The BEST Podcast Recording Software | SquadCast vs Welder vs Riverside vs Zencastr Overview!

[@RyanHelms]

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[@AfterTheGame]

What screen capture software are you using that shows you within a circle in the bottom right corner?

[@davidjohnclarkactor]

Ryan, did you ever find out why your video recorded in a lower setting considering you were DSLR? And, yes (as a Riverside user I can confirm) the video quality you see live is a streaming lower quality version to reduce resource issues of the platform, the focus being on the final recording. Certainly worth downloading the backup video, which is the live stream, and comparing the final product, it's so much clearer.

[@blurockpodcast8548]

Thanks Ryan - did a bunch of research and ended up doing my first Podcast interview with Riverside right before the Holidays - my guest used their iPhone and a wired earbud headset - I use a new 2021 MacBook Pro M1Max 16" along with Shure 7B mic with Focusrite 18i8 and Sony 6400 DSLR with 20mm lens for camera - I am located on East coast US and guest was on Maui in HI. Guest had no trouble downloading app and logging in - live steam during recording looked great on both ends as well as audio - However; something happened after session ended and though my video and audio uploaded fine, my guests did not upload (well it uploaded, but there were no files there for me to download) - BUT; Riverside's tech chat was VERY quick and responsive (even over the Christmas Holiday which was cool) - they were able to connect directly to the developer and troubleshoot the problem and provided up to date responsive followup - Unfortunately in my case, they were unable to recover my guests files, BUT; the backup complete side by side interview was still in the cloud (as it is uploaded in realtime while the podcast is recording) so I didn't loose the interview - I was able to download that and the audio (though now I don't have separate tracks to adjust post editing) is pretty clean to use for the audio podcast - However; the video on my end in the internet backup file is much lower grade than the uploaded finished files of my side of the podcast - as this is a fairly well known guest and would suck to ask them to do the episode all over again (and we would miss some of the better spontaneous content from the first interview) I will edit and upload as best I can and drop it to my KZbin later this month - It was not all a loss as Riverside was able to determine what occurred with my issue and already developed a patch to correct it so it wont happen again to me or anyone else (ya'll are welcome lol) - Riverside also did some corrections to compensate me for the issue, which was also very cool - Overall I am going to stay with Riverside for now as I have some more interviews scheduled this month and will see if there any other issues - PS: I did use the sound board cheers etc a little in the interview which was cool and the guest enjoyed as well) - I will update after the next recordings to let you know how it is going - from looking again at your review (Huge Mahalo for that by the way) I would probably go to Squadcast if any issues continue with Riverside - NOTE: A LOT of people and companies use Riverside and I still feel my issue was a one off that apparently they now corrected

[@RyanHelms]

Bummer this happened! Hopefully it’s the only time for ya. Please do give us an update if you run into something like that again.

[@TalkofLove]

This exact same thing has happened to me twice now, with Riverside.fm and my guests' files getting lost and unrecoverable. For the reason, I'm not using Riverside anymore. It's too unreliable. Thanks Ryan for this video!

[@RyanHelms]

Good to know. What did their support say?

[@DangerNacey]

I had that happen to me and Riverside became untrustworthy in my eyes so I stopped using them. I can't redo my interviews so I am more concerned with quality and reliability than I am with price and features. I might do SquadCast for a month to see how that goes. After I stopped using Riverside I utilized OBS to record my guests video from Zoom. I ended up doing the two video feeds side by side and taking it into Premiere and editing. It works, but I need something more simple.

[@davidleoncavallo6384]

Any update on Riverside quality? I'm trying to make a decision this week on which to use.

[@neilmossey7951]

This is an awesome video thanks Ryan - KZbin just offered it to me on my home page because I've been looking at Riverside but I've seen lots of comments that a recent update has made the video and audio drift from each other. Also - I feel like I need a free tier to get used to the UI and workflow before committing to monthly subscription, so all in I really like the look of Welder and had no idea that platform even exists. Thanks again great job!

[@RyanHelms]

Glad it was helpful!

[@AvantiMusicNJ]

You just saved me like 5 hours of research lol thanks!

[@RyanHelms]

Glad I could help! 🤘🏼

[@ZachInSpace]

Thanks Ryan!! Really appreciate you making this video and we will have some more to share with SquadCast v5 in Q1. Happy Holidays!!

[@RyanHelms]

Looking forward to it!

