The Insiders Secret Technique for Remote Interviews


The Insiders' Secret Technique for Remote Interviews

If you're like most podcasters, your podcast probably involves you talking to other people from time to time. Perhaps you want to record an interview with an author or some other type of expert or celebrity. Or maybe there's someone who co-hosts your podcast or, at least, appears on it regularly. Maybe all of these situations apply to you at different times. In any event, chances are that you're regularly going to encounter situations where you'll want to record your conversation with someone else.

Ideally, the person you want to chat with will be able to join you in your studio and you'll both sit down in front of a microphone to record the conversation. If that's not possible, your fallback position might possibly be to record the conversation on location with portable recording equipment. That's not necessarily ideal but the results can be perfectly acceptable.

Sometimes, though, you're going to want to record a conversation with someone when it's simply not possible for the two of you to be in the same room at the same time. This is when things can get a little dicey.

Straightforward Recording Techniques (That Don't Really Work Very Well)

Most podcasters' first inclination for addressing this problem was to conduct their conversation over the Internet using a technology known as VoIP, or Voice Over Internet Protocol. The solution of choice was a free Internet telephony service called Skype (skype.com). In theory, this ought to be a great solution since VoIP dictates that a Skype conversation takes place in a digital format. That means it ought to be a relatively simple matter to capture the digital stream with recording software.

In practice, though, the quality of the connection can often be inconsistent and sometimes it's downright poor. Moreover, holding a VoIP conversation while recording it simultaneously can overtax the processing power of your computer. In fact, we've experimented extensively with this approach and often wound up with results that were reminiscent of the old Max Headroom television show.

Another option is to record a conversation from a standard telephone connection. There are a number of ways to accomplish this. A company called JK Audio (www.jkaudio.com) offers several interface devicessome of which are relatively inexpensivethat will facilitate the recording of phone conversations.

Depending on how you choose to record the conversation, one or both of the parties will produce a relatively low-quality recording. (Think about the sound quality of the callers on your favorite talk radio show and you'll have an idea of the level of quality we're talking about.) This is certainly a more reliable approach than recording from Skype and the sound quality will do in a pinch. Ultimately, though, quality-conscious podcasters find the sound quality to be generally unsatisfactory if not necessarily unacceptable.


There is technique, however, that is surprisingly simple to do and reliably produces outstanding results. If both you and the person you're talking to have computers that can record sound, then you're in business! This techniquelong an insider's secret in the broadcast industryis known as a double-ender. It's so simple that you can use it for a short interview with a relatively un-technical interview subject but it's robust enough that you and a remote co-host can record entire shows with it. We guarantee that the first time you use this technique, you'll be astonished at the results.

In a nutshell, a double-ender means that each end of a conversation is recorded separately. Then, when the conversation is over, the two recordings are stitched together in a way that's completely transparent to the listener. Of course, that simple description doesn't quite give you all the information you need, so let's take a look at a step-by-step explanation of how to produce a double-ender.



Absolute Beginner's Guide to Podcasting
Absolute Beginners Guide to Podcasting.
ISBN: B001U8C03Q
EAN: N/A
Year: 2004
Pages: 167

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