Information for OutCasting guests

Thank you for agreeing to be interviewed for OutCasting.  You're joining a group of people with compelling personal stories and experts who are at the top of their fields.

We strive for the best audio fidelity we can get so that your story and your ideas come through as clearly as possible.  If you are in the NYC area, the best option is to visit our studio in Westchester to record your interview in person.

As a national program, we have many guests who cannot join us at the studio, so there are ways you can record your interview in your home or office.  In the past, the only affordable way (at least for our small nonprofit) was the telephone.  But new technology has made much better quality available, and it's pretty much as simple as Skype.  You probably already have almost everything needed.  You'll need:

• A reliable and reasonably fast internet connection.  Standard cable, fiber, and DSL connections generally work fine.
• A computer or Android phone running a relatively recent version of the Chrome web browser.  Chrome is, of course, free and easy to install.  We have had mixed results with Apple iPhone or iPad browsers.  We can test it with you as necessary.  If it doesn't work, perhaps you can borrow a friend's phone or tablet that runs Chrome.  If you're using mobile data, your interview will use up part of your monthly allotment of data.
• A headset with earphones and a microphone.  The earphones should ideally have "around the ear" cushions, not the "open ear" style of foam that rests on your ear.  We are getting good results with the Microsoft LifeChat LX-3000 USB headset, available for $29.99 at Staples.  If you have a different kind of wired or wireless (Bluetooth) headset, we can test it on a case-by-case basis.  We will want to do this well ahead of time.  We also have alternatives we can discuss with you.

For interviews via computer or other device, we will e-mail you a URL before the interview.  Just before the interview, you'll plug the headset or microphone into the computer or phone, open Chrome, and copy and paste the URL into the address bar in Chrome.  That will enable you to connect with our studio.

If you're wearing your headset, you should set the microphone so that it's about three inches away from your mouth and at a 45 degree angle.   Here's OutCaster Quinn showing what it should look like:

If these methods are impossible for you, we can do your interview on a landline telephone.  (Regular cell phone audio quality is inconsistent and sometimes unintelligible on the air, so we do not record interviews on cell phones.)  Landline telephone audio is generally reliable but doesn't sound good, and we have to apply aggressive filtering and other audio processing to make it sound as good as possible.  Over the phone, your voice is robbed of its dynamics and impact, and this can cause you to sound distant and less involved — and perhaps even less interesting to listen to.  So if you can possibly use the computer/phone/headset method above, please do.

Other things:

• We will have to call you, so we'll need your number.
• Of course, if you have access to professional audio equipment or a studio, please let us know.
• For your interview, you'll need to be in a quiet room away from phones ringing, other people talking, street noise, and other ambient sound.  Preferably, you will be in a carpeted room with overstuffed furniture and curtains and other soft surfaces.  This will make the room more acoustically dead.  Rooms with hard surfaces, which reflect sound, will sound reverberant, reducing the sound quality.
• Please make sure that fans, air conditioners, cell phones, and other sources of noise are turned off.  If your call waiting goes off during the interview, we ask that you ignore it.

Frequently asked questions:

• What if I'm asked a question I'm not comfortable answering?  Just say that and we'll move on; we respect your privacy.  All OutCasting interviews are edited before broadcast.
• How long will the interview take?  OutCasting covers issues in depth, so it's best to allow at least 60-90 minutes.
• How long until the program is released?  It varies, but our production lead time typically requires at least a couple of months.  In some cases, it may take longer.  But don't worry about missing it — we will notify you when the program is released.

Thanks!  We look forward to talking with you.

Microphone image: Jonathan Farber.