[@jasontorrico3598]

I'm not a fan of Riverside.. it's still buggy in my opinion and through my experiance. 1/3 of my recordings are great. 1/3 of the recording have issues and 1/3 of the recordings are so bad they aren't usable. I don't recommend it right now. They really need to iron out the issues with the basic functionality before adding additional features. What do you guys think about Welder? It seemed interesting..

[@RyanHelms]

Welder got acquired and turned into something else :/

[@silkworm.8]

Just went to check out Welder, but it's merging with a way more expensive company that doesn't really seem to be for podcasting.. bummed because that seemed like the best one for me. I'll try Riverside for now.

[@RyanHelms]

Yea, they were bought out :/

[@vintagefuze]

Same

[@TheNielsRufChannel]

Riverside FM looks great - but in my case it just never really worked. Sometimes the Framerates are different, than it loses the Data, than it doesn't work at all, that it never finishes the Edits or just shows one Person, than it has a digital Noisefloor, than it takes them forever to answer. They would be great if they would deliver what they promise, but they constantly don't.

[@RyanHelms]

Bummer to hear! Which are you using now?

[@JakeBroe]

Thanks for the comparison!

[@RyanHelms]

Hope it helped!

[@jasonmandel]

This was a great walkthrough of the options. Thank you

[@RyanHelms]

Glad it was helpful, Jason!

[@americanschoolofhypnosis]

Thanks you gave me a lot to think about. I think I'll try my new Podcast with Welder. I need it to look good in recording but also look good in live streaming. Welder seems to do well in both. Thanks for your work.

[@RyanHelms]

Nice. Just saw yesterday that they got acquired. So it’s gonna either get a lot better or a lot worse. 🤷

[@americanschoolofhypnosis]

@@RyanHelms so far it's for the worse. I dis a few podcasts today and the voice video sync was about 6 seconds off, some features won't work in Firefox, only Chrome, screen changes jump from one size to another on their own and a few other bugs. Still keeping an open mind as I await their response. Thanks again though, I'm going to look into a couple others you reviewed.

[@RyanHelms]

Bummer. Yea, it’s safest to always use Chrome. They all seem to work best on it.

[@pecanpeakranch]

Ryan, Thank you! very efficient presentation. You covered a lot. I had just signed up for Riverside a couple of days before seeing this. I'm redoing my first interview tomorrow since my guest could not get Zoom to work on his iPhone for some reason. Odd, but I expect to deal with some of these issues because my guests are going to be low tech savvy in most cases. I'd love to see a comparison where your guest is using an iPhone and/or Android. You may already have one. I'll search now. I will also update after my interview tomorrow where they guest will be on an iPhone.

[@RyanHelms]

Just dropped an updated review here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nmjGfJaCaq-jjZY

[@MarkHilldacreative1]

Good review. Squadcast looked best during streaming. Playback/output were all similar too me. Riverside media studio was a pretty cool addition, however it had horrible host video quality during the recording. IMO, ranking. 1. sqaudcast 2. Welder, 3 riverside and 4 zencastr which needs a better UI, but not horrible. They’re all better than Zoom, hands down.

[@RyanHelms]

Thx Mark!

[@PresentInfluence]

I've been using riverside. I nearly dropped them but then they brought out 2.0 and it's been WAY better. I don't think it's ideal for live streaming, since the quality is an issue and is only HD after recording. Still occasional bugs and upload problems, especially if guest has slow wifi or closes before upload is complete. I'm mostly happy with it now although I don't care for the transcription service and find the accuracy poor. I've moved away from livestreaming my show due to regular logistical issues but restreaming riverside recordings afterwards works pretty well.

[@RyanHelms]

Thanks for sharing your experience. Regarding live streaming a podcast, I agree that for most people it's WAY more effort than it's worth.

[@soniamariahornrttexpertfor7438]

Fantastic Video with so much valuable information. Also the comments are extremely helpful. Thank YOU RYAN! x

[@RyanHelms]

Glad it helped!!!

[@Liz.Sumner]

I'm Team Squadcast. Great product, wonderful user community.

[@RyanHelms]

Nice! Where does the community reside? FB?

[@SquadCastfm]

@@RyanHelms Mostly Slack!

[@ariellelistenblatt]

Great video, Ryan! Thanks for sharing your opinion about SquadCast :)

[@RyanHelms]

Glad ya liked it.

