How to record a multicam podcast for automatic editing

To record a podcast that podswitch can cut automatically, give every speaker their own microphone and record each one to a separate track or file. Cameras can be any mix of devices, including a wide shot with no microphone. podswitch lines everything up by sound, so you do not need timecode or a clap.

This guide covers what matters for the automatic edit. It does not try to cover lighting, framing or microphone choice in general.

Why does each speaker need their own microphone?

podswitch decides who is talking by comparing microphones. At every moment it checks which mic is clearly louder than the others, relative to that mic’s own background level. If two people share a microphone, their voices arrive on the same track and there is nothing to compare, so podswitch cannot choose between their cameras.

The same comparison drives the dialogue mix. Each mic is opened only while its speaker is talking, which removes the other voices that every microphone picks up in a shared room.

Which recording setups work?

How should I set up the microphones?

• Keep each mic close to its speaker. The closer the mic, the more clearly its own speaker stands out from everyone else on it. That makes decisions and the mix cleaner.
• Check every channel before you start. A channel that records nothing, for example because a mic was muted, will be flagged before upload as looking empty.
• Set levels so nobody clips. podswitch compares levels between mics, and clipped audio sounds bad in the mix regardless.
• Keep gain fixed for the whole session. Changing a mic’s level part way through makes the recording harder to mix and changes how clearly that speaker stands out from the others.

Do cameras need matching settings?

Use the same frame rate on every camera. If angles have different frame rates, podswitch warns you, and the multicam clip uses the first angle’s format.

Avoid variable frame rate footage where you can. Some phones and screen recorders record it by default. podswitch will warn you if it detects it, because variable frame rate footage can drift out of sync in Final Cut Pro.

Start every device before anyone speaks and stop them after the last word. Syncing works by finding matching sound, so each file needs to overlap with the reference recording.

What happens to my video?

Nothing leaves your computer except audio. When you add a video file, your browser reads it locally, extracts the audio tracks and uploads only those. The video stays where it is, and Final Cut Pro links to it on your Mac when you import the edit.

That is also why podswitch later asks for the folder your files are in: the FCPXML needs to point Final Cut Pro at the originals. Keep the camera files together in one folder and do not rename them after uploading.

What should I check before uploading?

• Every speaker has a microphone, and you know which file or channel is whose.
• All cameras used the same frame rate.
• The camera files are in one folder you can find again.
• Each recording is within your plan’s length limit. podswitch checks this before uploading and tells you if a file is too long.

When you are ready, the Final Cut Pro import guide explains what to do with the finished edit.