How to Use Riverside for Recordings and Remote Interviews
How to Use Riverside for Recordings and Remote Interviews
Here's how to use Riverside: sign up at riverside.fm in Chrome, create a studio, and check your camera and mic in the lobby. Invite guests with a link, press Record, and Riverside captures each person locally in up to 4K on separate tracks. Then edit in the browser and pull short clips.
That's the whole loop. Below: how each step works, the settings people miss, and how to keep eye contact while you read your notes during a remote interview.
What is Riverside, and how does it work?
Riverside is a browser-based studio for recording high-quality video and audio with people who aren't in the room. Podcasts, remote interviews, video testimonials, talking-head clips. It runs at riverside.fm in Chrome, with a desktop app if you'd rather.
The clever part is how it records. Most call tools capture whatever survives your wifi, so a dropped signal means a blurry guest. Riverside records each person's camera and mic locally, then uploads those files in the background while you talk. You end up with crisp, separate tracks for every participant, not one compressed call recording.
Video goes up to 4K, audio up to 48kHz. Because the tracks are separate, you can fix one person's audio without touching anyone else's. That local-first design is the reason interviewers and podcasters pick it over a plain video call.
Step 1: Create a studio
Sign up, and from the dashboard click Create studio (or New recording). Give it a name, then choose what you're capturing: Audio and video, or Audio only if it's a podcast with no camera.
Set your resolution here too. 4K looks great but makes bigger files and asks more of everyone's machine, so 1080p is the sensible default for most interviews. You can change it before you hit record.
A studio is reusable. Make one for your show or your interview series and come back to the same room each time.
Step 2: Set up the lobby
Click into the studio and you land in the lobby, a private green room before anything records. Your browser asks for camera and mic access. Allow both.
Run through three checks:
Camera. Pick the right webcam from the dropdown and frame yourself with the lens near eye level.
Microphone. Choose your mic, not the built-in one if you have something better, and watch the level move when you speak.
Headphones. Wear them. This stops your guest's voice leaking back into your mic and wrecking the separate tracks.
Riverside also shows a connection check. Green means your local recording will upload cleanly. Sort this out now, not mid-interview.
Step 3: Invite guests for a remote interview
This is where Riverside shines for remote interviews. Click Invite, copy the link, and send it. Your guest opens it in their browser, allows their camera and mic, and lands in the lobby with you. No account, no download, no setup call the day before.
Walk them through the same checks: camera, mic, headphones. Spend a minute on small talk while you both watch the connection indicator settle. A relaxed guest records better than a startled one.
Now the part that decides whether the interview feels natural: where your eyes go. The second you glance down at a printed question sheet or over at a second monitor, the recording catches it, and it reads as distracted on camera. Keeping your own questions and follow-ups right by the lens is what lets you hold the gaze and actually listen.
Want to read your questions without ever breaking eye contact on the recording?
On camera, your eyes give it away the moment they drift to a script on the side. An invisible notes overlay like Oculta keeps a few lines just under your MacBook camera, and it never shows up in the Riverside capture.
Here's how to use Riverside: sign up at riverside.fm in Chrome, create a studio, and check your camera and mic in the lobby. Invite guests with a link, press Record, and Riverside captures each person locally in up to 4K on separate tracks. Then edit in the browser and pull short clips.
That's the whole loop. Below: how each step works, the settings people miss, and how to keep eye contact while you read your notes during a remote interview.
What is Riverside, and how does it work?
Riverside is a browser-based studio for recording high-quality video and audio with people who aren't in the room. Podcasts, remote interviews, video testimonials, talking-head clips. It runs at riverside.fm in Chrome, with a desktop app if you'd rather.
The clever part is how it records. Most call tools capture whatever survives your wifi, so a dropped signal means a blurry guest. Riverside records each person's camera and mic locally, then uploads those files in the background while you talk. You end up with crisp, separate tracks for every participant, not one compressed call recording.
Video goes up to 4K, audio up to 48kHz. Because the tracks are separate, you can fix one person's audio without touching anyone else's. That local-first design is the reason interviewers and podcasters pick it over a plain video call.
Step 1: Create a studio
Sign up, and from the dashboard click Create studio (or New recording). Give it a name, then choose what you're capturing: Audio and video, or Audio only if it's a podcast with no camera.
Set your resolution here too. 4K looks great but makes bigger files and asks more of everyone's machine, so 1080p is the sensible default for most interviews. You can change it before you hit record.
A studio is reusable. Make one for your show or your interview series and come back to the same room each time.
Step 2: Set up the lobby
Click into the studio and you land in the lobby, a private green room before anything records. Your browser asks for camera and mic access. Allow both.
Run through three checks:
Camera. Pick the right webcam from the dropdown and frame yourself with the lens near eye level.
Microphone. Choose your mic, not the built-in one if you have something better, and watch the level move when you speak.
Headphones. Wear them. This stops your guest's voice leaking back into your mic and wrecking the separate tracks.
Riverside also shows a connection check. Green means your local recording will upload cleanly. Sort this out now, not mid-interview.
Step 3: Invite guests for a remote interview
This is where Riverside shines for remote interviews. Click Invite, copy the link, and send it. Your guest opens it in their browser, allows their camera and mic, and lands in the lobby with you. No account, no download, no setup call the day before.
Walk them through the same checks: camera, mic, headphones. Spend a minute on small talk while you both watch the connection indicator settle. A relaxed guest records better than a startled one.
Now the part that decides whether the interview feels natural: where your eyes go. The second you glance down at a printed question sheet or over at a second monitor, the recording catches it, and it reads as distracted on camera. Keeping your own questions and follow-ups right by the lens is what lets you hold the gaze and actually listen.
Want to read your questions without ever breaking eye contact on the recording?
On camera, your eyes give it away the moment they drift to a script on the side. An invisible notes overlay like Oculta keeps a few lines just under your MacBook camera, and it never shows up in the Riverside capture.
Here's how to use Riverside: sign up at riverside.fm in Chrome, create a studio, and check your camera and mic in the lobby. Invite guests with a link, press Record, and Riverside captures each person locally in up to 4K on separate tracks. Then edit in the browser and pull short clips.
That's the whole loop. Below: how each step works, the settings people miss, and how to keep eye contact while you read your notes during a remote interview.
What is Riverside, and how does it work?
Riverside is a browser-based studio for recording high-quality video and audio with people who aren't in the room. Podcasts, remote interviews, video testimonials, talking-head clips. It runs at riverside.fm in Chrome, with a desktop app if you'd rather.
The clever part is how it records. Most call tools capture whatever survives your wifi, so a dropped signal means a blurry guest. Riverside records each person's camera and mic locally, then uploads those files in the background while you talk. You end up with crisp, separate tracks for every participant, not one compressed call recording.
Video goes up to 4K, audio up to 48kHz. Because the tracks are separate, you can fix one person's audio without touching anyone else's. That local-first design is the reason interviewers and podcasters pick it over a plain video call.
Step 1: Create a studio
Sign up, and from the dashboard click Create studio (or New recording). Give it a name, then choose what you're capturing: Audio and video, or Audio only if it's a podcast with no camera.
Set your resolution here too. 4K looks great but makes bigger files and asks more of everyone's machine, so 1080p is the sensible default for most interviews. You can change it before you hit record.
A studio is reusable. Make one for your show or your interview series and come back to the same room each time.
Step 2: Set up the lobby
Click into the studio and you land in the lobby, a private green room before anything records. Your browser asks for camera and mic access. Allow both.
Run through three checks:
Camera. Pick the right webcam from the dropdown and frame yourself with the lens near eye level.
Microphone. Choose your mic, not the built-in one if you have something better, and watch the level move when you speak.
Headphones. Wear them. This stops your guest's voice leaking back into your mic and wrecking the separate tracks.
