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How to start a hit podcast—even on a budget

Video podcasts are the most powerful way to build your brand—and can even earn you a nice income on the side. But getting started can be daunting.

From buying the right equipment to creating content to managing guests, and keeping to a production schedule. There’s a lot to think about. 

Before you get overwhelmed with spiraling costs and admin overload, we’ve got good news: you don’t need pro-level equipment—or a whole production crew—to build a pro-level video podcast.

In fact, you can easily get started today, even on a budget. Here’s how:

Start with the equipment you already own

If you’ve already got a nice DSLR, microphones, and studio lights—perfect. You’re off to the races. If not, don’t worry. Your iPhone, iPad, or webcam will work just fine, especially if you can connect a microphone for added audio quality—and use a webcam ring light for a brighter picture. Then, all you need is a simple tool for connecting and managing those devices, which leads us to…

Use different camera angles to keep things interesting

Your video production needs to keep people’s attention. At a basic level, switching between camera angles adds visual interest and helps frame the conversation. By connecting multiple iPhones and iPads, and/or digital cameras you can create:

  1. Individual shots for both the host and guest—framed similarly i.e. equal zoom and lighting.
  2. A wide shot that captures the whole setup to add context.
  3. An overhead shot to add a behind-the-scenes feel, capturing your recording equipment or featured your environment.
  4. One or multiple  remote guests. We’ll show you how to do this later through Zoom.

With Cinamaker, you can connect and control each device at the same time, switching angles and controlling the audio through one simple interface on your iPad or Mac. 

Spice things up with rich media and graphic overlays

Add drama, humor, and context to the conversation by inserting different media, including photos, gifs, videos, audio clips, text overlays, and other on-screen media.

Thanks to Cinamaker, you can do all of this, without needing years of editing experience—or extensive video skills. Just pull up Cinamaker’s newsroom-style editing suite, upload your graphics or media—or select templates from our library—and give your production an added edge.

Use Zoom for recording remote guests

Guest interviews are a powerful way to grow your podcast. Luckily, you don’t need anything more sophisticated than Zoom to host and record guests in HD—all thanks to Cinamaker’s Zoom integration. You manage the whole production—like switching cameras, managing your guests’ audio, and adding media—from the backend. And best of all, your guests just think they’re joining a normal Zoom call. 

Edit live, as you go

As with any creative endeavor, the art is in the editing. But post-production can hamstring any well-intentioned production schedule. With Cinamaker, you can edit in real-time or afterward directly from the same interface you use to record—turning an okay show into an awesome, share-worthy production. 

To go the extra mile, you can export your recording to your favorite editing software, such as  Apple Final Cut Pro X or Adobe Premiere. 

Publish content straight to Facebook or YouTube

The fastest way to grow your video podcast is to publish it on social media—and then feed the algorithms with short, repurposed clips. Whether you’re live-streaming or posting recorded content, you need a streamlined process to get your podcast out there as quickly as possible. 

Again, you don’t need a team of editors. With Cinamaker, you can publish your fresh video podcasts to your channels, your short clips to social media, and then add your video to the archive for future access. 

Launch your podcast today

Cinamaker makes it easy to create powerful, professional-grade video podcasts using equipment you already own—and without the steep learning curve.

Our video webinar, ‘Create Your Video Podcasts Like a Pro’ teaches you everything you need to get started today.

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Cinamaker 2.19 Release Notes

With Director Studio version 2.19, for Mac and iPad, Cinamaker releases enhancements for adding and previewing media to your live streams and recordings. You may now access the front-facing camera on your HEVC-supported iPad, as well as use your iPad as an additional audio source and more.

Here’s what’s new in Cinamaker Director Studio 2.19: 

Media List Management

You asked, we hope we dont disappoint… Media List Management is finally here!

Now you can save each of your Media Lists, and easily Load them to your project sessions when needed, and merge multiple lists when required.

Save, Load, and Merge Your Media Lists

Compose and Edit Media Objects in Preview Mode

While adding and editing media in your sessions, you can now preview your changes in real-time. This enhancement greatly improves adding and editing media overlays to your Cinamaker sessions.

Use Your iPad’s Front-Facing Camera

In addition to using your iPhone and iPad cameras, Cinamaker Director Studio for iPad now includes the option of using the iPad’s front-facing camera. NOTE: This feature requires iPad devices with HEVC-support*.*

Click here for devices with HEVC-support: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207022

Use Your iPad as an Audio Source

Cinamaker Director Studio on iPad can now be used as an additional audio source. Simply select “Current Device” in the Audio Panel for recording audio from the iPad. Cinamaker Capture (available for free in the iOS App Store) will continue to provide multiple audio sources for your Cinamaker sessions.

