Thank you!
You have agreed to be a guest on the Roaring Elephant podcast. Thank you!
Without people like you, this podcast would not be possible. Your co-hosts and more importantly our listeners really appreciate the fact that you are giving us some of your valuable time.
On our end, we feel it is our responsibility to give our listeners the best possible audio experience and in that effort, we need your help.
Please read though the text below where you will learn:
- some general information about your session
- how to prepare for your recording session
- how to connect to our recording studio on the day
General Information
No live streaming
The Roaring Elephant podcast is always recorded and edited before an episode is published at a later date. Your interview will not be streamed live so any issues that happen (and something always does) will be dealt with in post production before the episode is published.
Publishing date
While we try to publish your session as soon as possible, there is always the possibility that the publication of your episode gets bumped to a later date. We will always let you know when your episode goes live at least a few days in advance.
Recording session duration
A typical episode is around 30 minutes but quite often we spread a good interview over two episodes. So we are looking at recording between 30 and 60 minutes with you. Including time spent getting everybody connected and sound checked, you should set aside at least 90 minutes for a recording session.
No access to the episode before it goes live
We do not give you access to a finished episode before it goes live. It is just not practical. We do however want to make sure that you are comfortable with whatever is said in the recording so any requests you make during the recording will be respected in post production.
Stick around a bit at the end please?
At the end of the interview, we will of course record our thank you to you for being on the podcast.
Please do not disconnect immediately but stay on the line so we can do a quick assessment of the recording with you.
Quite often our guests disconnect when we record the end of the interview. Please stick around a little longer?
Prepare for your recording session
Find a quiet place for yourself
All microphones capture surround sound and while we do not expect you to sit in a sound controlled room, we do want to avoid recording things your colleagues or family members are talking about. A regular meeting room should be fine.
If you have a choice, try to avoid rooms with a lot of echo: find a room that is not too large and is not too empty.
If you are joining the recording with a colleague, you cannot be in the same room.
Avoid WIFI if at all possible
We understand the ease of use that WIFI brings but unfortunately, as you probably have experienced yourself, audio streaming really likes a stable network connection and wireless networking simply is not up to the task. Please try and have a wired connection.
Do not use your laptop built-in microphone
This is probably the most important thing you need to take care of. Built-in microphones are definitely handy, but the sound quality is usually not so good and they capture way too much sound from your surroundings. Additionally, the built-in microphone will flawlessly capture every touch or bump on your desk and even your feet on the floor.
We do not expect you to buy an expensive microphone; any decent head set should do fine. If you have nothing else, your phone headset will work, but there are definitely better solutions.
Use headphones
Headphones are mandatory. If you use normal speakers, their sound will be captured by your microphone and audio feedback will result and recording will be impossible. Any headset or ear-buds will do and of course if you have an integrated headset with microphone, that works best.
Use a webcam (or better) if you want to?
We record full video sessions so if you are willing to be video recorded, you can use any webcam to share your video feed during the recording. We are able to receive Full HD 1080p video.
If you prefer not to appear on camera, that is totally fine. We would ask you to provide a good photograph of you that we can use onscreen?
Mobile devices are not suitable
You will need to connect to our recording studio using a PC (any OS should work). We do not allow mobile devices due to bad audio quality and the unavoidable dropped connections.
Refrain from typing on your (noisy) keyboard (too much)
Sometimes you need to look something up and that is fine, but realize that typing on your keyboard will be audible and this is quite distracting. So please try to limit this unless really necessary.
Connect to the recording environment
You probably want a Chrome compatible browser
We use Google Chat for our recording sessions and you will connect to our recording environment using a web browser. From experience, Chrome based browsers work best.
On some Apple OS X systems, we recommend to use the Safari browser as Chrome sometimes has issues with the audio codec security on that platform.
Connect to the recording website
We will send you the exact URL to connect to and the password a few days before your recording date. Please make sure to use that exact URL and please do not share it with your colleagues.
When the interview is over, you can simply close the browser. All audio and video is recorded at our end so you do not have to wait for anything to upload.
