When you think of podcast production, you probably imagine sitting in a room with your interviewees, asking them questions. But what if you could record those interviews without having to set up an appointment? If you use voice notes and Sound Branch, you can easily turn sound-bytes into full podcasts. You can also use this technique for recording educational content for your business or personal brand.
Podcast interview scheduling is hard
If you’re like me, scheduling a podcast interview with someone is difficult. There are several reasons why this is the case:
- People are busy. Many people have jobs and other obligations that take up their time, and finding an hour or two in their week to sit down with me so I can interview them for my podcast is not always possible.
- The person I’m trying to schedule an interview with doesn’t want to do it. Maybe they don’t see the value in being on my podcast yet, or maybe they’re just not interested in being interviewed by anyone at all. Either way, it’s hard for me because I’d love for them to be on my show.
- They might be too busy for editing once we’re done recording our conversation together. Again, if a person isn’t planning on doing any editing themselves then this doesn’t apply as much but even if someone does plan on editing alone after our session together then there’s still some work involved here.
Podcast editing is time-consuming
Editing is the most time-consuming and expensive part of recording podcasts. If you’re not a professional editor, it’s likely that you’ll need help from someone with experience in audio editing. They can help you cut out dead air, fix any mistakes and make sure your podcast sounds its best before sending it off to be published on iTunes or another platform. The first thing to do is to listen to the recording and figure out where you want the cuts to be. If there’s a mistake, like if someone coughs or says something wrong, then you’ll need to edit that out so it doesn’t distract your listeners. You can also cut out any pauses or awkward moments where no one is talking for too long. It’s also a good idea to edit out any dead air. If you’re not sure how much time is too much, try listening to some of your favourite podcasts and see how long they take before starting up again. You’ll want to remove anything that doesn’t directly relate to the topic at hand or add extra value for your listeners.
Tools to record podcast interviews with voice notes
Sound Branch is a platform that allows you to create podcasts without any fancy equipment. It works on Alexa, Google Assistant, iOS, Android and the web. All that’s needed is a laptop or mobile phone for recording. The app records your voice and syncs it with the interviewee’s answers, which makes it easier to edit.
You simply record your questions as voice notes in a playlist and share this with your interviewee so they can record answers. Using voice notes means you have a more flexible schedule for recording and you can take more time. Using voice notes to record podcasts means you edit as you go along rather than at the end of a podcast interview recording. Once you have recorded a voice note you can stick with it or delete and re-record. Voice notes are usually 20 seconds to 2 minutes long and using short voice notes to record podcasts means you can eliminate ummhs and urhs.
Recording podcast interviews with voice notes saves time
Recording podcast interviews with voice notes is a great way to save time. No editing or scheduling is needed because you can edit voice notes as you go along. You can also share your recordings with the interviewee if they want to hear their voice on air and make any changes before the final version is edited for publishing.
You may even find that some people prefer hearing their interview in audio form rather than reading it back in text form (as I do). It’s a nice option to have!
Not only is it easier and faster to record a podcast interview with voice notes, but there are also some great benefits to using this method. First of all, you don’t need any fancy equipment or software because all you need is an iPhone or Android phone with built-in microphones. Second, recording an entire episode using voice notes means that you don’t have to worry about editing. Thirdly, there is no scheduling involved when conducting interviews via phone calls which makes life so much easier!
Get started with a podcast with no fancy hardware needed, no editing and no scheduling: