- This is the complete guide
to recording online remote interviews.
We're gonna step through exactly
how to shoot an interview online like a pro,
whether you've got just one or multiple guests,
as well as our latest video recorder
and interview software recommendations,
and a ton of online interview tips
to help you get the best results.
Hi, it's Justin Brown here from Primal Video,
where we help you grow an audience
and scale your revenue with online video.
If you're seeing value in this video,
make sure you're giving it a thumbs up.
It makes a huge difference.
And all the links to everything I mentioned
are in the description box below.
Let's jump into it.
So there's been a ton of updates
since our last video on this topic.
I'm pretty sure our last topic was to use Skype at the time.
So a lot has changed,
and the options are now so much better.
But as always, there's a few different options
depending on your needs and how advanced you want to get
with some of the cool features that are available.
But we're gonna start off with the simplest setup first,
and work our way up to what I think
is the best option right now,
with all the bells and whistles
to make your interviews even more engaging.
Now, while the first option might get the job done for you,
I would strongly recommend that you stick around
to check out all three options that we're covering off,
because there's some surprising new features
that the later options pack in
that you might not want to miss out on,
especially if you haven't played with them before.
So onto my top options, option number one is to use Zoom.
Zoom is an amazing video conferencing tool.
It's now the defacto when it comes to online calls
or online video meetings,
but it's also a really powerful tool
for creating online interviews as well.
As I said, it's really easy to use,
not just for the person presenting
and running the interview,
but also to have your guests come in as well.
All you need to do is to start a call
or schedule a call ahead of time,
share out the link to whoever you'd like to join,
and once you're all set,
you just need to hit the record button.
Now you have the option here
to record locally to your computer,
or if you're on one of their paid plans,
you can also record to the cloud as well.
Now, in terms of the recording options, right now,
you can record up to HD video quality,
and you can also record separate audio tracks
for each of the different people
that you've got speaking on your call.
So this is a great feature to have
so that you can control things like volume levels
on a speaker-by-speaker basis.
So, if you've got someone
where their microphone was a bit quiet,
then in your editing afterwards,
you could boost up that person's microphone.
In terms of the video side
and what you get access to for the recording,
if you're recording to the cloud,
then you have the ability to download
either the speaker view or the gallery view.
So the speaker view is where it's going to switch
between the active speaker,
whoever is talking is going to be full screen,
whereas the gallery view is more of a grid view
or the Brady Bunch style view.
If you've got a lot of people on,
then everyone will be laid out in a grid format.
If there's only two people on,
then it will be a 50/50 screen split,
with, say, you on one side, and them on the other.
So outside of that, there's really not a lot of control.
You can't customize things up, you can't move things around,
you can't bring in titles or anything like that.
And you also can't improve that video quality beyond HD.
Now, another thing to be aware of,
if you're gonna be hosting an interview over Zoom,
or using a platform like this over the internet,
is that the internet could actually become an issue.
Meaning, if the internet on your end isn't good
or it slows down,
or likewise, the other person that you are interviewing
has internet issues,
it's going to lower the quality of the video
first and foremost,
but also likely the audio as well.
So you really want to make sure
and ideally do some testing beforehand
to make sure that both of you have decent internet
so that there isn't going to be any issues
or any quality issues with your recording.
Now, in terms of pricing,
there is a free version of Zoom available,
which will let you run interviews and record them.
But to be able to access things like cloud recording,
where you'll be able to switch
the different camera views and things,
then that's when you need to move up to their pro plan,
which starts at $14.99 per month.
So Zoom is gonna be a good option
for someone who is looking for simplicity,
doesn't need all the extra bells and whistles,
doesn't need to bring up titles and things,
or doesn't need, say,
the highest video quality recording either.
Next up, option number two is to use live streaming software
to run your online interviews.
These are a great option
because they've got a ton of extra features
built in for live streaming,
but even if you're not going to be live streaming,
you can use those features
to produce a highly polished interview as well.
So a lot of the top options out there now for live streaming
will just let you record
without actually needing to go live.
In terms of live streaming software,
there's lots of options out there.
Things like OBS, Ecamm, vMix, Wirecast, StreamYard, BeLive.
We've got dedicated videos
breaking down our top recommendations on those.
I will link them up in the cards
and below in the description.
But again, as with anything,
it's gonna come down to your specific use case
and what you're looking to do,
as to which one is going to be the best one for you.
In terms of recording an online interview,
things like Ecamm, and vMix, and StreamYard,
all make that process really, really simple,
again, with different levels of advanced controls in there.
If you're looking for simplicity,
StreamYard is a great option.
It's got a really intuitive interface.
It's easy to bring guests in.
It's easy to bring up titles and things,
and share your computer screen
while you're recording as well.
And just like Zoom,
it also offers separate audio track recording as well,
for the different guests that you're bringing in.
Video-recording-wise, is supported up to 1080p resolution.
So, you're gonna get more quality out of StreamYard
than you would through Zoom,
but you will need to be on their pro plan for that,
which starts at $39 per month.
