Audio Tips: How to get the Best Audio out of your Guests

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Welcome to podcasting one on one with me your host

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Rachel. This podcast is for female business owners and

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solopreneurs that are looking to start a podcast that add to your

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own already awesome offering. I'll give you helpful advice

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that you can take away and use in your podcasting journey. I

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hope to answer those tricky questions that just keep you

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from starting. Once a month, I'll be joined by other female

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podcasters. They'll share their journey with you and offer tips

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and advice they discovered along the way. Let's get started.

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Hi, and welcome back to this week's episode. This week, I

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just wanted to give you some audio tips of how to get the

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best audio out of your guests. So some of the tips, it won't

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matter what platform you're actually recording into. It's

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more about them their surroundings, I mean, this goes

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for yourself as well. So recording in a room that is not

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you know, like fully tiled or would your voice will just echo

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off something you need some soft furnishings on the walls or

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maybe carpet to create a better sounding environment. That's why

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you sometimes hear of people recording in their cupboard

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under the stairs or under they do vai or something like that.

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I'm currently recording in my kitchen. I'm extremely lucky in

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that my husband is a professional sound engineer. So

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he is really helpful to me when I need some extra tips. And this

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is recorded in the summer of 2022. And as you may all know,

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in the UK a few weeks ago, it was really, really hot. And my

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usual recording space and office space is my conservatory, which

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has carpet and material blinds on the wall and is really nice

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for recording except when it rains. This is it can you can I

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don't know whether you can be able to tell there's a couple of

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episodes, you can hear the bit of the shushing of the rain. But

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yeah, so I had to move relocate into the kitchen, and I was a

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bit concerned as to whether or not it would sound very good.

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But as long as I have all the windows close, I don't have the

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washing machine on or anything like that, then hopefully the

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sound sounds pretty good. You tell me, this is where I'm

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recording it right now. So another thing, like I just said

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about closing windows, making sure washing machines aren't on

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showing the dog outside. I mean, you can't help it if something

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like that happens. And ultimately, it's not something

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to massively worry about if you occasionally have some noise in

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the background, you know, clunking of the mic or anything

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like that. But obviously, it makes it such a better listening

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experience. If it sounds good, because there's kind of can be

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very distracting. If something's not very well recorded. There's

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a lot of background noise, you know, things like that. Also,

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big tip, turning off notifications on your laptop and

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your phone. I sometimes have been interviewing people and I

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mean it isn't really a big deal, like I said before, but you've

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got things pinging off in the background. And sometimes they

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might be in the middle of like a really, you know, really, really

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great tip or really, you know, great piece of advice and you've

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got like things pinging off so it can be a little bit

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distracting. So just simple things like that. Turning your

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notifications off, turn your phone on to aeroplane mode,

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little things like that. using headphones, they really help as

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well. What I have my setup is I have a mic which is plugged in

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to my laptop and then I have headphones plugging into my mic

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so that I can hear myself. I'll also hear myself if I did in the

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mic or anything like that. So that is one thing to be aware

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of. If if you do have a microphone that standing on your

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desk, if it's not on kind of like a wall bracket or anything

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like that or hanging up in front of you it can be it will pick up

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if you bang the desk so I'm not going to do it now but I have

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done it in the past I now try to see it a little bit away from my

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desk and lean in a little bit to the mic so that I'm you know the

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optimum range away from the mic to hear me. You know I've talked

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about this in a previous episode. You don't have to have

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an expensive mic or headphones for that matter to be able to

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record a podcast if you can afford them brilliant. It will

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make your life easier and it will sound fantastic. But it

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will still sound equally good. If you don't have the money to

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spend on a microphone. So the microphone I've got is a

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Behringer microphone.

