In this week's episode, I'm talking about getting great audio out of your guests.

What type of room are they recording in? this can make all the difference to the sound. [1.09 min]

Simple advice like turning off notifications on laptop and phone, shutting windows, and putting the dog in the other room.

Using Headphones and microphones [3.53 min]

Platforms to record on [5.54 min]

My freebie to download for Zoom settings - The link is below!

Top Tip: As part of your guest onboarding process, you could have a document that outlines some of these tips for them.

Make it as easy as possible for your guests so that they enjoy the experience!

If you have any questions or would like some help with your podcast, book a podcast enquiry call.

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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