Thank you for joining us in the Interwovxn podcast! Here are tips and guidelines for a successful recording session. 

Tips for Best Sound Quality 

• Find a quiet place to record, turn off any devices creating noise in the background,  close the window if it’s noisy outside and go somewhere where you will not be  disturbed. Small spaces with layered textural variation (closets, rooms with soft goods and home furnishings, bedrooms, etc) are preferred. Open areas, hard surface areas,  kitchens, public spaces, etc. do not work as well.  

• For best sound quality, please make sure you are in a quiet  room and seated appropriately 18 inches away from your computer’s mic source.  

• Please ensure your laptop is on a stable surface. Be aware that tapping or knocking  surfaces and keyboards will be picked up by the microphone.  

• During your conversation, please ensure you are not wearing jewelry, and that  hair/clothing is fastened away from mouth/mic area. 

• Bring a glass of water. Even if you bring coffee you will also want a  glass of water on hand. Most people get dry mouth at some time during interviews and water is better for your throat than a beverage containing milk. 

• Take your time and speak with deliberate, natural intention: we are so glad you’re here  and excited for what you have to share. Don’t talk over each other. This usually means the listener cannot hear what anyone is saying. 

• If you feel you’ve made a mistake or need to gather your thoughts and would like to  start again (or need to correct an interruption or unexpected background noise), no  problem! Just take a deep breath and hold it for a count of 3, then resume speaking. It’s not a live interview and it is easier to cut out silence than hesitant speech. 

• Of course, be yourself and enjoy your conversation as you would any time! Your  naturalness, facial expressions, body language, and energy all shine through.

During Your Zencastr Session  

• Notice there is a box for each participant on screen. When you speak you should see  audio levels move. 

• On the right of the Health Check you can see Mic and whether your microphone is  being picked up. If you have an external microphone plugged in then you are likely  going to need to identify that via the next step. 

• On the top right of the screen is a gear box icon – open that to set audio input and  output. Here’s where you change your microphone setting. 

• You may need to then refresh the page to get it to pick up your external microphone. 

• Notice there is a chat box so if your microphone is not picking up and you need to  communicate, use that. Or if you want to communicate during the recording without speaking. 

• We will start the recording and the timer will start – we will let it run for 5-10 seconds of  silence and then have a minute or two for casual chat before you get started! We will  also let us run for 10-15 seconds at the end of your interview. 

• At the end, we will stop the recording and Zencastr will upload your interview. You must  leave the browser open whilst this is happening. Wait for the pop-up notification letting you know that this is done. 

We know this sounds complicated, but it really is pretty easy! We recorded episode one sitting on our beds with the doors closed without microphones – our apple laptops were about 18 inches away.  

And just as a reminder:

Support/Production 

We will be there to answer questions during recording and our amazing producer Jen is really great at taking out some of those likes and ums so just be yourself, speak freely and naturally with the confidence that the end result will showcase your best self!

Join the Conversation 

Prior to your recording date, a connection link will be sent to your specified email address. On  your laptop or desktop, click the link to join the conversation (please note that phones/tablets  are not acceptable devices at this time). Chrome is the best browser, but Zencastr will work in  Firefox too. Having a problem? Make sure you have the latest version of the browser. Close other programs and browsers if you can. See additional tips below! 

Time Commitment 

In total, we anticipate this to take about 60-90 minutes of your time from set-up to finish