Why We Love Remote Recording
Like so many small businesses when the pandemic hit, we were worried (terrified) about what it meant for us and whether we’d survive – especially as we were not even a year old at the time. But as it turned out we were one of the lucky ones that found a silver lining which actually made our business thrive. And the name of that silver lining? Zoom.
Pre pandemic people were obviously already using Zoom, but it wasn’t something that most people had heard of or knew how to use. And when people aren’t sure how something works, they tend to shy away from it. We’d had a few clients say they’d rather not record remotely purely because they didn’t understand how it would work. Or thought it sounded more complicated than just getting together in person to record. After Zoom keeping us connected to our family and friends throughout 3 lockdowns, that perception has now turned on it’s head. Now even our Nans know what it is – even if they still don’t understand how to unmute themselves!
So what are the benefits of this new found appreciation of connecting remotely? Well first up is access to guests. Jayne Rafter, host of RLI Talks has connections all over the world, and we’ve now had most of them on the podcast. From Dubai to New York, Hollywood to Canada, these were people it just wouldn’t have been logistically possible to have on the podcast without being able to record remotely. And of course it’s just a tiny chunk out of their day without actually having to go anywhere.
Which leads us on to benefit number two… Time. In the latest series of A Girl And A Gay In The Gym, presenters Hattie and Richie had Emma Bunton (yes, an actual Spice Girl!!!) on an episode. Now would we have got Baby Spice to come on the podcast if she’d had to leave the house, sort childcare and negotiate the traffic to a studio and back? Probably not. But as it was, she finished a home workout, chatted to Hattie & Richie for half an hour and then went back to her day. And that is a much attractive prospect to most guests, especially when we’re all valuing our time and how we use it more than ever.
The other huge benefit of recording via Zoom is the cost. We were having conversations 2 years ago about travelling across the country for 4 hours, recording 3 episodes in a row, staying overnight and doing the same the next day to get a series underway. Which obviously has quite significant increases in cost to the client. Now everyone understands that this just isn’t an effective way to do things, when we can all stay exactly where we are and record with minimal disruption to everyone’s day.
Now although we love Zoom, we don’t love the audio quality it provides. Here at Sound Rebel we have incredibly high production standards and want the audio to be in the highest quality possible. We ask each contributor to record their audio individually and once we’ve weaved our special brand of podcast magic you end up with a slick product where you’d never know everyone wasn’t in the same room. So all in all, remote recording is definitely the most time and cost effective way to produce your podcast, and that’s without even going into the fact that you can be wearing pyjama bottoms and slippers while you record and no one will ever know!
Sound Rebel is a podcast production company based in Liverpool. We produce bespoke podcasts for clients both in the UK and across the world. To talk to us about starting your own podcast, email hello@soundrebel.co.uk