[@SoilandMargaritas]

Thank you so much for this video, I am SUPER NEW to this and I want to try doing this here and there on my gardening channel, this might be a stupid question BUT, When you download the finished files, I get that you get both video + audio, but do you get 2 files for each? I have watched video podcasts where the host is able to take the full screen on each individual or one with all people included, I wonder if the files allow for this on the post side of things (I use premiere pro)... All this time I have been thinking this type of editing for video podcast was done by using cameras/audio individually by each participant but I noticed you did this when you shared the final video... Hopefully I make sense.

[@RyanHelms]

You can get the a/v files together or separate.

[@triciagabberty4526]

SquadCast has the ability to easily upload your audio to Descript to generate a transcript. Its a quick click. Riverside also features upload to Descript, but I find it more complicated to figure out how to get there, versus the simple click right in the audio dashboard on SQ.

[@climatelabs]

Awesome video, just subbed!

[@RyanHelms]

Thanks for the sub!

[@Ang197O]

While they all had good resolution it seemed welder and zencast might have been a little choppy. Not sure if that's just my connection or something from yt. Also difficult to tell with just head movements. The hand wave made it easier. Thanks for the shootout!

[@RyanHelms]

Glad ya liked it

[@CreditTV]

I was a guest of Podcast that used Squad Cast and I had to go into the internal settings of my computer and try and get the camera to work. It started and then stopped after 5 minutes. In the end I spent 25 minutes trying to make it work and in the end it still didn't. I think I am going to try Riverside and hopefully I have a better overal experience.

[@RyanHelms]

Strange! I’ve seen some challenges with the newer M1 Macs as well

[@Naki-Hlomayi]

Thank you for this. Do you use laptop camera to record these videos because the quality isn't good.

[@its.maja.with.a.j]

I felt like B and D looked the best, but it was hard to decide which sounded the best to me

[@RyanHelms]

I agree!

[@brentonontour]

What about Restream?

[@ryloken27]

Fantastic video bro... I think Riverside might be the one for me but question... how do you incorporate an audio intro track into the podcast?

[@RyanHelms]

post production editing

[@ryloken27]

@@RyanHelms thanks bro, I've been doing that with success but now my main issue is.... I record my video interviews on Riverside and my audio on the Rodecaster Pro 2 and when I try to sync them up on Final Cut Pro, it is a nightmare. Have you ran into this issue or heard others with this issue?

[@W0ngwaytravels]

Complex request here, btw, loved the video: What u recommend for a 3ppl remote video podcast? Details we like are custom logo, sounds and background music, admin controls for all of us and able to switch the view to who is speaking.

[@RyanHelms]

Most of these should do 3 people just fine. Riverside prob has more of those features though.

[@benvallis]

Just curious what kind of camera you're using for this video?

[@RyanHelms]

Canon M200

[@TheRealAhmadTX]

GREAT video. Thanks for dipping into the details. It was very helpful. Did I see (it was very brief) that only one of them allowed you to have a video conversation but only record the audio? I'm hyper-focused on the audio part (want to remain anonymous); but having a face-to-face with trusted guests would make for more intimate/friendly/dynamic conversations feeding off of each other's body language. Know what I mean? Do you happen to have a similar video on hosting solutions? Thanks again.

[@RyanHelms]

Now, most of them have an “audio only” feature

[@davidleoncavallo6384]

I've heard nightmares about Riverside drifting and total loss of podcasts. Any updates????

[@RyanHelms]

No loss on my side or clients. Drift happens infrequently (never for me) and can be fixed in post if it does.

[@minhaaj]

really good review. considering zencastr for my podcast!

[@RyanHelms]

Hope you like it!

[@minhaaj]

@@RyanHelms well they just got me creator+ so I am all jacked!

[@medfrode]

But what about final sound quality? I watched the whole video just for that 😂 I’ve used Zencastr and was curious about the others.

[@RyanHelms]

They all seem to be on par with each other in the sound department since they are all using the same tech under the hood for that.

[@poalotesta7743]

I have to say my impression of the Riverside pitch sold me but after having real problems with audio WAV files lost, bad video quality even with the upload and finally audio that sounded worse than Zoom, I'm looking for something else.

[@davidjohnclarkactor]

Have you moved yet. I just had my first issue with Riverside, though it seems it was because the guest went with iPhone and didn't turn off background apps. Audio was fine for podcast, just got raw side by side video though for my KZbin version, and my editiing skills couldn't make it work any other way.

