Record Your Podcast Using Zoom and Convert Your Zoom Recording Into a Podcast Episode

Zoom is a great tool that you can use to record your podcast! This blog (and above video!) will show you how you can record your podcast using Zoom, how to set up your computer to record, and how you can convert your Zoom files and create and publish a podcast episode!

Part 1: How to record your Zoom call on your computer

Part 2: How to convert your Zoom call to an MP3

• How to convert your Zoom call to an MP3 using iTunes

• How to convert your Zoom call to an MP3 using GarageBand

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Part 1: How to record your Zoom call on your computer

1. Download Zoom.
   
2. Log into Zoom.us. Navigate to the LH column, click on Settings.
   
3. Click the Recording Header.
   
4. Recording your podcast using Zoom gives you two recording options:
   1. LOCAL: saves files to your computer.
   2. CLOUD: saves files to your Zoom account
   3. My preference: Local. Quicker to import files into your DAW if you need to edit, etc.
      
5. Open Zoom App.
   
6. Open Preferences (Navigate to top LH corner, click Zoom.us – Preferences).
   
7. Click Recording.
   
8. Helpful preferences:
   1. Select folder to store Zoom files (Zoom will create a default folder in your Documents). Click the dropdown to choose a new destination.
      1. PRO TIP: If you’re using a desktop and have an external HD to record your podcast using Zoom, you can always route your save destination to an external HD to save space on your computer.
         
   2. “Record a separate audio file for each participant”: Great if you want to have further editing power for each participant’s audio in post-production.
      
   3. “Optimize for 3rd party editor” – Great if you’re also doing a video podcast and want to import the video into your video editing software of choice.
      
9. Click New Meeting (Obviously doing New Meeting for this test, but the next steps are the same for a scheduled meeting).
   
10. On the bottom bar, click the Record button and click “Record On This Computer”.
    
11. When you’re done, click Stop Recording. You’ll see a message in the top right corner that says “your file will be converted to an MP4 when the meeting ends”. Click END in the RH corner to end your meeting, then click End Meeting For All.
    
12. Your Zoom meeting has now been recorded and is being converted into an MP4.  Once your Zoom recording has been converted, Zoom will automatically launch Finder into the folder where your recording has been saved to.

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Part 2: How to convert the Zoom call to an MP3

There are many podcast hosts that will accept a wide array of file types, but not all of the podcast directories will allow RSS feeds with mixed file types. MP3 is the accepted file type of choice across the overwhelming majority of the directories, so you want to make sure that your audio podcasts are in an MP3 format. 

Two different methods:

• Convert your Zoom recording into an MP3 using iTunes
  1. Open iTunes on your computer.
     
  2. Drag and drop the m4a recording here.
     
  3. Open Preferences (Navigate to top LH corner, click iTunes – Preferences).
     
  4. Under “General”,  navigate to “Notifications – Import Settings”.
     
  5. Click on the “Import Using” dropdown menu, select MP3 Encoder. For the “Setting” dropdown menu, select Higher Quality (192 kbps). You can click “Custom” and further customize your quality options.
     
  6. Click OK.
     
  7. Select your Zoom recording, then navigate to the top LH side and click File – Convert – Create MP3 Version.  
     
  8. iTunes will create an MP3 copy of the file in iTunes.
     
  9. Two finger click on the file, click Show In Finder. This is the file you’ll use to upload your podcast to your hosting platform. CHECK OUT THIS VIDEO HERE ON HOW YOU CAN UPLOAD YOUR PODCAST IN ONLY A FEW CLICKS WITH PODBEAN.

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• Convert your podcast into an MP3 using your DAW
  When you record your podcast using Zoom, a DAW can help you with post-production, where you can insert intro and outro music, advertising, and do final editing with your podcast.  Today, I’ll be using GarageBand (Free on your Apple laptop). 
  1. Open GarageBand.
     
  2. Click Empty Project.
     
  3. Under “Choose a track type”, we’ll select Audio.
     
  4. Open the folder where you’ve saved your Zoom m4a recording(s). Drag and drop the file into your GarageBand project. You can drag the file/files into the track that’s already there or drag them into the project window and GarageBand will create new tracks for them.
     1. PRO TIP: TURN OFF THE METRONOME AND COUNT IN. IF YOU DON’T, THERE WILL BE A CONSTANT CLICKING SOUND THAT WILL PLAY THROUGHOUT YOUR PODCAST RECORDING.
        
  5. When you’re ready to export your podcast, navigate to the top bar and click Share – Export Song To Disk.
     
  6. Use the “Where” dropdown menu to select your destination on your computer. Select MP3 and select the Highest quality.
     
  7. Click Export.
     
  8. Click on the Finder icon and navigate to the folder that you chose.
     
  9. Your recording has now been converted to an MP3. This is the file you’ll use to upload your podcast to your hosting platform. CHECK OUT THIS VIDEO HERE ON HOW YOU CAN UPLOAD YOUR PODCAST IN ONLY A FEW CLICKS WITH PODBEAN.

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Learn more about podcasting, recording your podcast, and starting your podcast by checking out our blog post here!