How Do I Plan a Video Podcast Recording Day?
Book the studio at least a month ahead, and hold a wider window than you need so guests can slot into whichever weeks suit them. If you're batching a season, plan on two episodes a day, because the fourth conversation in a day is rarely as good as the first. Book a session long enough for everything you want to record, and capture your short-form clips in the same sitting. Remote guests and co-hosts can join, ideally on a platform that records each person on their own computer.
Key Facts
- For a two-week recording block, book at least a month ahead and hold a three-week window.
- Two episodes a day is a manageable pace for a batched season. Four in a day usually isn't.
- Our studio books in one, two or four hour blocks, with room for four people at the table.
- One comedy interview podcast recorded a whole season in two weeks in January, and was still releasing it in June.
How Far Ahead Should You Book a Podcast Studio?
For a block of recording days, at least a month. Diaries fill early. When one client asked in mid-July, ours was already booked until the middle of August. For a two-week block back to back, we suggest holding a three-week window, so you can book guests into whichever weeks work instead of locking in two weeks too early. Getting everyone you want booked inside a short timeframe is a challenge of its own, and the extra week gives you room. Further out, a hold can be loose, such as a whole month pencilled in and narrowed down as the date gets closer.
Tell the studio early, before anything is confirmed. A soft hold is welcome, because we'd rather hold dates and move them than lose them. Clients sitting on soft dates often say nothing until they're sure, and by then the studio may be booked. Early signals also let the studio protect your dates when other enquiries come in for the same weeks.
For a whole season, we send the same crew member each time, someone who already knows the host and the space.
How Many Episodes Can You Record in a Day?
Two is a good pace for a batched season. The limit is the host's energy, and the build-up each conversation needs. The first couple of episodes get all your preparation, but if you're recording several a day, every day, you lose that ramp-up for each one.
Say you try and record four in a day. Is the fourth one in the day going to be as good as the first one? Probably not.
Batching still makes sense for most shows. It's an intense block, but then it's done. Go in aware of the trade-off, because once recording starts it's hard to stop, and the episodes start to blur together.
Will Batch Recording Date Your Season?
For an evergreen show, very little. A topical one, especially anything close to technology, can freeze in time if something big happens mid-season, because none of the recorded episodes can respond to it. One comedy interview podcast recorded a whole season in two weeks in January, then released it across half a year. By June, listeners were hearing comedians talk about shows they hadn't worked out yet.
So before you batch, ask whether your topics are evergreen or topical. If they're topical, consider spreading the recordings over a couple of months instead of a couple of weeks.
How Long Should You Book the Studio For?
Long enough to record everything you need from the session, long-form and short-form together. Our studio books in one, two or four hour blocks. Record your episodes, then use the same set-up for clips and social pieces, so one booking feeds both your show and your channels. A well set-up room also helps you look like the expert you are. What each block includes is on our podcast studio hire page.
How Do You Get Busy Guests to Commit to a Date?
Offer set time blocks and ask for a yes or no. If people are slow to come back, let the production company be the deadline. Tell guests the studio needs to know by a certain day. It takes the pressure off you. Sometimes that's all a slow guest needs to reply.
Availability also shifts closer to the date, so check with the studio before you lock in a guest for a week that might already be busy.
How Do Remote Guests and Co-Hosts Join?
Through a recording platform, with each remote person recorded on their own end where possible. The same studio set-up handles guests at the table and interviewees online. If your host is the backbone of every episode, keep them in the studio and dial the co-host in, rather than putting both online. For matching quality, the co-host can record from a studio in their own city.
| Set-up | How it records | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Everyone in the studio | Every voice and camera captured in the room | The best quality, with up to four people at the table |
| Host in the studio, co-host remote | Host recorded in the room, co-host recorded on their own end | A studio in the co-host's city can match the quality |
| Riverside | Each person recorded on their own computer, then uploaded | Our first choice for remote guests, because internet drop-outs don't glitch the file |
| Zoom | Records the call as it's broadcast | Can lag or drop out, but it works |
| Microsoft Teams | Records everyone in a gallery view | The most limited, with no separate audio for each person |
Tell the studio which sessions have a remote guest, because the room is set up differently for them. Before the session, a remote guest should:
- join on Chrome on a desktop, or through the app on a phone or tablet
- wear headphones, so there's no echo
- find a quiet, well-lit spot
- stay on at the end until their files finish uploading
Should You Run Remote Recording Yourself?
It comes down to cost and who's chasing the guests. The production team can set up the virtual studio, send the links and watch over the recording to make sure it's capturing, for a fee. If you're the one chasing people and locking in times anyway, it can be easier to record them yourself on Zoom and drop the files in afterwards. Scheduling the interviewees is usually the hard part, so let that decide.