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I've mentioned it before I can put a link to it in the show

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notes. I bought it off Amazon and at the time, I think it was

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reduced to 50 pounds, which I felt was a really good deal for

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this type of microphone and Behringer, like my husband has a

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lot of mixing desks and things they're made from Behringer. So

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it's a pretty good brand to use. And I know the the Blue Yeti

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mics are also popular with a lot of podcasters. Yes, so it is

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worth if you can afford it to buy a good mic. But again, if

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you've got some headphones that are like the hands free ones,

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and you've got a microphone near your face, knee, face the mouth,

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then they will work equally as well. And then, you know, if you

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want to try out your podcasting for a little bit before you

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invest in the equipment, that is okay to donate, that'd be a bit

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of a barrier as well. So, as I mentioned before, there are

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different platforms, which you can record your guests on or

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your solo episodes, I tend to record my episodes, my guest

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episodes on Zoom. Now I have a freebie which you can download,

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which has my recommended zoom settings on there for you, where

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you can check your levels. And you can also record two audio

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tracks. And so when you finished recording, and you press stop,

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you'll get sent the file by zoom, and it'll have the video

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on there if you've enabled it. And then it will have the two

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audio tracks and I'll have one together. If there is some

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background noise on say, for example, there's a dot your dog

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is barking over what they're talking, if you have the two

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separate streams, you can easily get rid of that that noise if

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it's not on their tracks. So that just helps a little bit if

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there's some noise on one of the tracks. And it's over the top of

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somebody's talking. Obviously, if it's on your track, when

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you're talking, it's very difficult to get to get rid of.

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That's why, you know, trying to reduce the chances of being

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interrupted in a noisy thing is the best way to combat that. As

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there is only so much you can do with a recording that's got

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noise on the same track as you talking. And there are other

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platforms like riverside.fm squad cast, Zen caster, these

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are online studios that you can use to record Alia to as well

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you can record straight into and also anchor you can record stay

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into, I have only really using, it's been fine for what I've

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needed to do. Obviously, it can your Wi Fi connection can be an

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issue here if you haven't got great reception. But seeing as

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the other platforms are also done online. If you have bad Wi

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Fi, I think it would affect that recording as well. So as we all

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work online, and we're online business owners we rely on good

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Wi Fi, I recently had to get fibre, thankfully managed to get

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a deal for it, because our Wi Fi just kept dropping out. And I

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just want to upload files everything and it's just such a

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pain. So the settings for these, I'm guessing they're probably

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similar to some of the zoom settings and you can adjust your

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mic. You know, if you download the freebie, it's a little bit

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hard to explain when you're not seeing it, you know the levels

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of the mic, it's also got some in my download, I recorded my

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solo episodes straight into Audacity. So it's got a little

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guide so you can check your levels there. And just to make

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sure that you're not talking too loudly or talking too quietly,

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in your mic correct in your microwave, in your microphone.

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So one good tip that might help your guests is as part of your

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onboarding process, you can have a document that outlines some of

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these tips for them. That way once they've booked in with you,

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you can send this across to them just giving them a little a

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heads up on that. I mean, they may well know but if they don't,

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it's just nice. It makes a little bit more nice experience

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for them as well. Also allow extra time for your interview.

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So at the beginning, just do a little soundcheck remind them of

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notifications, little things like that, and it will make it

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as easy as possible for them. And it'll make hopefully make

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everything go a lot smoother. So that's it for today. I hope

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you've enjoyed the episode and you've got something out of it.

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If you would like to ask me any questions then please do. I'm

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also happy to chat to you. You can book in a 30 minute free

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consultation or session with me where I can answer some of your

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questions about launching or about your current podcast or

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any questions you would like to ask me. I'd love to hear from

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you. I will put a link in the show notes so it's easy for you

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to check in.

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See See you next time. Thanks. Bye. Thanks so much for

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listening. If you've enjoyed today's episode, please like,

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share and subscribe. Your support means so much to me. If

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there's a question or topic you'd like covering then I'd

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love to hear from you. Find the podcast on Instagram at Reggie

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Botfield and drop me a DM till next time bye