[@poalotesta7743]

@@davidjohnclarkactor Well for the most part the audio initially sounded fine but they lost my WAV file upload and to be honest the quality of one of my guest audio was very Zoom like and it required lots of post. My understanding was that although the initial audio quality might be of lower quality the final upload would sound far better, it didn't. Secondly the video quality wasn't all that great, at least not the quality that I was expecting given the advertised pitch. Could have been my bandwidth and so on maybe but everyone was using high speed connections and my computer is more than adequate. Unfortunately it all took place on a very important interview with the estate of a very famous American photographer. I found the final edit sub standard even after pulling out all the tricks to save it. My editing skills as well as my assistant producer are pretty good, we've been podcasting for a year or so. I do remember they reccomend that you dont use the app for your guests when their on phones. Anyway I was moving toward a visual podcast for uploading to KZbin as well as audio platforms but Riverside really put a bad taste in my mouth and I've gone back to audio and syncing it with the visuals for the time being. Here's the episode kzbin.info/www/bejne/oWa0ZJhnqaqpec0

[@raveroompodcast]

Hey Ryan great episode, do these brands switch camera of speakers automatically when someone speaks like zoom? Thanks 😁👍

[@DaCake2]

Amazing tutorial. Everything about Welder is better to me accept the actual video quality. It's not terrible, but it's slightly not as good. On the flip side, zencastr is the worst in my opinion for everything except the actual video quality. Squadcast does seem good but that pricing boy. I just can't understand why they would charge that much with all this new competition out there. BTW... would you mind telling me which DSLR you use? Thanks!

[@RyanHelms]

Canon M50. All my equipment is in a recent video I put out. Lighting and all.

[@ryanlivergood]

Ryan, great video, you just got a new subscriber! Any thoughts on Boomcaster?

[@RyanHelms]

Never heard of it -- your thoughts on it?

[@ryanlivergood]

@@RyanHelms Haven’t used it yet but will be trying it soon. I’ll try to remember to let you know how it goes!

[@RyanHelms]

Appreciate it!

[@Rayhanurkabir]

All the videos look great but for me it's Welder! SquadCast is also great!

[@RyanHelms]

So. Many. Options. 🤣

[@SquadCastfm]

Thanks for the kind words!

[@paulineerickson]

What about streamyard?

[@RyanHelms]

Thats an option

[@StPatrickCenterSTL]

Do any of these platforms allow for you to upload video/audio to the platform?

[@RyanHelms]

Can you give me an example of why you would want/need to do that?

[@melissadurbin6026]

@@RyanHelms Saw this question and was thinking of using OBS for the podcast, video as illustration. I'm a technical trainer and wanted to do quick "windshield time" training.

[@AnaMuriel]

August 2023: I can't decide if I prefer Riverside or Zencastr. Both are good.

[@RyanHelms]

Check out the updated video I did (linked below this one)

[@AnaMuriel]

@@RyanHelms Thank you!

[@sgt.roychannel8804]

I like WELDER. Thanks

[@RyanHelms]

They shut it down :(

[@ashleykoblin1855]

Riverside only uses chrome and Edge? I couldn't get to people on phones, computers who don't have chrome- super problem 't create

[@RyanHelms]

They have a mobile app now -- but your guest would have to download it.

[@optimizedwomen]

Curious which one had the best quality video while recording?

[@RyanHelms]

Good question. That def depends on your connection speed. But some did have lower resolution but it’s to help ensure no latency issues in the stream.

[@optimizedwomen]

@@RyanHelms hi so I’m trying to decide which one to go with. Had a really bad experience with Riverside.fm so many technical issues failed 3 times with 3 different guest we all had to switch to zoom to record because of tech issues with the platform not working but I definitely need an alternative that is higher quality from zoom. So which one do you recommend it wasn’t clear from your video

[@optimizedwomen]

Do you have a platform you use regularly and works consistently without technical issues?

[@RyanHelms]

All have the potential of issues. I’ve had good luck recently with SquadCast using Chrome. Different browsers, such as Safari, don’t play well with this kind of tech some times.

[@corimyers4985]

Riverside is my choice except no way to change screen layout for doing a new podcast.

[@RyanHelms]

A lot of positives about Riverside for sure

[@Tennisfiles]

Can you clarify this limitation? Do you mean during the podcast you can't change the layout? Or never? Thanks!

[@RyanHelms]

They mean during the recording. Compared to something like restream.io where you can move the sizes and focus of the person on the fly.

