With that in mind, here’s a quick summary of how to record a podcast. Let’s break it down into three main parts:

1. Planning: What prep do you need to do so that the recording goes smoothly?
2. Equipment: What gear do you need to record a quality show?
3. Software: What tools do you need to be able to capture your audio?

By the end of this article, you’ll know everything you need to record a podcast. All that’s left is to hit that big red button, and get your voice out into the world!

A quick heads up before we go. We use some affiliate links, which help support all of our free content, though rest assured, they never influence our opinions. If you choose to buy through them, we’d earn a small commission. This is never at any extra cost to you.

With that all said, let’s crack on…

1. Planning to Record a Podcast

I know, this might be seen as “the boring bit”, so I won’t dwell on it. But having a plan is the difference between recording a podcast and recording an audio or video file.

Planning Your Topic

Firstly, there’s the overall topic of your podcast to nail down.

And once you have your main topic in mind, the Alitu Showplanner can help you hone it into a fully fleshed-out plan, complete with a list of episode suggestions, a trailer script, and more ideas to make your show unique.

Planning Your Episode

Once you know the topic of your first episode, it’s a good idea to have a plan in place for that, too.

Podcast episodes come in various formats, from solo monologues to co-hosted chats and interviews.

No matter which format you opt for, think about the overarching hook of the episode. What will your listener walk away with at the end of it all?

This will all factor into the bullet points, questions, or talking points you have listed in front of you when you get behind the mic. These anchor points help you stay focused and on track. They’re what’s known as your podcast script.

2. What Equipment Do I Need to Record a Podcast?

So now you have a better idea of what you’re going to say and how you’re going to say it.

But what gear do you need to record it?

A Microphone

First, let’s capture that voice. That’s what the humble microphone is designed to do. You can find a collection of the best podcast microphones right here, so have a browse through and pick something that fits your space and budget.

If you want to keep things simple, go for a USB microphone. You’ll plug that right into your computer and record there. No other equipment needed, just software, which we’ll cover below.

A USB mic is ideal for anyone recording a solo show, or if you’ll be recording with others over the internet (more on software for this below, too). And, let’s be honest, that’s 90% of the podcasts out there!

Our favourite (and most recommended) mic is the Samson Q2U.

Check out the Samson Q2U on Amazon

You can often buy the Samson Q2U with a desk stand and a pair of headphones for under $100, and it works with both USB and XLR. Check out our full review of the Samson Q2U to get into the details.

Mounting Your Mic

Unless you’re using a lavalier mic (more on those, shortly), it’s a good idea to mount your mic on a boom arm. This will really help your mic technique, presentation style, and just make you feel more professional.

Avoid ultra-cheap boom arms at all costs, though. They’re creaky and can fall apart before your eyes. A couple of our favourites are the Rode PSA1+ and the IXTech Lizard.

Do I Need a Digital Recorder or USB Audio Interface?

According to our 2024 Podcast Gear & Software report, over half of podcasters use an audio interface, digital recorder, or mixer.

The primary reason to add one of these to your setup is to record with others who are in the same room as you. You never want to share a microphone, and it’s tricky to record with more than one USB mic on a single computer.

With a USB audio interface like the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 or Vocaster 2, you can run two XLR mics (like the Samson Q2U) into your computer.

Or, if you’d rather be away from the computer altogether, a digital recorder is the perfect option. These let you plug in multiple XLR mics and record on separate tracks. The Zoom range is great, and the Zoom PodTrak P4 even lets you record phone calls and play “live” music and sound effects.

If money is no object, the Rode Rodecaster II is an incredible all-in-one podcast recorder. Total overkill for most creators, but many aspire to own one nonetheless.

What About Smartphone Recording?

Many podcasters record directly into smartphones, and the quality has come on leaps and bounds in recent years.

Even the built-in mics on the average new smartphone sound good, though adding in external kit will help you with better technique and more consistent delivery.

My favourite smartphone recording kits are the Rode Wireless Micro and the BOYA Mini. Both are extremely affordable, and enable you to record yourself alongside an in-person guest or co-host.

Your Podcast Recording Studio, Reverb, & Background Noise

You can employ the best gear and software in the world, but if you’re using them in a sub-par environment, your podcast can sound bad.

Excessive reverb will make even the most thorough and well-planned content sound amateurish. And hearing your flatmate playing Grand Theft Auto in the background is going to distract from your message, too.

The good news is that creating a pro-sounding podcast studio doesn’t need to be difficult or expensive. Check out our full guide there for a load of different options on that front.

The way you use a mic also impacts its sound quality. We can help you sound your best in front of whatever mic you use with our microphone technique for podcasters’ guide.

You’ll find sophisticated AI audio cleanup via tools like Alitu on the market, these days. AI audio cleanup isn’t an excuse to get sloppy or not care about your source material. But it can be a lifesaver in a pinch. Check out these sound samples for an example of what’s possible:

Noise Reduction

Reverb Elimination & Technique Optimisation

Recording Video Podcasts

There’s no rule to say that you must record video as well as audio, but if you do, you’ll need some additional equipment.

On the mic front, the Samson Q2U is still a great option. But if you’re really leaning into the visuals, it can look a bit utilitarian. A few video podcasters I know prefer the look of something like the Shure MV7+ or Rode Procaster instead.

You can use your built-in webcam to get started, but if you’re looking to upgrade, then the Logitech C920 is a fine choice. Video podcast lighting is a whole subject of its own, but you get some good little kits for mounting cameras and illuminating your shots.

We get deeper into this in our pillar guide: How to Make a Video Podcast in 2026

3. What Software Do I Need to Record a Podcast?

Regardless of your podcast format, if you’re recording into your computer, you’ll need some software to capture it.

Let’s look at the options.

Recording Solo into your Computer

I’ll start with the simplest option first: recording a podcast alone.

If you’re flying solo, Audacity is an obvious and free choice. It’s also the most popular podcast recording tool, with 17% of creators using it to record and 24% using it to edit their shows.

Audacity and other tools like Adobe Audition and Reaper are known as DAWs, or Digital Audio Workstations. They each have powerful capabilities that give you intricate control over your productions, but they have their downsides, too:

• DAWs can take time and effort to learn
• They don’t have remote recording capabilities
• They don’t have video recording capabilities

But if you just want to record solo audio monologues, then Audacity is a great free on-ramp.

Remote Recording: Audio & Video

Most podcasters want the option to record with guests or co-hosts worldwide. Fortunately, we’re well covered in that area nowadays.

I’ve mentioned podcast maker tool Alitu already for its amazing post-production capabilities. Alitu is also a fully-fledged podcast recording platform, too.

Alitu lets you record audio or video, and it runs those recordings locally on each participant’s computer. This protects your recordings from WiFi dropouts and other such glitches.

With Alitu, you can also publish and distribute your podcast, meaning you have everything you need in one single account. Try it free for seven days and see for yourself!

Some other great podcast recording tools we’ve used in recent years are Zencastr, Riverside, and Iris. Check out a full list of pricing and sound samples in our remote recording tools roundup.

You can also record your podcast on Zoom, and many do. The audio quality isn’t remarkable, but it gets the job done. Just be aware that on the Zoom free tier, you’ll be limited to recording sessions of no more than 40 minutes.

Smartphone Recording Software

If it’s a phone you’re using, then any default voice or video apps will do the trick for solo episodes, or if you have a co-host with you and are recording with wireless lavalier kit.

If you want to record remotely, then, honestly, I’d recommend using a computer or laptop. The Riverside mobile app is a decent attempt at doing this on a phone, but in my experience, it’s still a bit unreliable.

How to Record a Podcast in the Same Room

Most podcasters record remotely these days. But if you’ve got the luxury of getting everyone in the same room, the ideal setup is what I covered earlier in the audio interface and digital recorder section.

Best Digital Voice Recorders in 2026: From Budget to Pro-Level Gear

Read article called: Best Digital Voice Recorders in 2026: From Budget to Pro-Level Gear

You’ll want something like the Focusrite Vocaster 2 (computer needed) or Zoom PodTrak P4 (no computer needed) with an XLR mic like the Samson Q2U for each person.

When recording in the same room, avoid sharing mics. Give everyone their own microphone and record each person on a separate track. It makes editing far easier and leads to a cleaner, more consistent sound!

Once You’ve Recorded That Podcast

You’ve done the hard bit. Though, hopefully after reading this guide, it wasn’t hard at all!

There are still a few things to do to get that episode out to the world, and Alitu ensures they’re all quick and straightforward.

Firstly, you can top and tail your recording and easily remove any mistakes or interruptions. You can even edit by deleting text from Alitu’s automatically generated transcripts.

At the touch of a button, you can remove ums, ahs, and long pauses.

Alitu automatically cleans, levels, and optimises your audio. In the episode builder, a simple drag-and-drop interface lets you add music, segments, and transitions.

When your episode is ready, you can publish and distribute it to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and hundreds of other platforms – all from within Alitu.

No matter what kind of podcast you make, Alitu gives you everything you need to save time and smooth out the tech. Try it free for seven days and see for yourself!

OpusClip is an AI-powered clipping platform that scans your podcast episode, chooses the clips it considers most likely to garner attention, and edits them into clips ready for the social media of your choice. It’s not magic, but it’s fast. Can OpusClip save you time and promote your podcast on social media? Let’s find out. 

