27. Why Podcasters Are Ditching Zoom for Riverside

This week, we're talking about the top 6 reasons podcasters are abandoning Zoom for remote recording platforms Riverside.fm. We talk about Zoom's quick rise during COVID, but also where it falls short as a recording solution for podcasters. We also deep dive into what Riverside does really well — and where it is lacking. Join us!

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01:08 The Rise of Zoom During Covid
01:36 Riverside's High Definition Audio and Video
02:29 The Advantage of Riverside's Local Recording
03:34 The Importance of Having a Backup in Podcasting
06:51 Riverside's AI Tools and Features
09:15 Interactive Guest Opportunities with Riverside
12:49 The Convenience of Riverside's All-in-One Platform

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Creators & Guests

Host

Kyle Cummings

Kyle Cummings is the CEO and Founder of Podcircle, a podcast production agency who partners with New York Times bestselling authors, Fortune 500 companies, entrepreneurs, influencers and everyone in between to produce high-impact podcasts.

Host

Mickenzie Vought

Mickenzie Vought is an expert podcast content strategist. She is also the Producer and Co-Host of the Living Centered Podcast, a leading emotional wellness podcast.

Editor

Podcircle

Premium podcast services for busy people and organizations. Visit Podcircle.com to learn more.

What is Podcircle Podcast?

Finally there’s a podcast for podcasters. Each week, join hosts Kyle Cummings and Mickenzie Vought as they share the knowledge and expertise they've gained from years of launching, running, and promoting successful podcasts. Whether you're an aspiring podcaster or you've already got hundreds of episodes under your belt, these conversations dive into the topics that matter to every podcaster — from marketing and growing your podcast, to recording equipment and best practices, monetization, cutting-edge tools, hiring help, and much more.

[00:00:00] KYLE CUMMINGS: Riverside claims that they have 2.5x the quality boost over Zoom. I can attest to that.

The reason?

[00:00:05] MICKENZIE VOUGHT: It's the local recording. Riverside records you and your guests locally. What does that mean? It means that it bypasses poor and unstable internet

and it gives you studio quality audio and video

so it continues to upload in the background the entire interview

and then at the end if you're not 100% Uploaded

It finishes uploading as you wrap the interview.

Welcome to the Podcircle Podcast, where we bring practical tips and insights for every.

[00:00:32] KYLE CUMMINGS: Whether you're just getting started or you're already a seasoned podcast pro, these conversations dive into all the topics that matter most to you today. We're diving into the top six reasons that podcasters are ditching Zoom for Riverside.fm to record theirvirtual interviews.

[00:00:49] MICKENZIE VOUGHT: Woo. Woo.

[00:00:50] KYLE CUMMINGS: Still, a lot of podcasters are using Zoom.

Zoom is ubiquitous, especially in the post-COVID world. So we're gonna break down the difference and tell you why we use Riverside and why we recommend it to all of our clients. We're pretty biased, but that's just because we've tried both. we just keep coming back to Riverside.

So, at the start of Covid, we obviously saw a flood of platforms to record virtual interviews, and the winner in this space, was Zoom. Many organizations and individuals are familiar with Zoom. And they just felt like it was the easiest option and a lot of them still feel that way

if you've been using Zoom.

No shade. But we hope to convince you today just to consider making that switch to a more robust platform that's actually optimized for recording podcasts. So the 1 reason that people are ditching Zoom for Riverside is high definition audio. hi-res video we all know this, when you're using Zoom, and if your internet glitches, so does your audio and your video. Riverside doesn't do that, and that's a huge value to Riverside. So if you've been listening to this podcast for long, you know that we believe in recording, high quality audio, high quality video, Riverside records, high quality audio.

And video on separate tracks. So those things can be edited and mixed independently of each other. You can actually record separate audio video on Zoom. You have to go and select a particular setting within Zoom, but there's still the quality issue that you're gonna have over there with Zoom.

So. Riverside claims that they have 2.5x the quality boost in both audio and video recording over I, can attest to that. The reason, well, that leads us to point number two.

[00:02:29] MICKENZIE VOUGHT: It's the local recording. so Riverside records you and your guests locally. What does that mean? It means that it bypasses poor and unstable internet, and it gives you studio quality audio and video. So it continues to upload in the background, the entire interview, and and then at the end, if you're not 100 Uploaded, like right now, I'm 99% uploaded.

It finishes uploading as you wrap the interview. And so a lot of times I'll stop my interview, we'll get all done, and I'll say, thanks so much guys. This has been such an incredible interview, and as I'm doing those niceties, everyone's uploading. If they're not, I say, Hey, it looks like you're only at about 70% uploaded.

