How to record a podcast (full equipment + software guide)
Complete walkthrough for recording a podcast in 2026: microphones, interfaces, recording software (Riverside, Squadcast, Zoom), edit basics, and publishing prep.
Last verified 2026-05-22
Recording a podcast in 2026 is two separate problems: capture (the audio coming into the microphone) and distribution (the file going out to Apple, Spotify, YouTube). This guide covers capture in detail, with a quick handoff to distribution at the end.
The setup decisions stack: solo vs interview, in-person vs remote, audio-only vs video. Most new shows start as remote interview, audio-plus-video — which has converged on three tools (Riverside, Squadcast, Zoom recording) and a small set of microphone options under $200 that all sound good.
If you are launching, the budget question matters less than the consistency question. The best podcast equipment is the one you will actually use weekly. Buy something you can plug in and have recording inside two minutes.
The steps
Pick a microphone. For solo or in-person: a USB condenser microphone like the Shure MV7+ ($279), Rode PodMic USB ($199), or the budget-friendly Samson Q2U ($69) plugs directly into your computer and sounds professional. For remote-interview workflows, the same mics work — every guest can show up with their own and the recording tool captures both ends locally. Avoid sub-$50 USB mics; the build quality and noise floor are noticeably worse, and listeners hear it.
Get a basic acoustic setup. A quiet room beats expensive treatment. Close the door, turn off the HVAC, mute your phone. If you are in a room with echo (hardwood floors, glass), add a moving blanket on a stand behind you or record in a closet with hanging clothes. A pop filter ($10) prevents plosives on P and B sounds. Skip foam acoustic panels for now — they look professional in photos but barely affect the room acoustics at the price point most podcasters can afford.
Pick a recording tool. For remote interview, the three established options are Riverside (riverside.fm, around $24/mo on Standard, captures local 48kHz audio per participant + 4K video), SquadCast (squadcast.fm, now owned by Descript, similar price and feature set), and Zoom's native recording (free if you already pay for Zoom, but the audio is web-streamed not local so quality is worse). For solo recording, GarageBand on Mac or Audacity on Windows/Mac/Linux is free and good enough — you do not need a paid DAW for podcasting until you are doing music or complex multi-track work.
Run a five-minute test recording. Before your real episode, record five minutes with your full setup — same mic, same tool, same chair. Listen back on headphones. Check for: background hum (electrical interference, HVAC), inconsistent volume (microphone too close or too far), plosives on hard consonants, echo from room acoustics. Fix issues now — they are much harder to clean up in post than to prevent at capture.
Capture the episode. Hit record before your guest joins so you do not lose the open. Set the recording tool to "local recording" mode (Riverside and SquadCast capture each participant's mic locally then upload after the call — vastly higher quality than the live-streamed audio). Encourage guests to wear wired headphones to prevent their speakers from feeding back into their mic. Run for the full episode; do not stop and restart if you can avoid it — multi-segment recordings are an editing tax.
Edit (or pay someone). Basic edit pass: remove filler words ("um", "like", "you know" — Descript automates this), tighten silences over a second, fade in and out, normalize loudness to -16 LUFS for podcast spec. Descript ($24/mo) edits audio like a Word doc — search and replace, delete unwanted words, multitrack support. Auphonic ($11/mo) auto-levels and noise-cleans without you touching a thing. For ongoing shows, hiring a freelance editor at $50-150 per episode buys back hours per week.
Export and publish. Export as MP3 at 128 kbps mono (or 192 kbps stereo if you have music) — Apple and Spotify both ingest these cleanly and the file size stays manageable. Upload to a podcast host: Spotify for Podcasters (free), Buzzsprout ($12-24/mo), Transistor ($19+/mo), or Captivate. The host generates an RSS feed; submit that feed once to Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, and Amazon, and every future episode auto-distributes.
Capture video too. If you are recording video alongside audio (Riverside and SquadCast both capture 1080p or 4K per participant), the video file becomes your YouTube upload and your raw material for short-form clips. Most modern shows ship audio-plus-video by default — the marginal cost during recording is zero, and the downstream repurposing options are significantly better.
Common gotchas
Guests recording on their laptop's built-in microphone will sound terrible no matter what you do in post — send mic recommendations in your pre-show email and offer to ship one to high-value guests.
Bluetooth headphones drop audio packets unpredictably, leaving glitches in the recording. Wired headphones, every time.
USB mics can pick up keyboard typing. Stop typing during important segments or use a quieter keyboard.
Recording into Zoom's "Record to Computer" produces a single mixed-down file you cannot un-mix in post. Riverside and SquadCast capture each participant separately so you can fix issues on one track without affecting the others.
Internet drops mid-call do not corrupt the recording on local-capture tools — the file is uploaded after the call. They do, however, make the live conversation choppy, so a wired ethernet connection is worth it for the host at minimum.
Loudness normalization is required by Apple Podcasts at -16 LUFS mono / -19 LUFS stereo. Submitting unnormalized audio is the most common reason shows sound quieter than competitors.
Where Kompozy fits
Kompozy is downstream of the podcast recording itself — once you have the audio plus video file from Riverside, SquadCast, or any other tool, Kompozy ingests it as a source and produces every derivative format: short-form clips for Reels, TikTok, and Shorts with format-specific captions; blog-post versions; newsletter summaries; quote graphics; and the schedule that publishes them all.
The podcaster workflow this replaces: hire a video editor at $400-1,200 per episode to cut 5-10 shorts, hire a content writer at $200-500 per episode to write the blog post and newsletter, then manage the scheduling manually across 5+ platforms. Kompozy folds the whole stack into the Pro tier at $299/mo for 18,000 credits — enough for several full episodes' worth of multi-format output per month with HeyGen avatars, image generation, and ffmpeg-rendered shorts included.
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest podcast setup that actually sounds good?
Samson Q2U mic ($69), wired headphones you already own, Audacity (free) on a quiet laptop in a closet with clothes hanging up. Total cost under $100 and the audio will be indistinguishable from setups costing 10x more to most listeners.
Do I need a mixer or audio interface?
Not for USB mics — they have the interface built in. Only XLR microphones need a separate interface (Focusrite Scarlett Solo or 2i2 are the standards). Most podcasters start with USB and only upgrade to XLR if they hit a quality ceiling they actually hear.
Riverside vs SquadCast vs Zoom — which one?
Riverside if video matters and you want the cleanest UI. SquadCast if you are inside the Descript ecosystem (it now owns SquadCast, so editing flows directly into Descript). Zoom only if you already pay for Zoom and your show is audio-only, because Zoom's audio is web-streamed not locally captured.
How long should an episode be?
Whatever serves the content. Some of the most successful shows are 15-minute solo monologues; others are three-hour deep-dive interviews. Listener data shows people finish shorter shows at higher rates, but they do not subscribe based on length — they subscribe based on whether the content is worth their time.
Do I need to release on a weekly cadence?
No, but consistency matters more than frequency. Weekly builds the habit fastest; biweekly or monthly works if you commit to it. Irregular drops cost subscribers fast.
How do I get the episode onto YouTube?
Either record video at capture time (Riverside / SquadCast do this), then export the multi-cam composite as MP4 and upload. Or generate a static video with an audiogram tool like Headliner or Wavve — a single image plus waveform animation plus your audio file. YouTube has become a major podcast discovery surface; do not skip it.
What about live podcasting?
Riverside, StreamYard, and Restream can broadcast a podcast recording live to YouTube, Facebook, and other platforms while you record. This is worth doing once you have a regular audience and is essentially free incremental reach.