Our link to OpusClip is an affiliate link, so we may earn a small commission if you buy. It never affects what you pay, and it never affects our reviews.

How Does OpusClip Work? 

Once you’ve signed up, you can either: 

• enter the URL of a video from the platform of your choice, or
• upload a video file (.mp4 or .mov, but not wav or mp3) 

and then click “Get Clips in 1 Click.” 

Depending on the episode length, OpusClip will generate 12-24 video clips, formatted and captioned for social media, highlighting the parts of your episode that are most likely to grab attention. You can post them directly to your social media accounts from your OpusClip dashboard or download them to your computer.

OpusClip is remarkably cagey about how the software works. According to their site, “The upgraded AI Curation works much closer to the workflow of a REAL human editor: It first understands the entire video, segments it into chapters, and then selects the most interesting or informative parts to create clips with viral potential.” 

Or, as they also say, “There’s a ton of really complicated AI stuff going under the hood that might make your head spin…Ultimately, we’re only serving up the dopest results straight to you with no fuss.” 

Thank goodness. I wouldn’t want anything less than the dopest.

Let’s find out how fast OpusClip finds and extracts clips.  

How Many Clips Can OpusClip Generate, and How Fast? 

Podcasters are busy. If you already spend a lot of time recording and editing, you might not be able to carve out more time to edit posts for social media. Plus, decisions regarding your topic, ideas, and audience engagement can be tiring. Fortunately, OpusClip can work with little to no supervision while you make that cup of tea or take the dog for a walk. 

Again, quantity and speed depend on the file you submit. For my experiment, I used a 59-minute episode of Podcraft. I entered the YouTube URL and clicked “Get clips in 1 click.” You can also upload a video file, though it doesn’t accept MP3 or WAV files. The user interface said processing the clips would take 11 minutes. However, in 8 minutes, the software had finished generating 24 clips. 

Boiling a cup of water takes me roughly five minutes, and typically I steep my tea for four. So, yes, OpusClip can generate many video clips from one episode in the time it takes to make a cup of tea. 24 separate clips could yield four fresh social media posts a week for six weeks. That’s a lot of posts for eight minutes of processing. 

However, like tea, there’s no accounting for taste. You don’t know whether the clips are appropriate for promoting your podcast until you’ve watched them. Some may need adjustment, while others might not be helpful at all. 

OpusClip’s editing interface is intuitive and clear. You’ll see it’s similar to Descript and Headliner.  Even if you haven’t used either of those platforms, the dashboard’s user interface will make sense quickly. A link to OpusClip’s Help guide is in the toolbar, and videos explaining best practices are linked at the bottom of the screen. 

Let’s look at OpusClip’s criteria for, as they said, “serving up the dopest results.” 

How Does OpusClip Select The “Right” Clips? 

OpusClip uses a four-aspect ranking system to score each clip on a scale of 1 to 100. These aspects are: 

• Hook (Does the moment revolve around a short, well-defined argument or question?)
• Flow (Is the discussion coherent? Does it flow logically?)
• Value (Does this moment answer a question or solve a problem?) 
• Trend (Is this moment aligned with topics that are trending on social media?) 

If your podcast episode’s dialogue is clearly defined (or tends toward hot takes), you can predict what OpusClip will generate. I tested OpusClips on more discursive podcast episodes and found that it identified moments in the discussion that were provocative but had little to do with the episode’s main topic. 

Let’s say Colin entered an episode about automating your podcast editing into OpusClip. Pretend that midway through the episode, he said, “I think Taylor Swift has great hair, but few adults can wear bangs without looking childish,” apropos of nothing. OpusClip would capture that moment, because it would earn high scores for Hook, Flow, Value, and Trend. Using this clip to promote a podcast episode about automated podcast editing, however, would be a bait-and-switch. The Swifties would ride at dawn.

Don’t assume that, left unsupervised, OpusClip can spin straw into gold. You’ll thank yourself later if you check every clip for quality and clarity before posting it. Maybe the captions substitute “knight” for “night.” Maybe the automatic filler word removal mangles someone’s name, ruining your discussion of Umberto Eco’s novels. Make sure the generated output matches how you want to represent yourself and your podcast. 

We know OpusClip is fast and focused. But is it free? 

OpusClip’s Pricing and Features

Yes, OpusClip starts with a free tier, allowing you to test basic operations before committing financially. All OpusClip subscriptions include credits, each equal to a minute of episode time. If you pay annually, OpusClip offers a 50% discount. The price tiers are: 

Free
Cost: $0
Includes 60 credits per month, 1080p rendering, auto reframe, and AI captions with emoji and keyword highlights. You can create one brand template. Clips are watermarked, you cannot use the built-in editing tools, and you must export within three days.

A simple way to test the platform.

Starter
Cost: $15 per month
Includes everything in Free, plus 150 credits per month, AI clipping with a virality score, animated captions in more than twenty languages, auto posting to major short form platforms, full editing features, filler word and silence removal, and no watermark.

This tier fits most creators.

Pro
Cost: $29 per month
Includes everything in Starter, plus 300 credits per month, a team workspace for two people, two brand templates, six social account connections, AI-generated stock footage, multiple aspect ratios, a social scheduler, export options for Adobe Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve, Intercom support, custom caption fonts, and speech enhancement.

Best for teams or creators who want advanced tools and scheduling.

Caveat emptor: I tested this with the Pro tier to assess features that are still in beta, such as the stock video footage. If Starter or Free is better for your needs, go for it. The following strategies will help you get the most bang for your buck, no matter which price point you choose. 

How to Get The Most Out of OpusClip

Like most “set it and forget it” tools, OpusClip requires a greater initial time investment, which lessens over time. It’s worth taking time to try these steps on Day One, so the following days flow more smoothly.  

Set up a brand template first. It’ll save you effort in the long run. 

The toolbar along the left side of your Dashboard screen contains all available options; hover over the icons to see what each one corresponds to. It’s tempting to try generating videos right away, but you’ll like the results better if you click “Brand Template” first. 

Templates allow you to set conditions, such as the layout, color, and style of your captions, as well as automatic removal of filler words. Explore these options and make a template you like before uploading anything, so you’ll get results that match your intentions. 

Connect your social media accounts in advance. Click the chain-link icon to open the Social Account Connections menu. The first time, the window will be blank. Click “+ Add Account” and follow the prompts. Once your social media accounts are connected, you can share your clips right away without downloading or re-uploading them. You’ll need this to schedule social media posts in advance. 

Note the start and end times of the part of the episode that matters to you most. This way, OpusClip doesn’t have to search the whole episode, and you don’t have to waste credits on your intro & outro or any baked-in ad reads.

Listen to your clips and edit wherever necessary. Last year, I tested OpusClip with a podcast episode that used the phrase “abducted by aliens from another planet” in a side joke. OpusClip identified this moment and assigned it a high rating, interpreting the episode as about human trafficking rather than about how to write a five-act drama. I’m sure the software has improved since then.

If you find that OpusClip highlights the funny asides instead of the point you intended to make, try adjusting the start and end times of the part you want OpusClip to scan. 

Be careful with filler words. OpusClips’ automatic filler word removal is efficient, but leaves audible edits. The software cuts right before and after each “uh” or “um.” If your episode’s audio has background sound, these edits may be more noticeable. You’ll have to decide on a case-by-case basis which is more distracting: keeping the filler words or editing them out. 

Make sure your call to action is crystal clear. In the Pro plan, users can add Intro or Outro cards, which are image files (with or without text). You can upload your own images to the Asset Library and use them for your CTA. A message as simple as “Look for [title of show] wherever you get your podcasts” provides context and helps your audience connect. 

Who is OpusClip Best For? 

Nearly any podcaster can benefit from using video clips to promote their podcast. The Pew Research Center surveyed over 5,000 adults in the U.S. about their social media use, finding that:  

• 37% of respondents use TikTok, 
• 50% of respondents use Instagram, 
• 71% of respondents use Facebook (which includes Instagram Reels in its feed) 
• 84% of respondents use YouTube. 

Unless your podcast is meant for people who hate video, short video clips can garner interest from anyone who cares about your topic but hasn’t found your podcast yet. 

Audio-only podcasters aren’t left out, either. Whether you record video with your episodes or simply audio, video with clear captions, quality audio, and an eye-catching logo (or OpusClip’s B-Roll footage) can entice people to download your podcast. 

OpusClip’s AI features are best for podcasters who are strapped for time in post-production and who use a script (of any kind) to guide the episode’s discussion. As noted earlier, OpusClip’s AI favors lucid, logically expressed arguments aligned with current trends. Podcasters who get to the point and follow their topic’s current events may find their results with OpusClip are more predictable. The more discussion rambles, the more likely you are to end up with video clips about Taylor Swift’s hair. 

Ultimately, if you need an impartial third party to select and edit promotional clips for your podcast and schedule social media posts, OpusClip can do that, saving you time and reducing decision fatigue. 

Spilling the Tea on What OpusClip Can Do for Your Podcast

OpusClip isn’t sorcery. It can’t turn any material into viral social media posts. Tastes vary, and one person’s trending topic is another person’s passé concept. What OpusClip can do, however, is select and edit a stack of social media video clips in the time it takes to boil water, relieving you of choice overload and saving you time.

Treat each clip like a first draft, and with an attractive brand template, an inviting call to action, and a few modifications to the clips that frame your ideas best, OpusClip can help you put your podcast in front of new audiences and help your show grow. 

Social media is only one part of a podcast’s promotion. If you want to go deeper, The Podcraft Academy has clear, tested strategies you can use right away, along with feedback and accountability to keep you moving. It is a place to build your skills, get practical guidance, and grow your show with confidence.

Have you ever heard an aggressive harshness in the high end of a person’s voice in a podcast, movie, or show? In audio, we call this sibilance. And it can be grating on the ears as a listener.

Why?

Unfortunately, our ears are super sensitive to the frequency range where sibilance occurs. Sibilance can even disrupt immersion by hurting intelligibility for certain listeners. 

But what is sibilance exactly? And how can we, as podcasters, prevent it from infiltrating the earbuds of our listeners? Keep reading, and I’ll break this down while introducing a brand-new sibilance-fighting tool from iZotope: Velvet.

What is Sibilance?

‘Vocal recordings, especially if made with very close microphones, are often characterized by excessive loudness of the voice sibilants…The most difficult sibilants to reproduce accurately are the sounds “s” and “sh”. The effect is accentuated by high-frequency peaks in microphones…,’

The Audio Dictionary 

The simplest breakdown of sibilance are the sounds of “ch, sh, s, and f”. Think of the words such as cheese, shed, fleece and sausage as a few examples.

The frequency range of sibilance is roughly between 5 kHz and 10 kHz.  This range will slightly vary from person to person, however.

Sibilance: Traditional Fix

The traditional solution for sibilance is to use a de-esser.  The majority of DAWs have these as stock plugins.  A de-esser is a compressor that specifically targets only the frequency range of sibilance. De-essers can employ a broad frequency approach or a multiband approach for more control, allowing you to choose which frequencies to attenuate. 

You can bypass a de-esser altogether and do the manual approach with clip gain. However, who has time for that?!

Introducing Velvet by iZotope

Velvet is an interesting tool because it combines various forms of traditional de-essing with tone-shaping abilities. And that’s not all… it has an automatic mouth de-clicker built in, too. 

As a dialogue editor and mixer, I cannot stress how much time this saves me!

Let’s take a closer look under the hood.

Velvet and Sibilance

Velvet provides optimal control for users familiar with audio tools.  We have a staggering number of methods to target sibilance, with such features being:

• The ability to choose the filter shape
• Manually adding frequency bands nodes while adjusting their Q (bandwidth)
• Choosing between dynamic downward compression,  dynamic upward expansion, or static gain processing, where you set the gain amount
• Soloing the sibilance-only signal
• Wet and dry signal blend
• Solos for the selected EQ band

Now, if all this sounds confusing, fear not. Velvet has presets to help you get started, in addition to a “Learn” function that can analyze the voice you’re working on to make suggestions for settings.

Velvet and Mouth De-Click

The Mouth De-Click section in Velvet is a streamlined version of iZotope’s Mouth De-Click plugin. It allows you to:

• Toggle the de-clicker on or off
• Solo the detected clicks
• Focus on high-frequency or low-frequency clicks
• Adjust the Amount control, which sets how sensitively the tool detects and removes clicks

It’s worth mentioning that on a moderately powerful computer, a user can bypass all other features of Velvet to run another instance as a plugin. Doing so allows both high- and low-frequency clicks to be targeted in real-time.  Or, if a user wishes, you can bypass the mouth de-clicker altogether.

Velvet and Tonal Shaping

This is what iZotope calls spectral shaping, and from what I can tell, it works similarly to their Sculptor tool, which was first introduced in Neutron 4 Advanced. 

The Lift knob is designed to add clarity and presence based on the target sound which, in a podcaster’s case, would fall on one of the dialogue options.

The Tame knob is a resonance control feature, which is handy to have built in.

We have tonal controls split into three bands: Low, Mid, and High.  This appears to control how much processing is applied to these frequency ranges in a simplified layout.

Testing Velvet by iZotope

I’ve broken down the three major sections of Velvet.  On paper, it all sounds nice, but how does it perform?

Take a listen to a raw recording where I asked a voice actor to eat peanut butter to get them extra clicky:

Now listen to the processed file that used Velvet:

As you can hear, the spit clicks are gone. The whistle sound has been tamed, and the sibilance overall has been toned down. To achieve this, I needed to use the tool manually.  It works better than a stock plugin but not as well as a premium plugin.  I was expecting this, however, with the price tag of $49.00 USD.

User Friendliness

The UI is sleek and clean. It offers enough complexity for seasoned users but nothing overwhelming for those new to audio tools. I didn’t run into any glitches or performance issues with CPU usage while using it for a week in a mid-sized Pro Tools session. 

Each parameter, when hovered over, provides a brief description of its function.  However, the user manual PDF is summarized nicely and won’t overwhelm a user who needs more information. Velvet is jam-packed with features that make dialogue enhancement easy and speedy!

Conclusion: Tackling Sibilance With iZotope Velvet

I was pleasantly surprised by this plugin. It streamlined some of my plugin chain to consolidate a few tools into one. It’s my personal preference to have a cleaner/leaner plugin chain. 

Is it the best sibilance and tonal correction tool I’ve used? No. However, it’s still a good time-saving tool for real-time mouth click removal, utilising the tonal and sibilance tools. I found myself having to round-trip from my DAW to RX less, and that, in itself, is worth it.

iZotope products come with a 10-day trial. Check it out for yourself to see if it can elevate your workflow!

• UI: 5/5
• User-friendliness: 4.5/5
• Performance: 4/5
• Price for Performance Quality: 5/5
• Total: 4.6/5   

It truly is the halcyon days for creators looking to record a podcast remotely. There have never been so many brilliant online call recording options out there, and many go beyond simple recording.

All eight call recording apps were tested on this episode of Podcraft, the show that teaches you everything you need to know about podcasting. Subscribe or follow on your listening app of choice!

In this roundup, you’ll find options for every use case, need, and budget. So, let’s explore the best platforms for remote podcast recording.

A quick heads up that we use affiliate links for some of the tools mentioned here. This means we may earn a small commission if you buy through them, though at no extra cost to yourself. Affiliates help to support all the free content we put out. On top of that, we only set up partnerships with services we’ve used and liked ourselves.

Record a Podcast Remotely With SquadCast

SquadCast is one of the big popular call recorder platforms. It has some cool AI tools, too, including filler word removal, overdub, and “AI-eye contact”, which means you’ll never look away from the camera again.

• Cost – Tiered monthly payment. You can save on all of these tiers by paying yearly.
  • Free (an hour of recordings per month)
  • $19 (10 hours of recordings a month)
  • $35 (30 hours of recordings a month)
  • Annual payment savings available
• Video – Yes
• Podcast Hosting – No

Try SquadCast

Record a Podcast Remotely With Riverside.fm

Riverside.fm is another one of the biggest and most popular call recorder platforms on the planet, offering an impressive range of features for podcasters.

• Cost
  • Free (Record up to 2 hours total of watermarked files)
  • $19 (Record up to 5 hours per month)
  • $29 (Record up to 15 hours per month)
  • Annual payment savings available
• Video – Yes
• Podcast Hosting – No

Try Riverside

Record a Podcast Remotely With Alitu

Alitu is a podcast maker app with a built-in call recorder. It has all the features needed to run a podcast, including intuitive editing and production tools, auto-generated transcription, and hosting.

• Cost – $38 per month gives you access to ALL of Alitu’s editing, production, and publishing tools, as well as unlimited call recording.
  • Annual payment savings available
• Video – Yes
• Podcast Hosting – Yes

Try Alitu

Record a Podcast Remotely With Iris.fm

Iris is an up-and-coming call recorder with some great offerings for podcasters looking to record multi-channel audio and video. With Iris, you’re not encouraged to use Chrome or any specific browser, either – it works on them all.

• Cost – Tiered monthly payment
  • $9 (2 hours of recording time)
  • $19 (5 hours of recording time)
  • $29 (10 hours of recording time)
  • Annual payment savings available
• Video – Yes
• Podcast Hosting – No

Try Iris

Record a Podcast Remotely With Cleanfeed

Cleanfeed is a web-based tool for high-quality live audio recording, often used in radio and broadcasting. It allows multitrack recording and real-time collaboration. It’s one of the best options out there for folks looking to record calls for free.

• Cost – Tiered monthly payment
  • Free (unlimited recording, up to two guests)
  • $34 (unlimited recording, up to 32 guests)
  • Annual payment savings available
  • Discount available for charities, schools, etc.
• Video – Yes, for $2500 per year
• Podcast Hosting – No

Try Cleanfeed

Record a Podcast Remotely With Zoom

Zoom is the conference call app that helped the world run during the pandemic. One of Zoom’s big pluses is that almost everyone has used it. The trade-off, however, is that the audio quality can sometimes be poor. There’s also a time limitation of 40 minutes with recordings on their free tier.

• Cost – Tiered monthly payment
  • Free (40min max)
  • $14.99 per month (up to 100 participants)
  • $19.99 per month (up to 300 participants)
  • Annual payment savings available
• Video – Yes
• Podcast Hosting – No

Try Zoom

Record a Podcast Remotely With Streamyard

Streamyard is a live streaming and recording tool that enables professional-looking broadcasts with overlays and branding. It supports multistreaming to different platforms and easy guest participation. Streamyard is ideal for live shows, interviews, and social media streaming.

• Cost – Tiered monthly payment
  • Free (with Streamyard branded logo and 2 hours per month limit)
  • $44.99 per month (10 on-screen participants. Unlimited streaming and recording.)
  • $88.99 per month (multistream to eight destinations simultaneously)
  • Annual payment savings available
• Video – Yes
• Podcast Hosting – No

Try Streamyard

Record a Podcast Remotely With Zencastr

Zencastr was the first multitrack call recording tool I ever used, and it’s still going strong to this day. They have an iOS app, a handy AI clip highlights tool for video podcasters, and you can host your podcast there, too.

• Cost – Tiered monthly payment with annual savings available
  • $20 per month (Unlimited recording hours, uploads, and hosting)
  • $30 per month (4k video, direct publish to YouTube)
  • $30 per month (Two shows, two teams seats)
  • Annual payment savings available
• Video – Yes
• Podcast Hosting – Yes

Try Zencastr

Use coupon code THEPODCASTHOST for 20% off the first three months of a monthly pro subscription with Zencastr. 

Okay, So What’s the BEST Podcast Call Recording App?

The good news is that there are many quality podcast call recording options. The bad news is that it can be hard to choose one. In podcasting, there’s rarely a single “best” option for anything. But here’s a quick rundown of some factors that might help you decide.

Remember, you’ll get a free trial with any of the call recorder apps mentioned here, too!

Going Free

If you need to go free, it’s hard to see past Cleanfeed. You might also consider the alternative “double-ender” option discussed below.

Multi-Track Options With Video

Zencastr, Riverside, and SquadCast are the current big three Zoom alternatives for video and multi-track recording, though you can save money using Iris if you record less than two hours a month.

These platforms record audio and video locally and upload separate speaker files to the cloud. This allows you to manually edit and clean up each speaker and avoids any potential call connection issues.

All-In-One Package at One Flat Rate

If you’re after pure simplicity and more of an “all-in-one” solution, then opt for Alitu. In addition to remote recording, it’ll allow you to do audio cleanup, volume levelling, editing (including text-based editing), add music, produce your final episode, and create transcriptions, all in one user-friendly interface.

Alitu’s automatic Noise Reduction in action!

Alitu also includes podcast hosting, so you don’t need to sign up for a separate account to upload and distribute your show to places like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever podcasts are found.

With Alitu, you can easily clean up, edit, and sync calls recorded with any other tool mentioned here, too!

What Call Recording Apps CAN’T Do

As you’ve no doubt learned by now, these tools can do A LOT. From cloud recording, backup, and storage to HD video, editing and production tools. Some can even host your podcast for you.

But, remote recording tools alone can’t make you sound good. The quality of any recording depends largely on equipment, environment, and mic technique.

You could use state-of-the-art call online recorder software, and it would still sound terrible if your guest were recording on a laptop mic in their bathroom.

Fortunately, you don’t need to be a master audio producer to get this right. Or, to coach your guests to get optimal sound quality from them.

Check out some of the best entry-level recording kit for podcasters, our guide to mic technique, how to optimise your recording space, and our free online microphone test resource. That’ll help get you set up on those fronts!

An Alternative – “The Double Ender” – No Call Recorder App Needed!

If you’d like to know how to record a podcast without extra software, then let’s look at the ‘double-ender’.

In this method, each guest or co-host takes responsibility for recording their own audio at the source.

That might be opening up their recording/editing software and running that to record their voice as they talk to their fellow participants.

Or it might be using a completely separate mic and digital recorder to eliminate the risk of loss of audio due to computer issues.

In any case, with all being well, the producer will have quality recordings of each participant on independent tracks to work with in post-production.

This is a good way to record if one (or both) of you struggle to maintain a stable internet connection.

If you’re doing this, just remember to run a backup recording on something like Zoom. That way, if someone forgets to hit record, all isn’t lost!

Hardware Vs Software for Remote Calls

If you prefer physical equipment to software, there are a few great options for recording podcasts remotely. Check out the Zoom PodTrak P4 , Focusrite Vocaster, and Rode Rodecaster Pro II.

Other audio interface and digital recorder options are available, but those two have built-in call recorder features, so you don’t need to knock up some elaborate setup to make them work in this way.

Want Call Recording, Editing, & Hosting All In One Place?

We’d love you to try out Alitu, our all-in-one podcast maker tool.

Alitu brings everything you need to record, edit, and publish your podcast into one place.

It automatically cleans up your audio and balances levels, offers instant filler-word removal, and allows you to edit audio or video simply by editing the transcript text.

Sound like a fit? Try it free for seven days and see how it works for you.

In this article, I’ll cover the key considerations and various options for setting up your own home recording space. The aim is to get you recording pro-sounding audio as soon as possible and for as little money as possible. After all, we don’t want poor sound to prevent you from doing what matters most—actually launching your show.

Let’s kick off by looking at a few terms you’ve probably heard before…

Sound Proofing, Or Sound Treatment?

Firstly, it’s worth clarifying something that many podcasters tend to get confused over.

There’s a big difference between sound “proofing” and sound “treatment”.

To “soundproof” a room means you are isolating it from any unwanted external noise elsewhere in the building.

There’s a misconception that putting up foam acoustic tiles on a wall is “soundproofing” the room. But that isn’t going to impact noise bleeding through from outside.

We’ll talk about soundproofing further on. But first, what about sound treatment?

To “sound treat” a room means improving its audio quality. So why might you want to do that?

Acoustics & Reverb

Buying a top-of-the-range podcast microphone or premium podcasting gear is all well and good, but if you’re recording your show in a bathtub, it’s still going to sound bad. Here, we need to focus on the sound quality of the space and choose a space to find the characteristics of a recording studio rather than a squash court.

Excessive reverb or echo on your voice can make your show sound amateurish. A room with a lot of hard and bare surfaces will have your voice bouncing around like a pinball machine.

On the other hand, a room with many soft and furnished surfaces will prevent that from happening. Think of how your voice sounds in the bedroom compared to in the bathroom.

Finding the best-sounding room or podcasting space in your house is a great starting point if you can’t get a dedicated podcast room set up. For most people, improvisation is key.

Improvising Your Home Podcast Studio

There are numerous reasons why you might not be able to create your own dedicated podcast room or podcast home studio. Whether you share the house with your family or flatmates, or you simply don’t have the space, a permanent setup isn’t an option for everyone.

So what are your options?

1. Use a preexisting area. This might simply be the best-sounding (softest furnished) room in your house, or it might be a walk-in wardrobe full of hanging clothes—anything to cut down on ambient noise.
2. Localised treatment. Instead of worrying about the sound of the room as a whole, create a small ‘studio’ around yourself and your audio equipment. Here, you can pop your mic into a cat bed or surround it with pillows. Or, you could drape a duvet over a clothes rack and get inside it with your microphone. Granted, with these setups you might look a bit silly when you’re recording, but that’s not an issue when you’re working in audio.

Whatever setup you put together though, just make sure it’s comfortable enough to actually record a full podcast episode in. High-quality audio is one thing, doing yourself a back injury is another!

Semi-Permanent Setups

If you have a bit more room in your house, you can set up a home podcast studio that can still be used for other non-audio purposes.

You can buy or make sound-treated baffling boards or partitions on stands. These can be set up to form a mini ‘dead room’ around your recording area and tidied away afterwards—though you’ll still need a reasonable amount of room to store them.

Another option is to use acoustic blankets or curtains which can be hung on rails or hooks.

Though these are easier to tidy away, they are a bit more permanent in the sense that you’ll probably have to attach something to your wall to support them. For more on this, check out our review on using acoustic blankets for podcasting.

Permanent Setups

If you do have the luxury of commandeering a spare room or walk-in cupboard, then life immediately becomes a whole lot easier.

I converted a walk-in cupboard in my house into a home studio/vocal booth a few years ago. I measured the walls, ceiling, and door, before ordering an equivalent amount of 12″ x 12″ acoustic foam tiles.

I deliberated over how I was going to attach them to the wall. There were a few different options.

• Velcro tape – not the cheapest, and I had visions of the tiles falling off too much.
• Specialist adhesive – designed specifically for these tiles. Quite expensive and a bit too permanent.
• Glue – far too permanent. If I move house I want to take my tiles with me, and without leaving bits of them all over the walls.

We were decorating the rest of the house at the time, so I tried some wallpaper paste. It worked a treat holding the tiles firmly in place, and when I peeled one off it left very little foam stuck to the wall.

None of the tiles have fallen off (over 5 years later), not even the ones on the roof.

If you have this luxury, you might want to think even more about the aesthetics so that the space can double as a video studio or a place to grab photos to help promote your show. Video can be a great way to promote a podcast as part of your content stack. Here are some good ideas on how to level up the look of the space for video.

Sound Proofing a Room

Maybe you have a spare room that you plan to turn into a permanent home podcast studio. Before you go ahead and dive in though, there are a few things to consider.

Will sound treatment alone be enough?

Unless you’re custom building a room from scratch, soundproofing is very much about prevention, rather than cure…

External/Internal Noise Considerations for Your Home Podcast Studio

Here are some considerations when aiming to make your home podcast studio silent from unwanted noise.

• Are any of the walls of the room external or joined to your neighbour’s house? Does your neighbour tend to play the drums, watch the television at a high volume, or have a dog that never stops barking?
• Is there a window in the room? Does it back onto a busy street with lots of noise outside?
• Does the room have anything in it that might make noise? By this, I mean anything that can’t be moved. A boiler, a gas meter that clicks sporadically, that sort of thing.
• Are you recording near an AC unit, or even, a loud fridge? You can turn a fridge off, but it’s almost certain that you’ll forget to turn it back on. One great tip for this comes from Ric Viers (The Sound Effects Bible) who suggests putting your keys or wallet in the fridge when you unplug it. Be warned, this is always a good one to have to explain when someone else inevitably finds them in there!

Though you can deaden a room from reverb, external noises are a different matter, so take this into consideration before you buy $200 worth of sound treatment.

If the bulk of unwanted noise comes from outside, you might get away with blocking the window. But if the building has paper-thin walls that bleed sound, you’d probably be better off just recording in your car or even outside.

Don’t Forget the Sound Quality Basics of a Home Studio

Sure, you can spend days, weeks, or even months developing the right space or surroundings for your studio. But don’t neglect the absolute basics. While I probably don’t have to remind you, here is a quick list of things to prioritise in your home podcast studio.

• Remember to use a quality microphone, whether it is a USB or an XLR mic. Ultimately, the input you use affects the output you get. 
• Buy or make a pop filter for your microphone. No one likes going deaf from exuberant plosives.  
• Headphones are an absolute must-have. Quality is less important here, but headphone comfort is key for longer recordings. 
• Choose the software package that works best for you. It might be a Digital Audio Workstation like Audacity or Audition or a Podcast Maker app like Alitu.

By the way, Redfin reached out to several podcast experts (including us!) to get the best advice on how to create the ultimate podcast space in your house. From installing noise buffering materials to helping you create a cosy, quiet, and welcoming environment, these tips can help take your space and your podcast to the next level. Check out 12 Expert Tips to Create the Ultimate Podcast Space.

Summary: Home Podcast Studio Considerations

The bottom line is deciding on what best suits you, your home, your budget, and your podcast.

Is it vitally important that you have no reverb or background ambience at all? This might be the case if you’re running a business show and want it to sound really professional. Or, if you’re recording an audio drama.

If not, your home podcast studio might take the form of a bedroom, with a few cushions propped around the mic—or even the aforementioned cat bed! That’ll do just fine for most.

If you need to get the cleanest sound possible but have no permanent space, then it might add a bit of time to your podcasting schedule. This will allow you to set up and dismantle your temporary ‘home studio’, but the audio quality results can be worth it.

External and internal sounds that you have no control over can creep into your recordings, so you need to decide which ones you can live with and which ones you’d really rather not hear in your podcast.

Finally, do you have any money to spend on foam tiles or acoustic blankets, or do you need to use household items (duvets, towels, etc) for your sound dampening? The latter can be just as effective, even if they don’t look as good, so don’t worry if you’re working with a small to non-existent budget.

Need More Help Improving Your Audio?

Prevention is always better than cure, and recording the best possible source material is key to running a great-sounding podcast.

However, things don’t always go to plan, and we can’t control everything. Sometimes, there might be a bit of ongoing background noise you just can’t eliminate, from an AC Unit to a hissing guest microphone. Other times, it could be loud, jarring, intermittent noises, like dogs barking, phones ringing, or alarms going off.

So, what can be done about it?

Well, there are tools out there that can help strip out unwanted noise and clean up your recordings. They can also boost and level up the volumes and generally make the vocals sound more “broadcastable.”

Noise Reduction in action, with Alitu

One such tool is the ‘Podcast Maker’ Alitu. With Alitu, you can record, edit, produce, and publish your podcast from within its dashboard, and it’s easier to navigate than your average social media site. If this sounds well up your street, why not try it out for free and see (hear!?) for yourself?

When recording a podcast at home, background noise, like passing traffic, can be a big problem. That’s before we start looking at all the potential unwanted noises inside your house, too. Let’s face it: if sound control was easy, why would we need hi-tech recording studios?

At the end of the day, short of the aforementioned podcast studio, it’s very difficult to get rid of background noise altogether. But, here are seven tips to help you reduce, if not eliminate, non-constant background noise in your podcasts.

1. Choose a Dynamic Mic in Non-Studio Podcasting

Dynamic microphones tend to pick up a narrower range of sounds, both frequency and amplitude. This means they’ll pick up fewer sounds from far away and less annoying, non-voice-frequency audio.

Here’s a deeper look at what makes Dynamic mics different from their Condenser alternatives.

A Dynamic microphone, like the ever-popular Samson Q2U, has a heart-shaped pickup pattern. That means it’ll be much more responsive to you in front of the mic than to anything going on behind it.

The great thing about the Q2U is that it works as both a USB and XLR mic. This means that you can plug it into your computer and start recording right away, with the option to upgrade to a mixer or interface further down the line.

If you can afford to pay a bit more, the Shure MV7+ is another USB/XLR mic, and it’s marketed as offering “perfect recordings for imperfect rooms.”

2. Sound Treatment & Podcast Background Noise

Most sound treatment options on the market are designed to combat echo and reverb, as opposed to blocking out the sound of a phone ringing. With that said, the more absorption you can get between your mic and the source of any noise, the better. Sound blankets can be a great way of building an extra layer of protection into your recordings. Acoustic treatment won’t kill podcast background noise, but it can help.

3. Get Close and Cosy with Your Mic

If you’re close, then you’re also loud. This means you’re much louder than the surrounding sounds, so you drown them out effectively.

If you’re quiet, you’ll have to boost your voice up in the production and editing phase. With that comes the background noise. So, get close, record loud and make sure you’re creating a big volume gap between you and that traffic.

Here’s how to set your levels for recording a podcast and our guide to mic technique. These will help you to record the best possible source material, and that’ll go a long way to helping you eliminate podcast background noise.

4. Go All-Out and Create a Mock Studio

Many podcasters think that to “create a studio”, they need to annex an entire room. The family and pets are sent packing to the kitchen, whilst the living room is converted into a recording space big enough to record the next Live Aid effort in.

Here’s the secret, though: you don’t need to turn an entire room into a studio. You only need to build a localised recording space around you and your mic. This can be done with everyday household items such as duvets, drapes, or towels. It doesn’t need to look amazing if you’re working purely in audio – it just needs to be practical and comfortable.

On that last point, you obviously need a setup that’s pleasant to use. Being too warm or too cramped won’t lead to very enthusiastic content. Check out our guide on creating a silent home studio for a deeper dive into all of this.

5. Extra Protection Against Podcast Background Noise

This is essentially recreating some of the effects you get with double glazing. It takes a bit more effort, but if you’re struggling with excessive background noise, it can be worth it.

For some, the best solution is actually to take your mic and your recorder and head to your wardrobe. This is similar to the duvet but might be a little more sustainable.

Getting in amongst all of your hanging clothes can have a significant effect on your recordings – they’ll dampen out tonnes of the background noise and create a nice silent bed for your voice.

6. Plug the Gaps

Double glazing was mentioned above, and it does have a big effect on background noise within a house. But if you don’t have that, you can at least keep out some of the noise by fitting rubber or foam seals to windows and doors.

This will help control the airflow into your house and keep a bit of the noise out with it. You never know, it might even help with your energy bills, too!

7. Podcast Background Noise Tips: If All Else Fails…

What if you’ve done everything you possibly could to keep background noise out of your podcast, yet you can still hear the sounds of passing cars, air-con units, and the neighbour’s television? Fear not, weary podcaster, all is not lost…

Do Your Listeners Really Care?

First up, you’d be surprised at how many podcast listeners don’t even notice, let alone mind. Most consumers listen using cheap earbuds and in busy environments, such as buses or trains. If they ever do happen to notice the odd bit of background noise in your podcast, they’re unlikely to take offence at it. Fans of your show will know that you don’t have access to a top-of-the-range studio and are doing your best with your own resources. Above anything else, they’ll appreciate the content you’re putting out – that’s why they’re listening, after all.

Try Some Music

If you’re a perfectionist, though, why not try adding some gentle background noise to segments of your show? Music can help mask background noise, and it can add in that extra layer of professionalism, too. Here’s where to find music for your podcast that’s safe and legal to use.

Use ‘Noise Reduction’ Software

Finally, ‘Noise Reduction’ software (the clue is in the name!) has made some incredible advancements these past 18 months. Noise Reduction has always been decent at stripping out constant sounds such as distant traffic or loud AC units, but it was never any use at pulling out intermittent background noise.

However, all that has changed recently, and Noise Reduction software can achieve pretty incredible results. Check out the clip below for an example of Alitu stripping out some really distracting background noise.

Having access to such powerful Noise Reduction technology doesn’t mean we shouldn’t care about recording the cleanest source material possible. But it is great to know that your recordings are often salvageable, no matter what distracting background noise happens to pop up during your recording sessions!