Riverside also shows a connection check. Green means your local recording will upload cleanly. Sort this out now, not mid-interview.
Step 3: Invite guests for a remote interview
This is where Riverside shines for remote interviews. Click Invite, copy the link, and send it. Your guest opens it in their browser, allows their camera and mic, and lands in the lobby with you. No account, no download, no setup call the day before.
Walk them through the same checks: camera, mic, headphones. Spend a minute on small talk while you both watch the connection indicator settle. A relaxed guest records better than a startled one.
Now the part that decides whether the interview feels natural: where your eyes go. The second you glance down at a printed question sheet or over at a second monitor, the recording catches it, and it reads as distracted on camera. Keeping your own questions and follow-ups right by the lens is what lets you hold the gaze and actually listen.
Want to read your questions without ever breaking eye contact on the recording?
On camera, your eyes give it away the moment they drift to a script on the side. An invisible notes overlay like Oculta keeps a few lines just under your MacBook camera, and it never shows up in the Riverside capture.
Here's how to use Riverside: sign up at riverside.fm in Chrome, create a studio, and check your camera and mic in the lobby. Invite guests with a link, press Record, and Riverside captures each person locally in up to 4K on separate tracks. Then edit in the browser and pull short clips.
That's the whole loop. Below: how each step works, the settings people miss, and how to keep eye contact while you read your notes during a remote interview.
What is Riverside, and how does it work?
Riverside is a browser-based studio for recording high-quality video and audio with people who aren't in the room. Podcasts, remote interviews, video testimonials, talking-head clips. It runs at riverside.fm in Chrome, with a desktop app if you'd rather.
The clever part is how it records. Most call tools capture whatever survives your wifi, so a dropped signal means a blurry guest. Riverside records each person's camera and mic locally, then uploads those files in the background while you talk. You end up with crisp, separate tracks for every participant, not one compressed call recording.
Video goes up to 4K, audio up to 48kHz. Because the tracks are separate, you can fix one person's audio without touching anyone else's. That local-first design is the reason interviewers and podcasters pick it over a plain video call.
Step 1: Create a studio
Sign up, and from the dashboard click Create studio (or New recording). Give it a name, then choose what you're capturing: Audio and video, or Audio only if it's a podcast with no camera.
Set your resolution here too. 4K looks great but makes bigger files and asks more of everyone's machine, so 1080p is the sensible default for most interviews. You can change it before you hit record.
A studio is reusable. Make one for your show or your interview series and come back to the same room each time.
Step 2: Set up the lobby
Click into the studio and you land in the lobby, a private green room before anything records. Your browser asks for camera and mic access. Allow both.
Run through three checks:
Camera. Pick the right webcam from the dropdown and frame yourself with the lens near eye level.
Microphone. Choose your mic, not the built-in one if you have something better, and watch the level move when you speak.
Headphones. Wear them. This stops your guest's voice leaking back into your mic and wrecking the separate tracks.
Riverside also shows a connection check. Green means your local recording will upload cleanly. Sort this out now, not mid-interview.
Step 3: Invite guests for a remote interview
This is where Riverside shines for remote interviews. Click Invite, copy the link, and send it. Your guest opens it in their browser, allows their camera and mic, and lands in the lobby with you. No account, no download, no setup call the day before.
Walk them through the same checks: camera, mic, headphones. Spend a minute on small talk while you both watch the connection indicator settle. A relaxed guest records better than a startled one.
Now the part that decides whether the interview feels natural: where your eyes go. The second you glance down at a printed question sheet or over at a second monitor, the recording catches it, and it reads as distracted on camera. Keeping your own questions and follow-ups right by the lens is what lets you hold the gaze and actually listen.
Want to read your questions without ever breaking eye contact on the recording?
On camera, your eyes give it away the moment they drift to a script on the side. An invisible notes overlay like Oculta keeps a few lines just under your MacBook camera, and it never shows up in the Riverside capture.