Set Live Video Bitrate output for Facebook and YouTube

In this update, you will be able to set the video bitrate of your live output to Facebook Live and YouTube Live.

Bug fixes and stability improvements

This release includes bug fixes and stability improvements.

To learn more, please visit the Cinamaker Learning Center at cinamaker.com

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Cinamaker Makes Remote Guests and Cameras a Breeze via the Zoom Meeting SDK

Cinamaker’s multi-camera video recording, editing, and live streaming app teams up with Zoom Video Communications, Inc. to expand its remote production capabilities.

Over the last two years, few have become strangers to a work-from-home, virtual meeting lifestyle. Some would describe this as the “Zoom Era of Remote Work” where we operate our businesses, jobs, and personal connections through the lens of a camera across various computers and devices.

Today, Cinamaker is excited to announce its direct integration with Zoom’s Meeting SDK that enables Cinamaker Director Studio customers the ability to include Remote Guests and Remote Cameras from anywhere in the world into their Cinamaker-produced live streams, live meetings, and recorded sessions.

Put simply, through Cinamaker’s integration with Zoom’s leading video communications platform,  Cinamaker creators can select and pull individual Zoom meeting participants into their live Cinamaker productions as featured interview guests, presenters, and remote talent, and thereby enhance the quality of their video production, live streams, virtual meetings, presentations, webinars, events, and more. 

“We’re excited that Cinamaker has chosen to use our Meetings SDK to extend their live video production offering to include remote guests,” said Zoom’s Chief Technology Officer, Brendan Ittelson. “Including remote guests will help event hosts create high-quality live events without geography acting as a barrier.”  

Since 2017, Cinamaker has been dedicated to empowering emerging video creators, live streamers, professionals, entrepreneurs, and the like with tools for multi-camera live video streaming, recording, and editing using their Mac or iPad. Without any prior multi-camera video experience, Cinamaker Director Studio users can tell their stories using up to eight (8) iPhone, and digital camera angles, mix audio, include media assets, visual effects, and more.

Now, thanks to Zoom’s Meeting SDK, Cinamaker users can just as simply include remote guests and remote cameras directly into their live shows and events, live streams, presentations, and recordings, as well as send their live Cinamaker production to Zoom Meetings, Zoom Events, and Zoom Webinars.

“We are extremely excited to support emerging creators and remote workers all over the globe with a solution for creating engaging Zoom sessions, live streams, and video recordings that leave their viewers saying ‘wow’”, says Cinamaker CEO, Benjamin Nowak.

As cameras continue to be a necessity for individuals, companies, and institutions to effectively communicate and interact worldwide, Cinamaker with Zoom makes it easier than ever to create and tell stories using multiple angles and media, from multiple locations, and with multiple participants, wherever they may be.

For more on how you can get the most from Zoom with Cinamaker, visit the Zoom App Marketplace or learn more about Cinamaker Director Studio here.

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Cinamaker 2.18 Release Notes

With Director Studio version 2.18, Cinamaker releases enhancements to the Remote Guest feature by Pre-Scheduling invited Guests. Users can create Cinamaker Director Studio accounts from within the Zoom App Marketplace, enhancements to Cinamaker Virtual Webcam Driver 2.0, and more.

With this release, you will: 

  • Access Pre-scheduled Zoom Sessions Inside Cinamaker Director Studio
  • Login to Cinamaker with Zoom via oAuth
  • Enhancements to the Cinamaker Virtual Webcam Driver 2.0 (macOS only)
  • Plus: Bug fixes, and stability improvements

Access Pre-scheduled Zoom Sessions From Within Cinamaker

Often times you will want to schedule a Cinamaker Remote Guest session and invite one or more attendees with plenty of advance notice.

Now you can access pre-scheduled Cinamaker Remote Guest sessions created with Zoom and invite guests well ahead of the live Remote Guest sessions.

Pre-scheduled Zoom Sessions Inside Cinamaker Director Studio

To access pre-scheduled Cinamaker Remote Guest sessions, simply create a Zoom meeting through your preferred Zoom interface as you typically would. Then on the day of the meeting, you will simply start your Cinamaker Director Studio session and navigate to the Camera Browser to begin a Remote Guest session. 

In order to activate your Zoom Session inside Cinamaker, you must first log in to the same Zoom account as you use to schedule the meeting in advance.