Not only that, but Wondercraft’s Parrot Mode can also imitate your speaking style and translate your text into another language. And, you can publish an episode with one click.

Before building a bunker to protect yourself from the coming android coup, remember: AI isn’t better than humans; it’s just faster. If you want to make a simple podcast very quickly, Wondercraft’s AI-fuelled script tool, Parrot Mode, translation, and one-click publishing can make you the Speed Racer of podcasting.

Our Wondercraft link is an affiliate, meaning we’ll earn a small commission should you sign up via it – never at any extra cost to you. Affiliates help support all our free (human created!) content, but, rest assured, they never stop us from reviewing fairly and honestly.

In this Wondercraft review, I won’t cover everything the tool can do, as that would require a small book. Instead, I’ll focus on a handful of features that’ll be of particular interest to podcasters. Let’s go…

Wondercraft’s AI-Generated Script Tool

Got something to say, but you’re not sure how to say it? Wondercraft has specific AI prompts for almost any use case. Or, if you have notes, press releases, blog posts, or any text you can copy and paste into the editing window, Wondercraft can use it to generate a podcast script. This software can generate a script from a URL, pulling text directly from the web page and including the information as it edits.

The AI script generator can even generate an advertisement script from an image. Upload a picture and type in a call to action, and the script tool will provide a short script based on both.

Accuracy seems to be based more on the typed prompt than the image, though. I tested this by uploading a picture of my dog taking a nap. When the CTA prompt said, “Give your dog an ABC treat,” the script said, “Imagine that tail wagging even more enthusiastically because of these tasty rewards.” But when I changed the CTA to “Give your dog a Soporific treat,” the script’s text emphasized calm and relaxation.

Wondercraft’s Parrot Mode (Say It Like This…)

The most frequently repeated criticism of AI-generated voices is that they lack nuance. Often, the cadence and intonation don’t sound natural. Now, with Parrot Mode, you can show the AI voice what inflection to imitate. Even if you whisper, the AI-generated voice will follow your manner of speaking. The sample below shows you what Wondercraft’s voices typically sound like. See if you can find the spot where I used Parrot Mode.

The Parrot Mode feature alone is a breakthrough. Coaching the artificial voice to emote is about as close to puppetry as podcasting gets.

Generate Your Voice with AI

Podcasters can train Wondercraft to generate a voice that sounds like theirs. But, when we tried to make an AI-generated version of Colin’s voice, Wondercraft made him sound American. Perhaps he was all along, and this Scottish thing was just a gimmick?

On the one hand, Colin’s American doppelganger sounds great. On the other hand, Wondercraft eliminated all the unique nuances of Colin’s voice that make it special, which I find depressing. Not only did the tool change his accent, but the occasional bass gravel in his voice (that shows a throat produced these sounds) is gone.

Wondercraft’s Translation, or “Dubs”

Can’t wait to take advantage of the growing Latinx interest in podcasts? Is your podcast big in Japan? Wondercraft’s Dubs feature can translate from eleven languages into any of eighteen languages. Some have separate settings for regional dialects: for example, the Spanish it chooses can be Castillian or Mexican. Upload an MP3 or MP4 file, and select the origin and destination languages.

Wondercraft offers the option to have a human translator check the dub for accuracy for an additional fee.

Publishing & Analytics

Wondercraft can generate an RSS feed for your podcast, which you can submit to directories. This means you don’t need to have a separate podcast hosting service, though if you prefer to download your file and upload it to your favorite media host, you can. Or, click “share,” and Wondercraft will generate an episode link.

What podcasters gain in ease and speed with Wondercraft, though, they lose in knowledge. Nothing in the (otherwise extensive) Help Center shows how to find your podcast’s download numbers or any statistical measurement. To measure your podcast’s impact, you’d have to log into each directory (e.g., Apple Podcasts Connect, Spotify for Podcasters, YouTube), take notes, and combine each data set. Even then, you wouldn’t get the full picture. Wondercraft can do a lot, but at this moment in time, choose a dedicated hosting provider if you’re serious about your podcast.

Wondercraft Pricing

Wondercraft operates on a credit system. Each credit is equal to one minute of audio. The free tier gives users ample time to experiment with all of Wondercraft’s features. If you pay annually, the prices are as follows:

• Free: This tier gets four monthly credits, use of the AI Script Assistant, a voice library with ten standard voices, and a shareable web page for your podcast episodes.
• Creator: For $29 per month, you get everything from the Free level, 60 credits per month, voice cloning for one user, 40 premium voices, access to the Music Library with over 200 pieces of music, and access to the video editor.
• Pro: For $99 per month, you get one seat and 300 credits per month, with everything from the Creator tier, and Parrot Mode, professional voice cloning, team collaboration, and access to all premium voices. Coming soon to the Pro tier: a library of sound effects and timeline view. 

On Wondercraft’s pricing page, the Pro tier displays a slider to adjust so you can see how the price changes based on the number of monthly credits and seats per account. For example, if you need two team member logins but only use 150 credits per month, the price would be $108/month when you pay annually.

Translation with human quality assurance costs 15 credits per minute of audio.

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Wondercraft Is Quick and Simple, Like a Brick Through a Window

I barely needed an introduction to Wondercraft. Despite the helpful tutorials and descriptions, the interface is intuitive and straightforward. In fact, Wondercraft is so quick and easy to use that podcasters’ enthusiasm could run right over details. Making podcast cover art or taking time to fact-check was never mentioned.

Remember, Wondercraft’s AI Script Generator can pull information from a blog post with only the URL. If a podcaster skimmed the text on that page and didn’t check it for accuracy (or even hyperbole), they may publish an inaccurate podcast. The FTC pays attention to influencer marketing, so you want to make sure your information is correct, especially if you plan to monetize your podcast.

Considering that Google’s launch of AI Overview has been full of problems (i.e., suggesting glue as a pizza topping), trusting AI to summarize a lot of information in broad strokes can be dangerous if you don’t check the details.

And, not knowing where or how often a podcast is downloaded is like performing with no audience response.

Wondercraft is a good tool for: 

• podcasts where you have standardized and vetted source information, such as a press release
• private podcasts, where you don’t need to use a directory to share it, and analytics aren’t vital
• when timing is crucial: for example, if you’re a journalist where breaking news is happening, publishing the story quickly may be more important than the nuance of voice or environment
• a situation where you have to protect anonymous sources by using AI voices.

When a service does almost everything for the user, ease kills individuality. It’s the difference between a mass-produced machine-knit sweater and a singular hand-knit sweater. But Wondercraft provides an opportunity for you to bring as much of your own unique voice and vision to your podcast as you like. With all the structure Wondercraft provides, it’s much simpler to make a clean, straightforward, and quirk-free podcast.

Use our tool below to record a microphone test, then listen back to ensure you’re sounding your best self! Afterwards, look below for dozens of tips on improving your audio, editing your audio or buying the best microphone for your budget. You might even want to upload your audio and publish it as a podcast – here are the best podcast hosting platforms where you can do just that.

Anyway, let’s get to the microphone test!

Online Mic Test Tool

Here’s how our online mic test works:

1. Click the ‘request microphone access’ button
2. Click ‘allow’ on the popup that appears.
3. Click ‘Record’ to start recording your mic.
4. If your mic is working, you’ll see a moving sound wave as you speak
5. Click ‘Stop’ to finish your recording test
6. Click the play button to listen back and review your sound quality.
7. If your sound quality isn’t as good as you’d hoped, consider Upgrading your Equipment.

Now that you’ve done your online mic test, we’ve got a few more things for you. First, if it didn’t work, look at the troubleshooting section below. If it did work, then check out how to improve your audio. And finally, once you’re all tested and top quality, have a peek at our resources on doing better recordings and editing your audio in the best way possible.

How to Improve Your Recordings, from Audio Quality to Content

It doesn’t matter what you’re using that microphone for; from online meetings to top-notch narrative podcasts, there are always ways you can improve how your voice comes across online. Here are some tips.

Upgrading your Equipment

• Find the best microphone for top audio quality
• Microphone boom arms can make recording much easier

Planning and Recording

• Best apps for recording an online call
• Planning for audio recording
• Mic technique for podcasters
• How to eliminate reverb in any room

Cleaning up & Editing Your Recordings

• How to edit a podcast (applies to all audio editing)
• Alitu, an app for audio recording, cleanup, editing, & publishing

And, working with a mic but not using it to run a podcast yet? Crazy Learn how to start a podcast right here.

Testing a Mic on Windows 11

Most of the questions we get about testing a microphone are related to the computer (or mobile device!) you’re recording on, in which case an online mic test is no good! So, let’s look at how to test a mic on Windows 11 first since it seems to be the most common. Having that elusive ‘browser error’ or, worse yet, the ‘microphone access error’ popup before a high-profile meeting can be… stress-inducing, to say the least

First job is to make sure the right microphone is selected. Quite often, if your mic isn’t working, you’ll find you just haven’t got the right device set as the default.

On Windows 11, find the audio icon on the bottom right (looks helpfully like a speaker!) and right-click it. Then, click ‘Sound Settings’.

Next, look down to the ‘Input’ section of the settings page. This is the easiest place to do a mic test on Windows 11.