Just leave the browser up and when you come back in 20 minutes, it'll have finished uploading. And so it is such an easy way you can just kinda lean right into it. And you can see as a host where everyone's upload is. And then if they happen to hop off, you can send them a quick little link because the file is still on their computer having recorded locally that it'll just quickly upload it so you never lose your

file. I have multiple times been burnt on Zoom or other platforms that don't do two recordings. Um, when I first started podcasting, Kyle taught me to have a backup at all times. He would have me recording audio Through quick time or something so that I had a backup.

And Riverside has that built in completely. There is also. Including the local, um, recording. There is a cloud backup that goes along with each and every one. So it's a double backup, and I think that's essential. We always want you to have a backup plan because it's not if it's when you have a

tech

[00:04:04] KYLE CUMMINGS: That's exactly right. And I, I will say the backup is more of a zoom quality. Recording. So like right now I'm seeing Mackenzie hearing her in real time. She's seeing me, hearing me in real time. depending on our internet speed. It does look like we're just having a Zoom conversation. I. It might degrade our video quality a little bit.

The reason it does is that it's trying to free up bandwidth to upload our audio, a high quality audio and video as fast as possible in the background. So what we're actually seeing and hearing, like if her video drops out for a second or something like that, or just like you're a little bit reduced quality, I can tell right now it's because.

Riverside is prioritizing the high quality audio and video upload in the background. So that backup recording that Mackenzie was just mentioning, it's gonna be kind of the reduced quality zoom backup, but better than nothing. Like if you have a corrupt file or whatever happens to the high-quality audio video, better than nothing, especially for a, a really high-level guest, especially if you're just an audio podcast, have something, you have something to release.

If it's a once-in-a-lifetime get, you don't have to say so. Sorry. Can you hop on another hour? No, no, no. So I really like that Riverside has that redundancy built in. I've also heard stories. Of there being a, an issue with people not being able to access their file on Riverside or the download that's corrupt.

Getting in touch with Riverside and having their technical support team go and find source files and fix them. that to me is I mean, we're, you're gonna hear us say a lot. That's, it is worth the price of admission. It's worth the price of admission. We're gonna talk about some other tools Riverside's created a really great product. They continue to, to improve on it. So,

[00:05:45] MICKENZIE VOUGHT: Kyle, you mentioned a really high, um, priority guest I had that where something happened on the guest's end where they unplugged or changed their mic in the interview or something, and we did not have any audio file for them. I don't know what exactly happened. I. But you were able to dig into the cloud backup and still pull out that audio so that we could put the, the interview out.

And because you are an audio engineer there wasn't a marked difference between the two tracks because you were able to do some work on the back end to really

help

us.

So I don't know if you even remember that, but it was, it was

scary

[00:06:17] KYLE CUMMINGS: I do, I've had to do that a couple times for a few different clients. But just like I said, having the option, having the backup makes that possible. And you know, only a really discerning listener is gonna tell the difference. And I think in this particular case where that audio mishap happened, was where we would typically put an ad break for your show.

So I think we just snuck in an ad break right there. And then when the new recording came back. Most people weren't even gonna tell a difference. So it wasn't like a night and day thing. So there's, from a production standpoint, if you can get a little bit crafty, you can smooth these things over.

But moving on number three, Riverside has some helpful AI tools that they've started rolling out here. I, I would say probably in the past year or so. So On this show, we think that AI is a tool and not an end-all be-all solution for. 90% of podcasters, it's not able to fully replace what a human being is gonna be able to bring to your podcast We'll get into that in a few episodes in the future, we're gonna talk all about AI and its role in podcasting. I'm a fan, I love where it's going, but it's not all the way there yet. so 3 AI features within Riverside's Pro account AI transcriptions, which is just.

Transcribing your episode. Nothing crazy there. Their AI tools can do that. Out of that, AI can write your show notes for you. I've done this a couple times. It's cool. I like it a lot. They need to improve on it, but for the, just the consumer, I see people in Riverside forums on Facebook saying, we love this feature.

We love this feature. We love this feature. I love it too for the podcaster who's gets getting started and has the time to get in there and tweak, tweak those, make it sound like, like a human being wrote it. I think it's a huge value add. and then they have the ability to use AI to pull. Social clips from your episodes.

They call it magic clips. I think it's really cool again, for just the consumer, are they as good as what we are able to produce at Podcircle No. Are they as focused on pulling clips that are going to be specific what's gonna lift the brand of the podcaster? That stuff is really important to us.

So we're listening for really. Key moments in the podcast that are gonna elevate the brand? Is AI gonna be able to do that? Not right now, at least not the way that Riverside's doing it. But you can go through there and maybe isolate a couple clips that get close and trim the ends up the, the beginning.

