Podcasting Q&A

Pros and Cons of Recording with a Live Audience

October 18, 2021 Buzzsprout
Podcasting Q&A
Pros and Cons of Recording with a Live Audience
Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers

While most podcast episodes are recorded from home, the office, or over the internet, one fun way to change it up is to record in front of a live studio audience!

So in this episode, Badr and Travis discuss the pros and cons of recording with a live audience and how to pull off a successful show.

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Travis:

So most of the time when you're recording a podcast is just you and your home office. Or maybe you have a co who's you're recording remotely or whatever. But there's this really cool thing that podcasters sometimes do, which is live shows where you have an actual audience there to watch you record a podcast, and botter has done several of these. So in this video, we're going to walk through some of the really cool things you can do with live shows that you can't do with just a normal podcast recording. And some things that you should know before you try and pull off your very first live show. spotter tell me why you decided to do your very first live show, because now it's become like a recurring theme with your show that you do these every once in a while, from time to time,

Badr:

well, they're just fun, I mean, at the base of it, they are just fun, they're a great way to meet the listeners of your show, especially if you've got a local following with a lot of local fans, it's a great way to meet them in person, but also to spread the word of your show, you know, like it's, it's, if you treat it like an event, it'll be received as an event, you know, so it'll be promoted, maybe it'll be picked up by a local paper, or by word of mouth, you know, and that can grow into new dedicated subscribers. But at the end of the day, it's just really fun to try to push the limits and boundaries of what podcasting can offer.

Travis:

Okay, so I know when I think about doing a live event, I think it's got to be like super complicated, like there's all these moving pieces and people and, and you got to like reserve a space and like organize things and like get the word out, it seems like, like a lot of work. Is there a simple way to do a live event, especially if you just want to kind of dip your toes into it and see if you like it, like, like what all goes into actually pulling off a live event podcast recording?

Badr:

Well, the first thing is finding a pretty good venue, we've done a live show, of course, at a comic shop, we've done them at movie theaters, depending on the size of the venue, the theater, of course, has all the audio equipment and things that you would want for a live show for smaller venues that maybe don't have the best technical equipment and whatnot, that's where it can get a little tricky. So I would bring my normal setup. And we would just have to kind of figure out how we're going to attach like speakers because you know, you want the audience to be able to hear everything you're saying. So it does add a different element, as far as technical wise, because you might not always have the right equipment. And that's where, you know, proper preparation comes into place where you want to go in and test out your equipment and your setup, weeks, you know, days, if not weeks, so that way, you know, oh, I need this cable or the speaker does integrate with my mixer and my recorder. So the right amount of prep time and you know actually being at the venue and seeing what capabilities they have. Because you might be surprised. Maybe they've got an AV system that integrates with your equipment pretty well pro tip,

Travis:

do a dry run, absolutely, actually go and try and record a live podcast. And then you'll find out all the stuff that you need that you don't have yet or make sure you have the right cables, all that kind of stuff. So when you've invited all your friends to show up, it's not like Hey, sorry, guys, we're gonna do a live recording, but you can't hear it unless you're wearing headphones. Like that's not a situation where the

Badr:

last thing you want is, you know, for your listeners to sit for 30 whatever it may be 2030 minutes watching you photo around of the equipment, it's probably the last thing you want to do.

Travis:

Yeah, not a great first impression. You want them to be excited about showing up to listen to you do a podcast. So what are some of the benefits of doing a live recording versus just like a normal podcast? Other than that it's fun. Like what are some cool things that you get to experience with a live events that you wouldn't normally get to experience when you're recording your podcast? Well, I

Badr:

think first and foremost, you get to meet the listeners of your show. I don't think anyone's going to show up to your live event unless they are familiar if your show may be curious about your topic. Now granted, you do get some new, you get some attendees that might have heard about it from a friend or seen a poster you put up or seen a post and it piqued their interest, but being able to meet your listeners in person and and you know, perform for them, you know, form your podcast, I think builds a deeper connection. And if you have mirch or a call to action, what better way than to provide that in person. For us we've always set up like a little merge table. And it's been beneficial when we talk about you know monetizing your show I think the merge aspect doesn't get spoken about enough. But that's where live shows come in handy. We've been able to you know sell our merchant and you know make new friends and new listeners

Travis:

that is super cool. So whenever you're thinking about doing a live recording I imagine that the podcast episode at the end sounds difference. Oh yeah. Then if you're like in your home studio, so how do you really lean into that element of it to really not make the audience an inconvenience that you're trying to record around is like oh, somebody said something? Everybody stopped talking so we can get a clean cut? Like how do you actually lean into that to bring the audience into the episode.

Badr:

So I think that's where post comes into play. There's plenty that you can do to clean up the audio to make it a more presentable and maybe cleaner tighter show but for the most part I kind of like the idea of having this this different episode experience you know, you get the net sound you kind of feel you know, when you listen back, you feel like you were maybe There maybe you missed the show or the live event for whatever reason, but having that episode provides a unique experience that maybe your other shows don't quite have you know, and it can be a little challenging during live recording and I think that's for being open to the idea of spontaneity and you know, not scripted not so scripted. You know, you might have someone yell in the back or ask a question, you know, and you kind of just got to roll with it. But I will say we've had some great success on the on the live episodes that we've posted, they start asking when's the next live event you know, it encourages them to keep track of what you got going on on social for your next announcement. Because those live episodes sound a lot of fun. I think as long as you keep the idea of a fun experience, extra live show, it bleeds and shows into the into the actual recording.

Travis:

So if you've ever thought about doing a live recording of your podcast, hopefully this video gave you some helpful tips and and hopefully gave you the confidence that you need to test this out, you know, and so if you can look at your Buzzsprout podcast ads and see okay, there's a good number of people in the city. I live in that listen to the show. Let me see if I can put together something like this and just try it out. Thanks for listening to Podcasting Q&A. If you have a question you'd like us to answer on a future episode, you can just go to speakpipe.com/Buzzspr ut or click the link in the sho notes to leave us a brief a dio message. Podcasting Q&A is vailable both as a video and an udio podcast. So if you enjoy w tching videos, make sure you sub cribe to the Buzzsprout YouTube channel to get more content every single week. Or you can subscribe to Podcasting Q&A and your favorite podcast listeni g app. Well that's it for tod y. Thanks for listening and as lways, keep podcasting

Intro
Why do a live show?
Choosing the right venue
Benefits of a live audience