Ensure the right mic is selected. Start speaking into the mic, and watch the blue volume bar. This flickers up and down as you speak, showing that the computer’s detecting an input just fine. If you see that blue bar jumping left and right in time with your voice, then great! You’ve tested your mic, and it’s detecting sound.

If the volume is on the low side, simply drag the slider (shown here at 40%) further to the right to increase your signal.

Hit ‘Start Test’ to double-check you’re definitely coming through via your intended mic and not through your device’s built-in mics, instead.

How to Change Your Microphone Browser Settings

The infamous’ allow’ popup is the most common problem when recording in your browser. This is so easily missed; when you do, your microphone won’t record, no matter what.

Here’s what you’ll see:

Note the popup right below the website address. It’s attached to the security padlock icon. This happens when a website asks permission to record from your mic. If you click ‘Allow’, then all should be well. You can then select which microphone to use.

But what if you click Block Microphone by accident, or you want to check you’ve given permission to your software or online tool?

Then, you can click the video camera icon on the other end, to edit, check or test your microphone settings:

Clicking the camera icon brings up the following popup. Here, select ‘Always allow’, giving the current website permission to record. Remember, this is just your setting for the current website, so you’re still safe on other sites. And, if you want to permit other sites to record, you still have to allow it, either with the first ‘Allow’ popup or by clicking the settings icon above.

So, make sure this setting is correct, and then try another mic test to check your mic is working.

How to Test a Microphone on Discord

Here’s one for the growing world of Discord users. Discord is a great tool, akin to Slack, for chatting online. But, how do you test your microphone in Discord since an online mic test won’t cut it here? Quite easily, it turns out!

Find your username and avatar on the bottom left, and then click the audio settings icon. It looks like a cog, next to the mic and headphones icon.

Next, make sure you have the correct microphone selected on the “input device” setting. Finally, use the handy discord mic test itself to make sure all’s working well. Look for the “Mic Test” header, and click the “Let’s Check” button. You’ll hear Discord testing your mic by playing it back to you and showing a volume indicator on the bar to the right. You can adjust the controls on both the input and output functions to achieve optimal volume levels for your setup.

This is great because you can check the quality simultaneously through the playback. Mic tested!

Summary: Online Mic Test

I hope that’s given you everything you need to know to go ahead and run a mic test whenever you need it.

If you’re looking for more help or guidance too, be sure to check out:

• Our full ‘How to Start a Podcast‘ guide
• Our ‘Best Podcast Microphones‘ guide
• Our IndiePod Community

Whether you’re walking your audience through a system you’ve built or you’re giving a step-by-step tutorial, recording your screen has never been easier. 

First, let’s walk through the built-in tools for each platform…then I’ll share my favorite tools. 

Built-in Screen Recording Tools

One of the reasons screen recording has never been easier is most devices have a built-in way to do it. 

Screen Recording on iPhone

If you’re an iOS (or iPadOS) user, you can access the screen recorder by opening the Control Center and pressing the record button: 

If the record button doesn’t show up in your Control Center, you add it by going to Settings -> Control Center, and dragging it into the “Included Controls” section: 

Screen recordings will automatically be saved to your Photos library — though it’s worth noting that audio will not get captured. 

Screen Recording on Mac

If you’re on a Mac, you can use QuickTime. Open the app and go to File -> New Screen Recording.

From there, you’ll be able to choose if you want to record the full screen, or just a portion of the screen: 

Much like iPhone, no audio is captured, but you will have the opportunity to make light edits, and save it. 

Screen Recording on Windows

If you’re on Windows, there’s a great app called Snipping Tool that comes pre-installed. It’s also available from the Microsoft Store. 

It works very similarly to QuickTime, and there’s a great tutorial here, from Microsoft. 

Advanced Screen Recording Tools

If you’re looking for something beyond the stock recording apps, don’t worry! There are lots to choose from. 

While this isn’t a comprehensive list, these are some of my favorites—and I’ve been around the block multiple times. 

Lightweight Screen Recorder Apps

There are some single (or…basically single?) purpose apps that do a great job of recording your screen and immediately prepping it for sharing. 

Loom

Loom has long been a standard bearer for the industry. It’s fast, versatile, and available for Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android. It even has a Chrome App! 

It allows you to record your screen or your screen and camera. Then, it uploads the video to its servers and gives you a link to share. You can even have viewers comment and react, and you have privacy and password settings. 

Loom is free to get started. 

Tella.tv

Tella.tv is a relative newcomer with a slick interface and some cool features. While it can do almost everything Loom can do, it touts some advanced editing features, like creating clips and multiple layouts. 

The biggest drawbacks are that it’s not free (though it offers a free trial), and it’s Mac and Chrome only. There are no native Windows, iOS, or Android apps. 

Vimeo Recorder

If you’re looking for the very basics, you can try Vimeo Recorder. This is a free tool, though it will contribute to the uploads in your Vimeo account, so you may need to pay for that if you record a lot. 

It will allow you to record your screen, or your screen and camera, though I’ve found it’s not very flexible for your camera view. 

If I had to pick (and I have), I’d go with Loom. It’s tried and true, flexible, and available everywhere. 

Heavy Duty Screen Recording Tools

Now, if you’re looking for something to record your screen, and camera, and give you full flexibility while editing, you want a video editing tool. 

Screenflow

Screenflow is a fantastic option for the Mac. It’s been around a long time and works super well. It’s purpose-built for recording screencasts/tutorials, but it can also import video, highlight mouse clicks, completely erase your cursor, and even record from your iOS device. 

I’ve been using it for years and have never been disappointed. 

Screenflow starts at $169. 

Camtasia

If you need something that also works on Windows, Camtasia has become an industry standard—especially in higher education. It tracks cursor data, has a bunch of templates to work from, and allows for some fantastic animations. 

Camtasia starts at $179.88. (Our link here is an affiliate!)

Descript

Finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Descript. While it’s known for podcasting and editing via transcript, you can record your screen directly into the app. And while it’s not as robust as Screenflow or Camtasia, it gets the job done and can be a great solution 

It’s worth noting that these are primarily desktop applications — full editing suites that have ways to record a mobile screen. But your best bet here would probably be to record using the built-in recorder, and import…unless you’re using Screenflow!

So Many More Screen Recorder Options!

We covered a lot of tools here, but there are many more out there. If you’re looking for something more bespoke, or with a specific use case in mind, you’ll no doubt be able to find the perfect solution for you. 

But from basic and free, to more advanced and robust, there’s no shortage of ways for you to record your screen.

On a final note, if you’re looking to sharpen your video podcast game, here are some follow-up resources:

• Best Video Editing Software
• The Ultimate Video Podcasting Guide
• How to Put a Podcast on YouTube

And, if you’re at an early stage in your podcasting journey, here are another couple of important guides worth bookmarking for future reading;

• Podcast Equipment: What Do I Need, & Why Do I Need It?
• How to Record a Podcast

A quick heads up, too, that we sometimes use affiliate links to products and services we recommend. Buying through these links means we may earn a small commission, though at no extra cost to you. Affiliates help support all the free content we put out on the site!

With that all said, let’s dive into the meat of the article. First up, you’re going to learn more about the various types of podcast recording software to help you make a more informed choice. But if you’d like to jump straight to the recommendations, then have at it!

What is Podcast Recording Software?

There are a lot of ambiguous terms in podcasting – most notably, people who refer to their podcast episodes as “podcasts” – so it’s always helpful to kick off with a bit of clarity.

Podcast recording software comes in many forms, and most will do a bit more than simply record audio. Here are the three most popular types we see:

The DAW (Digital Audio Workstation)

Digital Audio Workstations (or DAWs) are sophisticated programs. With a DAW, you can not only record audio, but you can also do all your editing and production inside them. This can be as simple as a single voice with some intro music, or it can be as complex as a cinematic soundscaped audio drama.

The Call Recorder Tool

Most podcast interviews happen remotely. This gives podcasters the freedom to bring on interesting guests from anywhere in the world. Call recording tools do exactly what they say on the tin. A few of them even offer live broadcast and production features. Typically, users run them within web browsers, though some do offer dedicated desktop apps.

The ‘Podcast Maker’ Tool

‘Podcast Maker’ tools tend to fall somewhere between the two types listed above. They’ll let you record your episodes, then provide a range of simplified options for editing, producing, and publishing them.

Best Podcast Recording Software Options

As I’ve mentioned already, the “best” option for you will depend on your own unique needs, budget, and setup. You’ll find something for everyone in the following roundup. Options are listed in alphabetical order, and are hopefully nice and skimmable for you

Adobe Audition

Adobe Audition is like a bigger and better version of the popular free DAW Audacity (mentioned further on). With Audition, there are many more options, and you’ll have much more flexibility and tools at your disposal. On the flip side, these extras raise the barrier to entry, too.

• Type: DAW
• Price: $21 a month
• Editing & Production: Yes
• Transcription: No
• Hosting: No
• Video Recording: No
• Learning Curve: Steep

Additional Resources

• Adobe Audition Review
• Audacity Vs Adobe Audition
• Editing an Audio Drama Podcast on Adobe Audition

Alitu

Alitu is our very own ‘podcast maker’ tool. We built it because so many people told us they were struggling with the editing and production side of things. You can record your podcast with Alitu, whether a local/solo recording or an online call. You can publish your episodes from within Alitu and push them out to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all the other podcast listening platforms. Alitu will automatically transcribe your episodes, and you can even edit your audio by deleting chunks of text, too!