And there's a couple things you can do. So again, I like the feature, it's just in terms of what we do. Like our tagline at PodCircle is Premium podcast services for busy people. you're gonna get podcast services with, with Riverside, but are you gonna get the premium really high-touch stuff that we're gonna do?

no you're not. But that said, I like the features. I think they're cool.

[00:09:01] MICKENZIE VOUGHT: it's a good starting point, and that's what I've kind of learned with AI is that it takes some of those initial like, Ooh, I don't know where to start, and then you get to expound upon that. But if you don't wanna even put your hands anywhere in that, I. I would outsource your weaknesses as we've been talking about for the last couple weeks.

So the 4th thing that we love, um, about Riverside and the reason that people are ditching is the interactive guest opportunities. And I think you've said before that Riverside is basically like Zoom, but it's a platform specific for podcasting. It has those features is optimized to create an experience for you that's gonna be the most effective for podcasters and.

If you have a raving fan base or you want to build one, Riverside offers a few unique features. And I haven't tapped into these as much as I think so I'm speaking from just general knowledge, not having used a lot of them, but they make it super simple to bring your audience into your podcast recording experience.

And so you can live stream directly to social media, an interview. Um, you can host a live show with audience invitation links. So a side note about invitations. Is that you can create an invitation to a guest and it goes directly to their

Google

calendar. They've got an integration and it's great. So I love that. And then lastly, it's a great opportunity to create, a live show and experience and add-ons for your Patreon community, for your subscription model.

If you do Apple podcast subscriptions or just as a surprise and delight for your top fans, let's say you've got someone who's a really raving fan, talks about you a lot on social media. You know, is interactive with you. You could surprise 'em, delight them, and say, Hey, we wanna have you on the next episode, here's a link.

And they can either be an audience or they can be a guest member and they can go in and out really quickly. I just think they've got a lot of untapped opportunities and that they're optimized for podcasters in a way that Zoom's not.

[00:10:48] KYLE CUMMINGS: totally. Moving on. This is as a producer. McKenzie is a podcast producer as people who just like having controls over their, uh, their recording experiences. Riverside has one, they have that producer login, so if you have a producer for your show. Someone that's gonna come on and just kinda help guide the content.

but also just be the eyes and the ears on the show to make sure that the hosts and the guests are being recorded, uh, that they're lined up in frame and, you know, for a video podcast, um, that they're listening to make sure that, you know, the right microphones are selected. They can actually see and on some different levels of Riverside, like especially on their, on their enterprise, like business level.

they can actually go in and change your mic settings. Like, so if you, if you have a guest who's maybe not very tech savvy, um, but they're a big get and they have a USB microphone, they're just not quite sure how to use Riverside or how to set it up, as long as they have that thing plugged in, your producer can go in and select that microphone and even change like the volume to a certain degree within the Riverside recording studio.

I just think that is. An awesome, awesome feature, that probably gets a little bit overlooked, but again, they do put it, the best of my understanding, they do put it behind a pretty premium

[00:12:03] MICKENZIE VOUGHT: Behind a

paywall.

[00:12:04] KYLE CUMMINGS: Yeah. But I do, I just really like that feature. I. Important to note that producers, when the call is being recorded, only hosts and guests are recorded.

So someone who signs in under a host or a guest link, are being recorded. Producers are not recorded, so it's really important for you to know. 'cause you might have someone that's a producer that also chimes in on the show and interjects and things like that. Just know. Then unless they're signed in under as a host or a a guest, they're not being recorded.

So you have those four links that Mackenzie talked about, the host link, or the host sign in, the guest sign in, the producer sign in, and then there's an audience sign in. If you do wanna have a live audience tune in. They have their own login. I think that's really unique for Riverside as a differentiator from Zoom.

and I'm a big fan of that.

[00:12:49] MICKENZIE VOUGHT: Yeah, and the last reason I think people are ditching Zoom to, uh, sign on with Riverside is this piece of everything being all together and having the ability to do post-production, editing and clips and all of that. And so because all of your video and audio is housed in one place, they have created these features to do minimal video edits and audio edits, and.

Basically create your podcast in the back end within their platform, and it's all in one place. And I think what we would say is it's good for a consumer tool. You are getting what you pay for, right? If you're at the $25 or $15 a month tier, you have access to these tools and you can go in and quote, unquote edit your podcast.

You still have to go in and edit your

podcast,

[00:13:34] KYLE CUMMINGS: it's very, very simple functionality. Yeah, it's, I mean, you're, it's basically just making very simple. edits. A lot of people complain that it's really hard or, or maybe not even possible to like, add music in unless it was added, like recorded during the show kind of thing. So it's, I'm sure that they're gonna improve on this.

and not to get too much in the weeds, but they're also really trying to compete with Descript. Descript is another platform. They just acquired SquadCast. Squadcast was a major and still is a major competitor of Riverside. there's some feature wars that are going on here.

