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14 October 2026 · Tools · By Damien, Peter and Claude

How we use Riverside to record remote podcast guests

The best guest for your podcast is rarely in the same building as you. When they can’t come to the studio, we record them with Riverside, and to listeners it sounds and looks as if everyone was in the same room.

Here’s what Riverside is, what it can do, and exactly how we use it on client recordings.

What is Riverside?

Riverside is a recording studio that runs in your web browser. You send a guest a link, they click it, and you’re talking face to face on screen, much like a video call.

The difference is what happens behind the scenes. A normal video call records whatever makes it across the internet, so every freeze and crackle ends up in the recording. Riverside records each person on their own device, at full quality, and uploads the files in the background. If someone’s connection wobbles during the call, their recording doesn’t.

What Riverside does

• Local recording. Every person is recorded in high quality on their own computer or phone, not over the internet connection.
• Separate tracks for every speaker. Each person gets their own audio and video file, so we can level voices, fix one person’s audio without touching anyone else’s, and cut clips cleanly.
• Nothing to install for guests. On a laptop or desktop, guests join from a browser link with no account needed. On a phone, they use the free Riverside app.
• Producer mode. A producer can join behind the scenes to manage the waiting room and settings without appearing in the recording.
• A built-in teleprompter. Handy for intros, sponsor reads and calls to action, so the host isn’t glancing down at notes.
• Live streaming. Riverside can stream to platforms such as YouTube, LinkedIn and Facebook while it records the high-quality files.
• Transcripts and a text-based editor. Every recording is transcribed, and simple edits can be made by deleting words from the transcript.
• AI tools. Magic Audio cleans up sound, and Magic Clips suggests short clips for social media.

Plans and limits change often, so check Riverside’s own pricing page for the latest. Our Riverside vs Descript comparison has a pricing summary and a closer look at the pros and cons.

How we use Riverside, step by step

1. Send the link and a short guest guideA few days before, the guest gets their Riverside link with a one-page guide covering headphones, where to sit and what to check beforehand. More on that below.
2. Tech check before we startWe open the session early and check each guest’s microphone, camera, framing and lighting. Small fixes, like moving a lamp or swapping to wired headphones, make a big difference to the finished episode.
3. Record and monitorThe host focuses on the conversation. We keep an eye on levels and connections, and note the moments that would make good clips as they happen.
4. Wait for the uploadsBefore anyone leaves, we check every guest’s recording has finished uploading. If a guest closes the tab too early, part of their track can be lost, so this step is never skipped.
5. Edit outside RiversideWe download each person’s separate audio and video tracks and edit in Descript. Audio gets a clean-up pass, and the video is colour-matched, so remote guests sit naturally alongside everyone else.

What we ask guests to do

Riverside does a lot of the work, but the guest’s setup still decides how good they sound. This is what our guest guide asks for:

• Use a laptop or desktop with Chrome if possible, plugged into power
• Wear headphones, ideally wired, so the other voices don’t echo into your microphone
• Use an external microphone if you have one; a headset mic is better than a laptop mic
• Pick a small, quiet room with soft furnishings, away from traffic and colleagues
• Sit facing a window or lamp rather than with it behind you
• Close other apps and browser tabs, and use a wired internet connection if you can
• Keep the tab open at the end until we say the upload has finished

For more on getting a room to sound right, see our guide to making any room sound good for a podcast.

Where Riverside stops and we take over

Riverside is our first choice for recording remote guests, but we don’t lean on it for everything.

• The editor is good for quick jobs, not polished episodes. We use Descript for the main edit, and specialist tools for audio clean-up and colour.
• AI clips are a starting point. Magic Clips can spot a topic, but where a clip starts and ends decides whether people watch it. We choose and cut clips by hand, using the process in our clip-finding guide.
• It can’t fix a bad room. Clean-up tools help, but a guest in an echoey kitchen will still sound like they’re in an echoey kitchen. That’s why the guest guide matters.

Mixing remote guests with people in the room

Not every episode is all-remote. We often record a host and a guest together, at Great Portland Street Studio or at your office with our mobile kit, with a third person joining through Riverside. We edit it all together as one episode.

Questions about recording with Riverside