• Type: ‘Podcast Maker’ tool
• Price: $38 a month
• Editing & Production: Yes, including text-based editing
• Transcription: Yes
• Hosting: Yes
• Video Recording: No
• Learning Curve: Simple

Additional Resource:

How to Make a Podcast With Alitu

Audacity

Audacity is a popular and free open-source DAW. If you are running a solo show or recording a guest or co-host locally, then it has everything you need. On the flip side, two common criticisms of Audacity are that it looks a bit clunky and can seem complicated to beginners. That said, the price tag of Free is a big plus for many on a tight or non-existent budget.

• Type: DAW
• Price: Free
• Editing & Production: Yes
• Transcription: No
• Hosting: No
• Video Recording: No
• Learning Curve: Moderate

Additional Resources:

• Audacity Vs Adobe Audition
• Noise Reduction on Audacity
• Compression on Audacity

Cast

Cast lets you record yourself and up to three guests. There are editing and production options available. It also doubles up as a media host, so you can upload and publish your episodes, too. Google Chrome is the recommended browser for recording on Cast.

• Type: ‘Podcast Maker’ tool
• Price: From $10 a month
• Editing & Production: Yes
• Transcription: No
• Hosting: Yes
• Video Recording: No
• Learning Curve: Simple

Descript

Descript is an innovative platform for creating and editing podcasts. It’s most famous for its overdub feature, which uses AI to learn your voice, and you can type out lines or entire scripts and have your “own voice” read them. Descript isn’t a call recorder, but it now owns SquadCast, and you can link the two together.

• Type: ‘Podcast Maker’ tool
• Price: Get started for free
• Editing & Production: Yes
• Transcription: Yes
• Hosting: No
• Video Recording: Yes
• Learning Curve: Simple

Additional Resources:

• Descript Review
• Descript Alternatives for Text-Based Editing

Hindenburg

Hindenburg is a unique DAW because it’s actually designed with podcasters, radio people, and audiobook producers in mind. Most other DAWs are primarily for music production but just so happen to lend themselves well to spoken-word content. Hindenburg is definitely the DAW with the lowest barrier to entry for folks new to audio production.

• Type: DAW
• Price: From $12 a month
• Editing & Production: Yes, including text-based editing
• Transcription: Yes
• Hosting: No
• Video Recording: No
• Learning Curve: Moderate

Additional Resource:

5 Ways That Hindenburg Will Save You Podcast Production Time

Podbean Live Stream

You can run Podbean Live Stream on desktop (Chrome) or mobile (use Podbean app for Android/iOS). It’ll let you host up to five active co-hosts and guests at any one time. Your audience can tune in and listen along live, as well as call in to participate. Conversations will be recorded onto one single track. You can play music and audio effects during your show, and once it’s finished, upload and publish directly to Podbean.

Get a month’s free hosting with Podbean when you sign up using the coupon code podcraft.

• Type: Call Recorder
• Price: Get started for free
• Editing & Production: No
• Transcription: No
• Hosting: Yes
• Video Recording: No
• Learning Curve: Moderate

Additional Resource:

• Recording With Podbean Live Stream

Podcastle 

Podcastle is an all-in-one content creation platform that allows you to record high quality audio/video with a minimal skill set. It boasts an intuitive interface, and with a range of AI-powered tools at your disposal, creating a publication-ready show is even easier. You can record with up to 10 guests, transcribe your episodes and create audio from text. With Podcastle’s Revoice feature you can create a digital copy of your voice and generate audio that sounds just like you. The software is available both on the web and iPhone allowing for greater flexibility. 

• Type: ‘Podcast Maker’ tool
• Price: Get started for free
• Editing & Production: Yes
• Transcription: Yes
• Hosting: Yes
• Video Recording: Yes
• Learning Curve: Simple

Ringr Podcast Recording Software

Ringr is an app that lets you record calls on your mobile or desktop.  You can record yourself and four guests on the $ 19-a-month premium package. They recommend that participants use Google Chrome or Firefox. Use the coupon code podcraft when you sign up for a paid plan for 10% off monthly or 25% off annually! 

• Type: Call Recorder
• Price: From $15 a month
• Editing & Production: No
• Transcription: No
• Hosting: No
• Video Recording: No
• Learning Curve: Simple

Riverside.fm

Riverside is a top-quality piece of call recording software with a lot of flexibility. You can record up to eight people on individual tracks, and it’ll record video as well as audio. You can also run live streams on Twitter, Youtube, or Facebook Live, as well as accept live call-ins from listeners. They have a mobile app for iOS and Android, too!

• Type: Call Recorder
• Price: From $9 a month
• Editing & Production: Basic editing, includes text-based editing tools too!
• Transcription: Yes
• Hosting: No
• Video Recording: Yes
• Learning Curve: Simple

Additional Resources:

Riverside.fm Review

Spotify for Podcasters (Anchor)

Spotify for Podcasters is formerly Anchor’s Record With Friends tool. The branding has changed, but not much else. Spotify for Podcasters offers call recording, basic editing, and hosting options – all for free. It can be used with up to five remote guests who can join via mobile (Spotify for Podcasters app) or desktop. Conversations are recorded onto one single track, with time limits of two hours (app), 30 minutes (Chrome), and 5 minutes (Safari).

• Type: ‘Podcast Maker’ tool
• Price: Free
• Editing & Production: Basic
• Transcription: Yes, though limited
• Hosting: Yes
• Video Recording: No
• Learning Curve: Simple

Additional Resources:

• Spotify for Podcasters Review
• Best Podcast Maker Apps

Spreaker Studio

Spreaker Studio comes as either a desktop or mobile app and works similarly to an online radio station. You have the option to go live and interact with your listeners in real time through its chat function. Conversations will be recorded onto one single track. Being a media host, you can upload and publish directly to Spreaker, too.

You can start for free, but some features will be limited. Paid tiers offer more options and start from $20 a month. 

• Type: ‘Podcast Maker’ tool
• Price: Get started for free
• Editing & Production: Basic Top & Tail
• Transcription: No
• Hosting: Yes
• Video Recording: No
• Learning Curve: Moderate

SquadCast

With SquadCast, you can record yourself and up to nine guests on individual tracks in audio and video form. It’s one of the best call recording tools on the market, and comes with some cool AI features like overdub, Filler word removal, AI-Green screen, and AI-Eye Contact.

• Type: Call Recorder
• Price: Limited free tier or $15 per month
• Editing & Production: Integrates with Descript
• Transcription: No
• Hosting: No
• Video Recording: Yes
• Learning Curve: Simple

Zencastr

One of the original online multitrack recorder options on the market, Zencastr allows for five guests and one host. There’s an auto post-production option that’ll mix these all together and level them up afterwards. You can generate transcriptions with Zencastr, and publish directly to the platform, too. Use coupon code THEPODCASTHOST for 20% off the first three months of a monthly pro subscription with Zencastr.  If used for a yearly subscription, it will be 20% off for the entire year!

• Type: Call Recorder
• Price: $20 per month
• Editing & Production: Basic post-production
• Transcription: Yes
• Hosting: Yes
• Video Recording: Yes
• Learning Curve: Simple

Additional Resource:

Zencastr Review

Zoom

Zoom is the go-to video chat option for millions of people around the world. It can also be used as podcast recording software. You can capture remote conversations in both audio and video form. The overall quality will struggle to compete with the other options in this roundup, but for many, the fact that so many people are familiar with Zoom makes it their ideal option. With the free tier, your calls will be limited to 40 minutes.

• Type: Call Recorder
• Price: Limited free tier or $13 per month
• Editing & Production: No
• Transcription: Yes
• Hosting: No
• Video Recording: Yes
• Learning Curve: Simple

Additional Resource:

• Recording a Podcast on Zoom

Summary: Best Podcast Recording Software

I know I said at the beginning, “Sometimes too much choice is as bad as none at all”, and then followed up by listing a whole load of choices. But I’ve tried my best to make it ‘skimmable’, highlighting things like cost and main features.

So take a quick look over it, and make a shortlist of the 2-3 that most fit your needs. Then, take a deeper dive into the additional links under those sections.

If you’re still struggling, though, here are my closing recommendations…

Best Podcast Recording Software: Final Recommendations

For most folks looking to record remote convos (co-hosts and interview guests), it’s a coin toss between SquadCast and Riverside.

On the other hand, if you just need to record audio straight into your computer, then Audacity is completely free, which makes it appealing to many.

And a final shout-out to our own tool, Alitu, which is one of the ‘podcast maker’ tool options mentioned above. It pulls everything you need to podcast into one simple interface and subscription.

You might opt for Alitu if you consider yourself “non-techy”, want to run remote calls, and don’t want to learn the ins and outs of editing, production, noise reduction, compression, etc. It also has hosting (publish directly to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc), auto-generated transcription, and text-based editing. New features are being added all the time, too. Why not give it a try, free, for seven days to see what you think?

And remember to check out these two essential guides, which will help give you a clearer view of exactly how everything fits together when recording your podcast…

• Podcast Equipment: What Do I Need, & Why Do I Need It?
• How to Record a Podcast