[@davidjohnclarkactor]

@@RyanHelms I've just suggested that to the Riverside team. I love the AI view in their post production option, main speaker automatically appears full screen with the other person(s) who aren't speaking in a smaller window. It's not 100% accurate, but workable, but I'd like to be able to hit a button (similar to their sound buttons) to switch the view recorded, from one only, two side by side, picture in picture etc.

[@rickhipson3899]

Welder looks great. I just did a couple recordings with Squadcast, and the video did not synch well with the audio at all.

[@RyanHelms]

I had this issue a while back but it's been fine for me lately. I would ping their support about it.

[@rickhipson3899]

@@RyanHelms I will. I seem to be doing all that they suggested. Wondering if hardwired vs wi-fi is the issue. That said, Welder's transcription option is very intriguing assuming it is accurate.

[@RyanHelms]

If I had to guess, it'll be about 88-90% accurate bc they are prob using Google or Amazon's API for that.

[@rickhipson3899]

@@RyanHelms That seems quite good. I'm really leaning towards trying them out.

[@RyanHelms]

Let me know how it works out for ya

[@DrippinginBlack]

To me, pound for pound Welder was better and I was shocked. The pricing was good and adding the transcription is making me lean that way. You had the backgrounds and branding along with separate video and audio files. Zencastr was disappointing.

[@RyanHelms]

Sucks they got acquired and shut down (changed into a different product)

[@tandreiadixon1178]

@@RyanHelms Hi Ryan, because Welder was acquired do you know if it changed the final podcast video/sound?

[@RyanHelms]

Not sure.

[@tinygiantmarketing9167]

Opinions about Descript?

[@RyanHelms]

I didnt know they did HD video recording.

[@PresentInfluence]

@@RyanHelms You can do it with Ecamm or OBS. You can apply transcription and studio sound whilst recording. I haven't used it as a podcast recording option but it seems legit and you could probably broadcast at the same time with sufficient processing power.

[@RyanHelms]

Interesting. I'll have to check it out.

[@cj3720]

@@RyanHelms Using it now, or at least trying to. It's in rollout of an entirely new edition and it's buggy! Suggest you give it a couple of months before giving it the once over.

[@24.Hustle]

*UPDATE* Welder actually removed the whole local recording studio that was used in this video. They now only have the “live studio” which is very similar to Zoom.

[@DrippinginBlack]

IS that a good thing or a bad thing?

[@TheAntipreneur]

I have had such a bad experience with riverside - dropped calls - ruined recordings - terrible customer service.

[@taylorclarkjohnson]

34 minute video to say basically that they’re all the same (I skipped forward). 👍🏻 And thanks. I might just stick to zoom. We’ll see… ☺️🤷🏻‍♂️

[@RyanHelms]

At least ya know now 😀 They are all way better than Zoom though.

[@Subydayo]

The time stamps for each section are pretty wrong, also the audio was out of sync

[@RyanHelms]

Sorry to disappoint. Forgive me?

[@Subydayo]

@@RyanHelms Sorry, I definitely sound agressive. The video is supposed to be comparing quality of audio recording software and the audio for the video itself is out of sync. I came here looking for which product is best and that question wasn't really answered. I've switched to Riverside and noticed a large difference to Zencastr.

[@Zan_Chris]

Riverside looks like the one for me

[@RyanHelms]

Hope it's treating you well, CHris.

[@mrbuchanan92373]

I'm surprised your guest was using a Webcam instead of a good 📷

[@RyanHelms]

This was just a test with a guy on my team :)

[@adventurepromo]

Today I learned the word "whatch".

[@briefcase_man2097]

D looked good

[@vintagefuze]

Looks like welder has changed and doesnt have the same good features for free

[@RyanHelms]

yea, they were bought

[@lauralavarrios551]

RIP Welder :///

[@RyanHelms]

Did you see the new one I covered in the latest video?

[@everybodyshook]

this says 2023 but all of the information is out of date

[@RyanHelms]

New video linked in description

[@thecookinggamer1916]

Why is your video titled best podcast recording software when you focus on the video.

[@TheCascadingCatalyst]

B & D

[@interdevb2b]

b

[@thesarahstjohn]

I mainly use SquadCast, but 've used all platforms at least on a trial basis to test them all out, and I loved this overview video. One other platform I've tried is iris.fm

[@RyanHelms]

thanks for sharing - I havent heard of that one

[@furqanmeerza8382]

Hi, I would like to hear more about iris