Double-Ender: The Best Solution to Record a Remote Podcast Interview

Bringing a guest onto your podcast is a great way to offer value to your audience and you’re probably wondering how to actually do that. It’s actually a lot simpler than you may realize! There are a number of tools that will help you conduct a remote podcast interview, allowing you to focus on creating great content.

Double-Ender for Remote Podcast Interviews

This is the best way to record a remote podcast interview. You’ll get the best possible audio quality and have complete control over everything. However, this method requires some technical ability from your guest. A double-ender is when each participant records their own audio on their own computer and you would mix them together in post. Here’s how to do it:

1. You would record your side just like you would with any other solo episode. Your guest would download Audacity or any other recording software.
2. Connect with your guest via Skype, Zoom, or any other chat service.
3. Start recording. You’ll want to make sure your guest is set up properly. The main thing to check for is that the correct mic is selected if they are using an external mic. Zoom and Skype have screen share function so you can check that and make sure their volume levels look good.
4. Clap. You and your guest should clap at the same time to make it easier to sync the audio during post-production. This won’t be exact since there is a slight delay when chatting over the internet but it will save you time trying to match it up.
5. Conduct the interview.
6. After the interview, your guest will need to export their audio as a WAV file and send that to you.
7. Bring that audio file into your editing software, sync the claps, then edit like normal.

This method does require more from your guest but it’s not as difficult as it appears and the results are well worth the effort. Once you do it the first time, you’ll have no issues doing it again. If you want help figuring if out for the first time you can schedule a free 30-minute consultation and I will walk you through the process.

Do you want to make sure your guest is ready for the interview? Sign up for my newsletter and you will get my 6 Tips to Better Guest Podcasting that you can send to your guest before the interview to help them prepare.

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Additional Reading

Using Zencastr to Record a Remote Podcast Interview

Zencastr was the first remote podcast recording solution I learned about that really solved the ease-of-use issues. Before, the main solution was using different software to record Skype calls. Zencastr made it possible to record remotely without a lot of hassle.