Now, if you're someone who's after more flexibility
and more control with your video recording,
then that's why I really like Ecamm Live.
It's still really easy to use,
but it packs a punch when it comes to features.
So building upon StreamYard,
where you had the ability to switch
between the different camera angles or the different views,
you can actually customize these up
to literally pick up a webcam
and move it around to wherever you like in Ecamm.
But you also have a lot more control
over things like the audio volumes as well.
And again, you get that separate audio track recording
in Ecamm as well.
Now, while every option so far
has had that separate audio track recording, up until now,
none of them have had a separate video track recording,
meaning, that's gonna record your camera
or your webcam full screen,
and your guest's camera full screen as well.
So this is actually a feature that's built
into more professional live streaming software,
like vMix and Wirecast.
In both of those, you have the ability to set up
and enable ISO recording or isolated track recording,
where you can say, "All right, this webcam,
we're gonna save that as that MP4.
This camera, we're gonna save this
as this own standalone file."
So that after you're recording,
you've got separate versions of whatever you'd like.
Now, because vMix and Wirecast
are much more professional programs,
they're also a lot more complicated
to get up to speed and using,
and they're also more expensive as well.
So in terms of pricing with Wirecast,
you will need Wirecast Pro
for this ISO recording capability,
which currently sells for $799,
and that'll work on both Mac and PC.
And with vMix, you'll need to be on their 4K pricing option,
which is currently $700 US as a one-time purchase,
or $50 per month if you go on their subscription plan.
Now with all of that said, the biggest downside,
or the biggest risk, with using any live streaming software
to run your interviews, just the same as with Zoom,
is going to be your internet connection.
If you've got bad internet or your guests have bad internet,
it's going to give you a bad quality recording.
And this is why I was so pumped
when I heard about option number three.
So option number three then,
great segue, Justin,
is Riverside.fm.
So what Riverside is, is an amazing, simple platform,
designed to help you record high quality podcasts
and video interviews.
There's nothing to download and install.
It just runs through your web browser.
So yes, you will still need an internet connection,
but the actual recording on either end,
for yourself and your guests, are done locally on their end,
meaning that it's done in much higher quality.
And if your internet speed slowed down
halfway through the interview,
it's not going to affect the quality of the recording.
So as far as I'm concerned,
this is really the holy grail
when it comes to recording an online interview.
So once you create an account, you have logged in,
you can easily grab an invitation link that you can send out
to your guests that you want to have on.
They can currently have up to eight people on a recording,
so yourself plus seven guests.
But when people join,
what you're seeing is a low quality preview.
It's already in there.
It's checking your internet bandwidth.
It's checking their internet bandwidth.
And it's giving you kind of an optimized
but lower quality preview,
so it's not gonna waste your internet speed.
And then once you hit record,
it's actually going to start recording locally
on your computer, high quality,
and also on your guest's end as well,
it's gonna be recording to their computer.
It's also gonna start uploading that high quality recording
to the Riverside servers in the background
if your internet speed is good enough.
So if you're interviewing someone,
you've got awesome internet,
yours is just gonna be uploading in almost real time.
If you're interviewing a guest,
and their internet isn't so good,
then it's going to upload at a slower rate,
so it's not to affect the actual recording,
but also not to affect the actual interview
that's happening.
Now, once you stop the recording,
you'll get a little notification,
and it will tell you to wait and to not close the window
until the upload has finished.
And this is the exact same message
that's shown for your guests as well.
Tells them, don't close the browser window
until the upload has finished.
But you'll also have the ability to download
the high quality video file and audio file
from yourself and your guests, again, all as separate files.
Now, even if, say, you're running an interview
and your guest totally dropped their internet connection,
it's still gonna be recording on their end
if they don't close the browser window.
Once their internet comes back up, it'll just pick back up.
And the files are automatically synchronized,
meaning that when you go to drop them
in your editing software,
you don't need to try and line everything up,
the files are going to be perfect
to layer them on top of each other
and to edit down as a multi-camera edit.
So this, as far as I'm concerned, is really the holy grail
when it comes to running interviews online
I think having this ability
where you can get a high quality local disc recording
and have it upload if your internet is good enough,
but if it's not, it'll wait till afterward,
this is just amazing.
It is all managed in a seamless, super intuitive way.
Well done.
Now, in terms of pricing,
you really got three options,
starting at $7.50 per month for the basic plan,
which gives you two hours of recording per month.
If you need to record longer,
the standard plan for $15 a month
will let you record up to five hours per month.
And the pro plan for $24 per month
will let you record up to 15 hours.
So those are my top options
for creating amazing online interviews right now.
So now that you know how to record your online interviews,
if you also want to level up your camera quality,
then check out the two videos I've got linked on screen.
One of them will show you how you can use your DSLR,
or your mirrorless camera as a professional webcam.
The second one will show you how you can use your smartphone
as an amazing-looking webcam as well.
See you in the next one.