Once logged into Zoom successfully through Cinamaker, rather than selecting “Start Meeting” you will instead select “Scheduled Meetings” (see above) where you will find all Zoom meetings that you previously scheduled. Select the appropriate meeting and as soon as your invited Remote Guest(s) log in they will appear in your Camera Browser. At this point, you will both be able to open the Zoom session, aka “The Green Room” where you will pre-meet and converse from within a Zoom Meeting before pulling your Guest(s) into your live Cinamaker Session.

To learn more about Cinamaker Remote Guest featuring Zoom, click here.

Login to Cinamaker with Zoom via oAuth

Now you have the option to log in to Cinamaker Director Studio as well as create a Cinamaker account with your Zoom account.

As a feature of our live end-to-end video production system, Cinamaker Director Studio can pull remote guests into the production and facilitate interactive communication between the guests via Zoom’s industry-leading video backbone.

Additionally, new users can create a Cinamaker account directly from the Zoom App Marketplace using Zoom.

In the release of Cinamaker version 2.18, we have added Zoom oAuth as an optional way to authenticate and authorize users to make requests between Cinamaker and Zoom. With Zoom oAuth, you will be able to:

  • Register for a new Cinamaker Director Studio account via Zoom App Marketplace
  • Log in to your Cinamaker Director Studio account via Zoom
  • Invite Zoom Remote Guests/Meeting Participants into a Cinamaker session from inside Director Studio
Login to Cinamaker with Zoom via oAuth

Cinamaker Virtual Webcam Driver 2.0

Cinamaker Virtual Webcam Driver 2.0 has been enhanced giving Cinamaker Director Studio (macOS only) users the ability to send Cinamaker session output to Zoom, MS Teams, Google Meet, Webex, and other video conference platforms.

Cinamaker Webcam Driver 2.0 has improved video/audio synchronization and improved camera-connection logic

To learn more about how to send Cinamaker output to Zoom with Cinamaker Director Studio (Mac only) and Cinamaker Meeting Director (Mac only), please click here.

NOTE: Cinamaker Virtual Webcam Driver 2.0 is available for Mac-only. For Cinamaker Director Studio – iPad users, please click here to learn how to send Cinamaker from your iPad to a Computer with Zoom, WebEx, or your favorite Meeting Platform.

Select “Send Audio/Video Program Out to Cinamaker Virtual Webcam Driver”
Select “Cinamaker Virtual Web Camera” as the Video Source in your Zoom sessions
Select “Cinamaker Audio Device” as Audio Source in your Zoom sessions (to maintain sync)

Bug fixes and stability improvements

This release includes bug fixes and stability improvements.

To learn more, please visit the Cinamaker Learning Center at cinamaker.com

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Cinamaker 2.17 Release Notes

Cinamaker releases version 2.17 with enhancements that feature Apple’s Center Stage, user-friendly System Diagnostics, time-sensitive tasks for loading and saving media assets, and more.

With this release, you will: 

  • Keep your subjects in frame as they move around, via Apple’s Center Stage**
  • Load and save multiple media libraries for easy access to commonly used media assets 
  • Optimize your time and troubleshoot unforeseen issues with Systems Diagnostics
  • Increase the number of remote guests (via Zoom) on devices that support HEVC
  • Plus: Bug fixes, and stability improvements

Apple Center Stage Support

Cinamaker Capture is now compatible with Apple’s Center Stage.  With Cinamaker Capture installed on Center Stage enabled iPads, your iPad’s front-facing camera follows the action during your Cinamaker live stream and/or recording without a camera operator.

This new Cinamaker feature works great for church services, classroom activities, sports, performance, and more.

For more about Center Stage, click here

Cinamaker Capture is now compatible with Apple's Center Stage.

Load & Save Media Assets

Now with Cinamaker Director and Meeting Director, you can load and save multiple media libraries for easy access to commonly used assets such as photos, lower thirds, videos, graphics, logos, audio files, and more. 

This upgrade has been a commonly requested feature to save time by minimizing the effort to create assets for each of your Cinamaker live streams and recordings.

Great for those podcast creators, worship organizations, marketing organizations who manage multiple projects and re-use opening and closing graphics and audio files on a daily or weekly basis

System Diagnostics

Cinamaker Diagnostics anticipates and informs the user of potential performance issues. 

When issues are detected, such as wifi network, CPU, and memory, you will be provided a warning and recommendation on how to resolve the problem.

This is an important new feature designed to optimize your time and troubleshoot unforeseen issues such as losing camera connections, issues with video/audio sync, live stream reliability, etc.

HEVC Support Improvements

Cinamaker continues to increase the number of remote guests (via Zoom) on devices that support HEVC.

Bug fixes and stability improvements

This release includes bug fixes and stability improvements.

** must have a compatible iPad with a front ‘Center Stage’ camera to enable this feature

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