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What Equipment You Need To Start Recording Your B2B Tech Podcast | #30
•Jack Regan•Episode 30
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When starting your B2B Tech podcast, it's important not to compare your set up and podcast to the largest shows in the world. You don't have the time to travel the world to record, we can still achieve a high quality conversation, remotely and online.
I mainly opt for remote recordings because you open up your potential conversations and guests to a global audience instead of just people in your local area.
In this episode, I walk through the audio, video and design elements to consider when starting your B2B Tech Podcast!
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Welcome back to another episode of the 1% insight. In today's very quick episode, I'm going to be running through the equipment that you need to get started on your B2B Tech podcast. Now, a lot of people will, you know, maybe think it's more complicated than it needs to be, but the main thing that I found over the years from helping B2B Tech clients with their podcasts and make sure that you have a consistent stream of content is that to make it easy for yourself to be consistent with the output. And the main thing is you don't need a huge podcast studio like the Diary CEO or any of your top podcasts that you listen to. What we're trying to optimize for here is current, consistent, and quality content, and we can get a really good quality from recording remotely. The reason I suggest you go for the remote podcast route where you can record online is that you cut yourself off from a huge pool of guests. If you are expecting everyone from around the world to come to you to be on your podcast, it simply won't generate the conversations you're looking for, and you're really only going to be capturing conversations from people in your local area. For example, if you're based in Dublin or London, chances are people from the States or the rest of Europe or Asia or Africa aren't going to come all the way up to be on your podcast for the sake of an hour conversation. Whereas if you can optimize for video and audio quality in a remote setting, you can have a guest on from anywhere in the world and it opens up a whole host of opportunities, which will be really beneficial for your B2B Tech podcast. So let's get straight into the checklist that you need to have to get your B2B Tech podcast up and running. So firstly, as I mentioned, I opt for recording remotely. So at the moment I'm recording on a platform called Riverside.fm. You don't have to use Riverside.fm, but there are loads of other similar softwares that do a similar job. You know, Zencaster, StreamYard, different platforms like that. Basically, the main thing is you want to optimize for recording quality video and audio tracks, and these platforms are enabled to do so much better than if you were recording on Zoom or Microsoft Teams or any other kind of platform that's built for meetings and not built for actual capturing quality conversations. So I would definitely opt for a platform that will support that. Next up on the list is audio. For podcasts, especially, the video is really important for a content perspective, but chances are most people are going to be listening to you on an audio point of view. So we really need to ensure that the audio is good. So I suggest going for an XLR microphone, and this is an example of one here. So I have the Rode pod mic, and this can be a USB or XLR, they're just basically two different types of connections. The difference is that the XLR gives you a much higher quality sound as opposed to plugging a USB directly into your laptop. So I would opt for the XLR microphone. You can get any one of them. As I mentioned, I use Rode, I think they're a fantastic company with really good products. So I would opt for that. If you are going down that route, you're going to need an XLR cable to connect into the next piece of equipment, which is an audio interface. So I use a focus right audio interface. And basically, what that does is that it channels the audio from the mic into the audio interface and then into your laptop. So obviously, you're going to need a decent laptop as well to keep up with the um recordings. So just to ensure that you have something that will run the latest Google Chrome, um, has enough RAM in it that will you know essentially mean that you can record without glitching or pausing, etc., uh, will be important. So you have your on the audio point of view, you have the XLR mic, you have the audio interface, you have an XLR cable. Um you will look at getting a boom arm as well. So I got the the Rode, I think it's like PSA one or plus one, I can try and link it for you or do a separate episode where I'll actually go into my own setup. But um any kind of standard boom arm, uh, I find them better to use than the table stands uh because if you let's say touch the table or something moves on your table, usually sometimes that gets picked up. But when it's kind of kind of hanging above you, and you can kind of move it um in any kind of direction you you like. If you're watching a video, um, it's handy. You can kind of move it and such, and it's just more natural, it's kind of out the way. Um, I think it looks better uh from a podcast perspective. Right, what else do we have? Uh, you're gonna want to get a pair of noise cancelling headphones or earphones, um, up to yourself, really. What I would suggest doing is the earphones are an easier one. These are just a pair of Sony noise-cancelling earphones. It comes in really useful when you have a guest on. So basically, you want the output uh when you're speaking to a guest online to be coming into your earphones as opposed to coming out from your computer, from your laptop, and hitting your mic. It creates an awful echo and it will make your editor's job very difficult. Um, so I would suggest going with noise cancelling earphones and they're easier to kind of hide as well. You don't have to wear the big headphones. The earphones are usually um better. Um, it's they're just easier to work with, but use whatever you have. Then we're going to be looking at the video aspect of it. So with the