Ep 167: Pro Tips For Recording Your Podcast At Home
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I don't know about you, but most of us do not have a professional recording studio. I mean, I'm not James Wedmore of win the day. I wish I had a studio, but the truth is I don't. And maybe I don't really need one and neither do you. There are some good tips to follow though when you're recording from home. A lot of podcasters at home record in their closet. This is because the closet is small.

It generally has carpet on the floor. So you're muffling sound. And most importantly, your closet is full of clothes hanging up everywhere, which means again, sound is muffled. Here's the deal.

I can't do that. I don't know about you, but my home studio is my office. I cannot sit in a crowded closet for 30 minutes. My train of thought goes all over the place because I just feel out of the zone and out of alignment. So when I record in my home studio, I have discovered a few things that helped me out along the way.

One is I batch record as much as possible. You've probably heard the term batch recording before, and it does mean recording more than one episode at a time. Here's the real reason I like to batch, and it's not what you think.

Most people batch so that they can get ahead of the game or so that they can just get it done and move on with other things in their business. Since podcasting for me is the main thing that I do for the business, it's really hard to batch ahead of time, six, seven, eight weeks, which ideally, yes, I'd love to do, but I come up with content and ideas all the time. So for me, batching ahead of time is two to three episodes, primarily because that's all I can handle folks.

You have to know your limits. When you're thinking about batching, you've got to know what your energy zone is, what your, you know, human design plays a very, very big, you know, part of this. A lot of people get very tired or they're super energized. Well, what does your design look like?

If doing two to three episodes is about all you can handle before your tone goes flat and you're just all over the place because you can't think through what you're doing, then only do two or three. If you get into that zone and the flow of podcasting and energy goes up and you can do eight at one time, girl, batch eight at one time. More power to you. I can't handle that. So I only batch two or three at a time. The other reason I like to batch ahead of time

and not just do one episode at a time, even though I get really tired, is I can set up all the lighting. I can check my microphone and make sure it works. I know how the light is coming in through the window in my office and I don't have to readjust.

However, if I were to spend one full day batching since I'm in my home office and not a closet, the sun's going to be in different spots through the window next to my desk. So I would constantly have to be moving the video screen and all of my lighting and my microphone around between the early morning, mid morning and early afternoon.

That's really difficult for me to do. I prefer to keep all of my equipment set up exactly where I want it. So all I have to do is click on, on my remote controls or reach over and switch a ring light on. And for that reason to, you know, to create that studio like atmosphere for me, it takes more time to be setting it up and moving it throughout the day than just set it up once and be done. So those are two reasons that I batch ahead of time.

A couple other pro tips for really making your home studio sound like a pro studio is I always put my phone on the do not disturb. I've discovered along the way that it doesn't matter what my plans are, how well laid out my schedule is. If my phone is not on do not disturb and it is sitting on the desk,

So invariably I'm going to get some notification, LinkedIn, Instagram, a text message, a phone call, like something is going to occur to where you get that noise that you then have to attempt to edit out. Super difficult to just go ahead and put your phone on. Do not disturb. And mentally that also puts you in the game of batch recording as well. Have a

bottle of water handy or a beverage of some sort. If you like to drink wine, like I do sometimes when you record again, more power to you. But as you are talking, your voice is going to get dry. Your throat's going to get scratchy. So you want that water ready to go. I do recommend that you already have the cap.

off so you're not having to unscrew it while you're trying to record but you know have it there and have it handy and it is okay to take a sip of water if you are recording for video podcasting people do it all the time and I don't think anyone's ever offended by it and on the audio version you can just edit that piece out the other thing I recommend for you is watch your jewelry

Ladies, rings, Apple watches, bracelets. If you're like me and you use your hands a lot when you talk to bring your energy level up and make sure that it doesn't sound like you're recording to a wall when you're doing a solo episode, you need to be cautious of where your hands land when they come on the down low.

So like if my hands are up when I'm recording and then I bring them down to the desk level and I've got rings and Apple watches on, I'm likely to hit something on my desk and it creates a noise in the background that again, then has to be edited out of the episode should I choose to do so. It's a lot easier for me when I'm recording to just pause.

take the rings and the jewelry off, put them next to me. So I don't forget to put them back on or God forbid, lose the wedding ring. Yes, I have actually done that before, but take out the distractions, the things that can stop you in your tracks that can make the noises that will disturb and take your, you know, train of thought off railed. Just go ahead and get rid of them. Here's another little pro tip that I do. And I love this one.

I keep in my lap off screen so you can't really see it, but I keep this big fluffy smiley face pillow in my lap. And here's why I do that. A couple of reasons. One, again, I talk with my hands. So if I were to put my hands down and have jewelry on and I put them in my lap, they land on this soft pillow, which means they don't make the noises.

The other reason is it's another sound muffler. I record in a big office with lofty ceilings. So the more noise mufflers I can surround myself with the better. I actually have probably eight to 10 of these bad boys, uh,

stuck in the bookshelves next to me all around my office, not only for some really happy, fun decor, but they muffle sound. So I've got these pillows stuck up everywhere in my office. And my daughter's always asking me if she can have one for her bedroom. I'm like, no, those mommy's equipment. And it's because they're there to keep the sound in.

contain so that the podcast episode sounds the absolute best it can, because the least amount of editing we can do is always a good thing. Okay. Last tip. And I'll give you this one. This is a pro tip for interviewing guests. When you're interviewing a guest and you're letting them speak, put yourself on mute.

You can keep the mouse to your laptop or your desktop really close by, or maybe you're using the little mouse on your laptop. Just have your hand where you can quickly hit the button and already have the arrow pointed to the mute on whatever system you're using, whether it is Zoom or Riverside or any of the other recording abilities. Just mute yourself when you're not speaking. That way, when your guest is speaking,

It's really focused on them. It's letting them have their moment. And if you have a cough, a giggle attack, the dog runs into the background, the Amazon guy shows up with a package and rings the doorbell or what happens in my house a lot. DoorDash shows up with your husband's lunch because he works upstairs. You don't have to worry and say to your guests, oh, let's just rerecord that piece. No, you're fine.

your side is already muted. And then when you're ready to add in, come back in, you just quickly hit the button, unmute, talk back to them, laugh with them, do whatever you need and hit the mute again and keeping the conversation going that way. I have found that to save hours in post-production.

And quite frankly, I tell my guests ahead of time, don't be offended when you see the mute button on, I do have a chronic cough. Like that's legit. I do. And so I have to hit mute button a lot to keep myself from coughing in your episode.

And I have found that now that I've told people that it's really easy. They understand it and it makes my episodes better. So there's a pro tip for you when you are recording with a guest as well. Now go create your own pro tips, set up your studio, how you want it to set, be set up and make some fabulous, fabulous episodes. I cannot wait to hear them. Share them with me on Instagram at it's Joanne Bolt. And I will see you same time, same place next week.

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