SPRC Podcast: Instructions for recording

We are very happy to be working with you for our podcast. Here you will find a few instructions on recording for the podcast, whether you are recording a conversation, or a Short Takes piece.

Examples of our podcasts can be found here.

Recording a conversation

You can record your conversation over Microsoft Teams or Zoom (instructions below), or your preferred platform. This can either be a video or audio call (if a video call, please be assured we won’t post the video, and will only use the audio from the recording).

If recording a conversation with someone external to UCL, this can still be done over Microsoft Teams. You can invite someone with their external email to a Teams meeting. They do not need to have a Teams account to join, they will be able to join the meeting from the link in the meeting invite. When you start the meeting, you will be able to admit them to the call.

Please be sure you are recording before you start your conversation. (If you wish to record a back up version, this can be done on your phone following the instructions under 'Recording a Short Takes piece').
Please check for any background noise around you, including fridges, fans, alarms and other sounds and consider turning them off for the duration of the recording.
Do not worry if you make mistakes as you speak, we can edit out any mistakes.
If you can, it is best to avoid talking over each other as it confuses the audio.
In terms of time, we advise keeping your conversation between 35-45 minutes. Don’t worry if the conversation runs a bit longer, we will try to edit it to a reasonable time.

Microsoft Teams: Start your meeting.
Click the 'More actions' button (three dots) in the top right side.
If recording with someone external to UCL, once they try to join the meeting you will see a notification where you can accept them into the meeting.
Click 'Start recording'.
Once your conversation is finished, click 'Stop recording', or 'Leave' the meeting.
After some processing time, usually within an hour, the recording will be sent to your email.
Zoom: Start your meeting.
Click the 'Record' button. If you do not see the 'Record' button, click the 'More actions' button (three dots) at the bottom of the screen.
If recording with someone external to UCL, once they try to join the meeting you will see a notification where you can accept them into the meeting.
Once your conversation is finished, click 'End', or 'Leave' the meeting.
After some processing time, usually within an hour, the recording will be sent to your email.

Recording a Short Takes piece

We’d like to give you the freedom to explore your topic/research/expertise how you choose, but do let us know if you want to discuss any ideas or what you might want to talk about. We suggest using your phone if possible, but you can also use your laptop (instructions below).

Either speak closely to the phone or use a good quality headset.
Please check for any background noise around you, including fridges, fans, alarms and other sounds and consider turning them off for the duration of the recording.
These should be short recordings, around 15 minutes in length, unless specified otherwise.
Do not worry if you make mistakes as you speak. Wait for two seconds and repeat your sentence. We can edit your piece.
This podcast presents research-driven and ideas-led pieces but aims to be accessible to a broad and heterogeneous audience.
If you have used a script, please also send this along so we can use it for the transcript.

iPhone

Open your 'Voice memos' app. To find it, swipe down on your home screen and search.
To start recording, press the red button.
To stop recording, press the red button again.
To share with us, press the track you have just recorded from the list of recordings, press the three dots on the bottom left-hand side, select 'share' and choose your email app.

Android smartphone

Download ASR Voice Recorder here. (If you have another recording app, feel free to use this but ASR is free, has very little advertising and the quality is good.)
To start recording, press the red button.
To stop recording, press the red button again.
To access your recording, press the icon with three dots and three lines on the top right-hand side.
To share the audio recording with us, press the 'share' button on the top right-hand side and select your email app.

Mac laptop

Open your 'Voice memos' application. You will find this in your list of applications.
To start recording, click the red button.
To pause, click 'Pause'. To continue, click 'Resume'.
To stop and save the recording, click 'Done'.
A new recording will be created in the left-hand side column. To save the file, drag the recording from the left-hand side column to your desktop or a folder.

Windows laptop

Open Microsoft Store. Search for Windows Voice Recorder, and click the top result. Click the ‘Get’ button.
To start recording, open Start. Search for Video Recorder, and click the top result to open the app. Click the ‘Record’ button.
To pause recording, click the ‘Pause’ button to stop the recording without terminating the session.
Click the ‘Stop’ button to terminate the voice recording session.
The audio file will save automatically using an .m4a file format in the ‘Sound recordings’ folder in your ‘Documents’ folder.

Images

Please send along an image that we can use alongside the podcast if possible. This could be an image relevant to your topic or a photo of yourself.
We can only publish images if it is considered fair use, i.e. using them to support your argument and they are in the public domain or have a Creative Commons licence. In any case, we will need full captions and credits for them.

Copyrights

Speakers remain the owners of the copyright in recordings. They consent to recordings being made available publicly by UCL under the CC-BY-ND (Creative Commons-Attribution-NoDerivatives 2.0 UK) license. Where material is included in the recording which is the copyright of a third party or protected by any other intellectual property right, the speaker has obtained permission to include those materials for educational purposes.