video, I usually use a webcam. Um, so look for kind of a 2k. You don't necessarily need a 4K one, but because most of it will be recorded in 2K at a max anyway. So 2K is loads, uh, 1080p is okay. Um, if you have a really good webcam, um, there's some fantastic brands out there. Uh they go 4K webcams, uh, they get great depth, uh, great color, uh, they stabilize the video for you. Really beneficial, obviously. We're not investing in load of cameras for your remote setup, but we want to have something that is of good quality that uh people will watch as well. Um, so that would be the main camera angle. Uh, what you could do then if you want a second camera angle, it's very easy to add one. Um, I would get a tripod, um, bring it up kind of eye level, and I'd use your iPhone, has a fantastic camera or your Android, whatever you whatever you use as a smartphone, uh, utilize that camera as a second camera angle. If you want to add um a bit of variety to the video, that's loads uh for your video setup. Uh, then actually enhance the video and the look of it. I would be looking at getting a softbox light, um, kind of a war a warm light primarily. Um, if you're in a dark room, um, that adds uh a really I'm not I don't have mine on today, but um they're really useful. So softbox light. Uh you could have a kind of a back light like this. These are just kind of a light bar. I usually just face it into the wall behind me. Um and I just you could have your brand color, your podcast color there, um, and just add something a bit different to it. And if you are considering your background, uh, which is really important, you can kind of go for something like this, which is kind of wood panels. Um, they're maybe overdone now in the podcast setup, but forgive me, it was all the all the trend a few years ago when I put them on. But I'm also thinking about putting maybe like floating shelves in the wall behind me here, um, and then putting stuff that's relevant to the show, but also you can also kind of convey to your audience a bit about your personality. You know, you could have different bits um in there. Uh, like for example, what I might throw on it is this piece here that I got, just where I'm from, and it's kind of a wild Atlantic way kind of uh decoration piece, just a cool talking point, and it's a good conversation starter as well. So I'm thinking about putting those kind of uh floating shelves into the the background of my setup, so you could look for the same, and you know, you could even get a logo of your podcast done, uh illuminated light. That's a very popular one. It's like a neon uh light done of your logo um and kind of go from there with it. Those are all extras, they're not necessarily must-haves, but something to look at down the line. We've kind of looked at the equipment piece there, that's all you need um and more to get going uh recording a remote podcast. You literally don't need anything else. Um, the main thing is actually just start recording, uh, remove as much barriers as possible for yourself to actually make it, you know, uh just make the podcast, get the episodes out there, start having the conversations. Like I mentioned before, this isn't the goal of let's say huge podcasts where they're building a huge studio that you might listen to. It's it's a different type of approach we're going for where we're still opting for quality. Um we're still opting for quality and conversations, but we're not looking for huge, you know, 8K cinematic cameras. You don't need to invest in that. And I don't think your audience requires that as well. I think we can get a pretty good result uh with the equipment I mentioned above. Extras that you should just probably worth noting as well, barred equipment is looking at your where you're recording. Um so we kind of spoke about it there in terms of the design of it. But if you do have a room that is not kind of very echoey, that would be very beneficial. If it's all you have and you're recording in the kind of back room of your home, then I'd probably be looking at you know adding some stuff that will take the noise out of it. So you could get like noise cancelling boards and stuff, but they're awkward to kind of roll in and roll out. So I'd be looking at you know, maybe getting some carpets or stuff like that that will absorb some of the sound, or like curtains, for example. Uh, these elements can kind of absorb some of the echo, um, which will help your audio quality as you kind of come from it. Make sure that you have a solid Wi-Fi connection and that, you know, when you're recording your podcast with multiple guests from around the world, you're going to need a solid Wi-Fi connection to power you through that so that the conversation doesn't keep breaking up and then it just gets awkward and the conversations don't flow. Um, I'd also look at just some of the basic stuff as well. If there's people also in your home or if you're doing this in your office space, just to let them know to be mindful that you are recording a podcast. And obviously, close doors, if you have AC units, turn them off and those type of things as well. Just the basics, close the windows, make sure that the dog isn't barking outside and it's going to come up on the mic. So I kind of look for those ones. And that's kind of it, really. Uh, this was a short episode. It's literally just to showcase these are the things you could look to purchase if you are starting your B2B Tech podcast. Obviously, uh, if you're looking for uh a particularly good content marketing agency, uh, we know a good crowd to recommend, but uh, this is the equipment you need to get going, and you can get a lot done with some really high quality with what I just mentioned. There's other things to consider in terms of once you get recording, but maybe I'll make that uh as my next episode in terms of what to do when actually starting recording. So if you have any questions on the specific setup that I use in terms of the mic or the audio interface, and you want names of products, feel free to send me a message on LinkedIn by connecting with me, Jack Regan, and I'll send them over. Thanks for tuning in to the 1% insight. Make sure you follow the podcast for all the latest insights on B2B technology marketing.
