help ensure that they do so by letting them know what to expect next time around. This may be the first program that some listeners have tuned in to. Even if you don't know exactly who your guests will be or what topics will be discussed during the next program, you can at least give them an idea of what to expect.

Doing "drop-ins" and "pick-ups"
No matter how prepared you are, you may forget to cover something that you absolutely must have in your program. You may realize it at the end of your recording session when glancing at your notes, or heaven forbid you may realize it during the editing phase. Not to worry; if you were relatively careful setting up your levels, you should be able to do it as a "drop-in" or "pick-up."

A drop-in is when you record over an existing recorded piece and replace a section with a newly recorded version. For example, when movies are sanitized for viewing on airplanes and television, the actors have to drop-in over all the blue language and replace it with "drat!" or some other acceptable utterance. A pick-up is when you add to the end of the recording, knowing that you'll later edit the piece and insert the pick-up section where it belongs in the interview.

Drop-ins are more common in multi-track music recording, where an otherwise perfect performance may be marred by a single bad note. In cases like this, the musician or singer will sing along with the recorded version, and the engineer will "drop in" and record over the offending section. This requires quite a bit of skill and is not for the faint-hearted.

Pick-ups, however, will probably become part and parcel of your podcasting routine. For example, you may want to redo your introduction to reflect something that came up during the interview. Or you may want to rephrase some of the questions you asked, or perhaps even ask a question that you forgot earlier in the interview. In this case, you can simply do a pick-up, where you record what you need after the initial interview. Then, during the editing phase, you can move the sections around at will. Editing is covered in the next section.