SO:

Last week, we had recordings coming out of our ears. Shirley Ballas for Legal & General, James Wong for Kew Gardens, contributors in China for Shell, victims of crime for Slater & Gordon, Fearne Cotton for Happiful, mental health experts for Priory Group, financial experts for Kleinwort Hambros.

Podcasts are booming and we’ve been ridiculously busy in the last year or so, but the imperative to facilitate remote recording has meant an unforeseen explosion in the availability of people to present and contribute. So:

Q: “When would you be available to come into our London studio to record?

A: “I’ll get back to you with some available dates. How soon do you need to so it? Are you able to provide a car?”

has turned into:

Q: “Would it be OK if I set up the call for Tuesday afternoon”

A: “Umm, yes I’ll be at home and I’ve got nothing else planned” [ironic laughter]

The most dramatic of these has been on a brand new speculative project we’re creating - “What We Coulda been, With Chelcee Grimes” We don’t normally do talent-led podcasts (brand-led is our thing), but Chelcee is a bit special, and her network is pretty unique, so we’re giving it a punt. As a result, in a single week we’ve recorded with Dua Lipa, Jade Thirlwall from Little Mix, Mikael Sylvestre, and loads more we can’t talk about right now.

There’s no way in the world this would have happened in normal times. One guest, maybe two would have been available and we’d have needed to book them weeks in advance. Taking advantage of this is the crucial bit.

Remote recording is really simple, and the technique depends on what kit is realistic for the contributor to have to hand.

Professional kit is obviously best (which we post to the host), many USB mics are great too (if the guest has them available), but the best microphone that most people own is their smartphone. The worst is a built-in laptop mic, which is invariably rubbish. As producers, we stay on the call to supervise, spot if anything is going wrong, and reassure everyone.

So in many cases, when it’s most convenient, we use the guest’s own phone. This might sound quite lo-fi and un-sexy, but it works brilliantly, and our priority is to get the best quality recording in the most convenient manner. As soon as it feels in any way complicated, you lose the enthusiasm of the guest, and risk the mood of the recording. Equally, when the right kit is available and the guest has time, a larger-scale remote recording set-up with engineer on hand is also perfectly doable. Horses for courses; Workarounds for Lockdowns.

So as long as home is where the guest is, the following weeks will bring even more remote recordings, and more unprecedented access. Never in the field of podcasting have so many people been willing to talk with so little hassle.

Cheers, stay safe and all that.

Neil