Guest Guide

Hello 👋

Thank you for the opportunity and your time – I won’t waste either. The interview will take 2 hours. Email with any questions adam@corecursive.com and I’ll get back to you.

Interview Requirements

A Computer (with microphone and webcam), Earphones, a quiet room, and a good internet connection.

Joining the Interview

Join the record link found in the calendar invite. The record software requires connecting via Chrome. If this is an issue please let me know and we can make other plans.

Audio Quality Guide

The episodes that get more listens are usually ones with great audio quality. Here are some things you’ll need for the interview.

Tip: Adobe’s Mic Check Webpage can assess your room and mic setup based on a short recording and offer some guidance.

1. A Non-Echoey Room

This is the most important tip: The fewer hard surfaces in your room the better you will sound. Some small steps can drastically this.

• This cartoon from ‘This American Life’ explains:
  

• So, if you can choose where to do the interview from, then choose a place with carpet and soft surfaces. You will sound much better than in a bare conference room or echoey kitchen.

  This is why Ira Glass, again from This American Life, records from in his closet:

  

• However, you don’t necessarily have to call in from your closet. If you need to be in a room full of hard surfaces then you can reduce reverb by just covering hard surfaces around your mic with some pillows. NPR calls this the Pillow Fort strategy.

  
• Another tip: the closer a microphone is to your mouth the fewer reverberations will be picked up. For this reason, a headset microphone can be a good choice in an room with lots of hard surfaces, but any microphone with sound better a fist length from your mouth.
  

2. External Microphone

• Ideally, you have an external USB microphone that you can use for the call. Microphone recommendations are found further down the page.

• If not, the second-best option is a USB headset.

• If you have neither of those, Apple earbuds can work. (Airpods are not a good option)

• If you don’t have any of those, no worries. Your laptop’s mic will suffice.

The microphone is less important than the room you are in when you record (#1). A laptop mic in a small carpeted room will sound better than Blue Yeti microphone in an echoey kitchen.

2. Quiet

Anything you can hear during the interview, the podcast listener will be able to hear. Therefore:

• Please don’t type during the show.

• Please have any windows closed, fans turned off and any background noise minimized.

• Please turn off any notifications like on your phone or computer.

3. Headphones

You will need to wear headphones to prevent audio feedback. Ideally, over-ear headphones, to prevent sound bleeding through.

5. Computer

(Optional, but I have seen the least problems with the following setup)

• A Mac Computer

• Chrome browser

• Recently restarted and with little else running

Recording Workflow

We will use riverside.fm for the call. You should have a calendar invite with a link to https://corecursive.com/record. This will redirect to riverside. Please join at the alloted time.

This will be a video call, as being able to see each other during the interview leads to a more natural-sounding conversation.

Important: once we’ve finished recording, please keep the browser window open until riverside indicates the file has been uploaded.

Show Format

An ideal interview sounds like I am having a coffee with a former co-worker and they were sharing a story about something they built or a problme they overcame. That is: it’s not formal, it’s as technical as required, and it’s fun!

If you haven’t been interviewed like this before you may be nervous. That is natural but I promise the process will be fun.

Post Show / Release

The show is highly edited. Not everything discussed will be included in the final interview. This is not a reflection of the strength of any given conversation.

After the show is edited, it is scheduled for release. Episodes are released on the 2nd of each month, but it could be more than a month before an episode is released.

I will let you know when the episode will be in released.

Infrequently Asked Questions

• I want to buy a microphone. Which should I buy?

  • Samson Q2U is a great buy. As is the ATR2100.

    Beyond that, the most important rule is that a dyanmic microphone will pick up less room noise than a condenser mic. So you probably want a dynamic mic unless you are going to record in a closet or a sound treated room.

• Can we do the call without video?

  • I prefer to be able to see who I’m talking to, but if this presents some sort of issue or causes anxiety, please let me know.

• How do you choose what images to use for the podcast episode?

  • I often use a photo from our discussion on the episode page. If you have any preferences around pictures, please send me your profile picture and any other images following the interview.

    If something very visual was discussed and you have pictures to share then I can add them to episode page. For example, see Joey Hess’s conference photos.

• I don’t have a computer handy or have other constraints. Can we do the call from a cellphone or a land line phone.

  • I’m sure we can find a way to make it work. Please let me know about your constraints via email and we can come up with a strategy.