They're all gonna continue to, to get better, but you're just, again, you're gonna get what you pay for. It's a cool feature. If you just need really simple stuff and you're a do-it-yourselfer, dive in, figure it out, But for the people that wanna really Pro product and have a pro budget. That's where PotCircle comes in. so just, I kind of wanted to make that distinction and instead of selling a false bill of goods to podcasters that like, Hey, you're gonna have a really pro level, like editing package and all this stuff with Riverside, you're just not.

[00:14:39] MICKENZIE VOUGHT: No, but if. You wanna go in in there and figure it out yourself and do some basic things. They have the capabilities to do that, and it's all in one place. And a really unique feature that I have found some use for is this tech-based editor they have. And so they, because they're pulling a transcript, you can go in and as you're editing or clipping out little bits, you can do it by

text, which often I'm sending Kyle edits based on like the words or text.

And so if I wanna go in and say like, where did we talk about? X thought I can just type in that thought and it'll kind of pull me in the different places. So that's an interesting feature for social posts or,

[00:15:18] KYLE CUMMINGS: So it is

searchable. It sounds like you're like, Hey, I, I really, I remember we had a section that talked about X, Y, and Z. You can go and search that. See, again, going back to this script. That's what the script does, otter.ai, which I think that you use some very similar. I don't have as much, I have very low experience with Otter.

I, I know that it's, from what I understand, it's very similar to the script, but from, from a copy standpoint and just being able to have that transcription, search it, go in there and, and even make clips with their Magic Clips tool. I think it's all really cool stuff. Do we use it at PodCircle? Oh, because our clients demand a higher level of production, honestly, and, and, and options and things like that

[00:15:56] MICKENZIE VOUGHT: But to put it simply, we think you should switch over to Riverside. I think from a cost perspective, it is comparable, if not better than Zoom and what you're getting and. Like Kyle said, we've tried all of them. I just continually come back to Riverside because of the ease, because of the backup features and because I can send a link to, a guest and they can hop right on and there's nothing they need to do.

Some of the other ones you have to go through hoops and all that. It's, it's the ease and

it's

the

[00:16:23] KYLE CUMMINGS: Yeah. And one really important thing I'll mention is that it also, it stores all of your files within the platform. as someone who's doing a lot of the post-production for these podcasts. It's so great because I just have a link to their recorded files so they don't have to download those files and then re-upload them to Dropbox or to Google Drive and then send me a link.

it completely cuts that out as

a

[00:16:46] MICKENZIE VOUGHT: Why am I not doing that with you, Kyle?

[00:16:48] KYLE CUMMINGS: don't know. I thought that I, do we not do that with you, your podcast?

[00:16:52] MICKENZIE VOUGHT: No. I download them

to

my computer and then I upload them

into

Dropbox. So I should be sending you the Riverside

link?

[00:17:00] KYLE CUMMINGS: there's two different links you can basically provide to all of your recorded files, or you can send it to just that episode that was recorded.

Um. And we can pull either the video or just the audio or, or both, obviously. So, and that's where we can access, backup recordings, things like that. So from the production side of thing and the editor side of thing, it gives us everything that we could possibly need, which I love. And there's, it makes your life easier.

At least it's about to make your life easier so that you don't have to download and re-upload and do all the things. So, hey, there you go.

So thanks for tuning into this episode. If you need any help optimizing your show content, your strategy, your recording set up, we actually offer training sessions for Riverside their one hour sessions. You know, we'll get your mic plugged in, help you figure out how to get logged in.

All the things that we talked about today, there is a learning curve for people that are really, really used to using Zoom, but they want the benefits that Riverside has to offer. But they get nervous because they're like, I don't know how to invite my guests. I'm nervous. 'cause the setup is gonna be different.

I don't wanna screw it up and miss a good interview or mess a good interview up. So reach out. We do sessions that we'll get on a call, train, you do a test recording, make sure that you feel really, really comfortable with that. So all you gotta do is email me Kyle at podcircle.com. That's K-Y-L-E at podcircle.com.

[00:18:21] MICKENZIE VOUGHT: Well, and if you're just starting out and you wanna launch your show with ease, you can get our complete podcast starter kit at PODCIRCLE.COM slash Start, and we wanna make sure that you are subscribed to the show wherever you listen. So Apple, Spotify, or YouTube where we put our full episodes up

every

[00:18:38] KYLE CUMMINGS: and if you're watching this on YouTube, you're liking the show, drop a comment. If you have a question around podcasting, we would love to answer it on the show. That would be a really cool thing that we'd like to include in the future.

So we'd love to know what you, what questions you have, and we'd love to respond to them

[00:18:52] MICKENZIE VOUGHT: All right, friends. See you next week.

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