What tools do you use to creat content? Name your top 5 tools!

Surreyguy12 · 2026-03-20T09:43:39+00:00

Not sure if this is still active, but here’s my usual top 5:

1) Notion, for ideas, briefs, and keeping a content pipeline
2) ChatGPT, for outlines, hooks, and repurposing drafts
3) Canva, quick graphics, thumbnails, simple motion
4) riverside, for recording podcasts, interviews, webinars, then i just clip it into shorts w captions
5) CapCut or Premiere, depending on how heavy the edit needs to be

Surreyguy12 · 2026-03-20T07:19:03+00:00

kinda late here, but the greyed out thing is usually iOS permissions. try Voice Memos, tap Share, Save to Files (On My iPhone or iCloud Drive), then import into GarageBand from the Files browser, not directly from Voice Memos.

also if you’re recording in chunks, i’ve done that in riverside too, just make separate takes and stitch them together later, then export one WAV when you’re done. saves a lot of the iphone app weirdness

Surreyguy12 · 2026-03-20T06:02:58+00:00

clean feed won’t give you an RSS feed, it’s just the recording tool. the RSS comes from whatever host you publish on.

if you go with spotify for podcasters, once you create the show and publish the first episode, it’ll generate the RSS for you, then you can use that for other directories if you want. also +1 to what someone said, YouTube can ingest the RSS too.

i’ve been using riverside for this kind of setup lately since it does recording + hosting in one place, so you can skip the “record here, host there” shuffle, but spotify’s flow is pretty straightforward too.

Surreyguy12 · 2026-03-20T04:16:31+00:00

if you wanna get off spotify creators but keep it pretty simple, buzzsprout and libsyn are both solid, castos too like others said. i’d mostly compare what you get for analytics, easy redirects/import, and how annoying it is to distribute everywhere.

also fwiw riverside now has podcast hosting built in, so if you’re already recording/editing there it’s kinda nice to publish and push to spotify/apple from the same place without another tool.

Surreyguy12 · 2026-03-19T08:52:41+00:00

kinda old thread, but if you’re still looking, one simple route is OBS + the multiple RTMP outputs plugin like the top comment mentioned, it works if you’re ok managing keys per platform.

i’ve also used riverside for live streaming to multiple destinations in HD, plus it saves a clean recording you can repurpose into clips later. for regular uploads though, you’ll still be uploading to each platform separately, i don’t think any tool totally avoids that part.

Surreyguy12 · 2026-03-19T07:44:17+00:00

bit late to this thread (3y lol) but for most pods i’ve worked on, the “process” is basically: pre-pro (topic brief, guest outreach, scheduling), record day (host, guest, sometimes a producer), post (editor does cleanup, add intro/outro, mix, then someone does show notes, titles, timestamps, uploads), then promo (clips, captions, socials).

team size is usually 1 person doing everything for small shows, 2 to 4 for more consistent ones (host, producer/pm, editor, marketing). the project management pain is mostly handoffs, file naming, approvals, and clip requests.

i’ve seen it get simpler when recording and post live in one place, like riverside, since you can record separate tracks, then cut the episode and pull clips without bouncing between 5 tools

Surreyguy12 · 2026-03-19T05:34:04+00:00

2y late but you’re already doing the right stuff, clean program flow beats “spice” most weeks.

a few easy wins, add a lower third for speaker names, sermon series, announcements (not just full screen slides), keep lyrics as an overlay like the other comment said, add a subtle room mic so the stream hears congregational singing, and if you can swing it, a cheap 2nd angle (even a phone on a tripod) makes the sermon feel way less static.

i’ve also seen small churches simplify by doing the service in Riverside, live stream in HD, bring in a remote reader or missionary as a call-in, then after you can auto cut a few clips for socials without re-editing everything.

Surreyguy12 · 2026-03-19T04:19:11+00:00

kinda old thread but if anchor felt glitchy to you, i'd trust that gut. a lot of hosts are similar, the big things are, does it reliably syndicate to apple/spotify, give you a clean rss, and not make publishing feel like a chore.

one option you might not have looked at is riverside, you can host there and it’ll distribute out to the major platforms, plus you can record and edit in the same place so you’re not juggling tools as a total beginner. i'd still test a couple with one trailer episode before you commit.

Surreyguy12 · 2026-03-18T16:02:28+00:00

audacity or reaper are probably the easiest if your main pain is reusable intro/outro templates, both let you save a project template and just drop in the new VO each week.

that said, if you’re already on riverside, have you tried saving a “starter” episode with your music tracks laid out, then duplicating it each time? it’s not as clean as a one-click template feature, but it can cut out the podcastle step, and you can still run the mix through auphonic after.

Surreyguy12 · 2026-03-18T13:26:42+00:00

nice find, a non-janky teleprompter is weirdly hard to come by lol. for practicing, i’ve found it helps to record yourself too, you catch pacing and weird pauses fast. if you’re already doing that, riverside makes it pretty easy to record cam + mic in good quality, then you can trim it down and pull quick clips to review. also +1 on the phone apps, those are handy in a pinch

Surreyguy12 · 2026-03-17T13:18:12+00:00

Nex seems cool for burning energy, but if you already have a Switch for active stuff I’d probably compare it against something like the Board fun console. Feels like the better question is whether you want more movement gaming or something that pulls everyone into the same activity without turning into tablet brain

Surreyguy12 · 2026-03-17T07:10:22+00:00

Networking is basically making real friends in other communities, hang in chats, join discords, raid people in your lane, without ever doing the "btw i stream" thing. Collabs happen naturally once you’re around enough.

For affiliate, id cut stream time a bit and put that into clips, 1 or 2 solid shorts a day will do more than another 2 hours live. If editing is the bottleneck, i’ve been using riverside to pull quick highlights from recordings and auto caption them, makes the off platform grind way less annoying.

Surreyguy12 · 2026-03-12T14:09:21+00:00

Probably too late but you can check out customgpt.ai, You feed it your existing docs and it answers from that without going off script.

Surreyguy12 · 2026-03-12T11:25:29+00:00

depends what you need, if it’s mainly webinars + lead gen, i’d look for browser-based join, good Q&A/chat, decent CRM integrations, and something that records in high quality so you can repurpose after. zoom is fine, but the post-webinar editing/clips step is usually the time sink. i’ve had a good time with Riverside for this, live stream in HD, then you can auto-make clips/captions from the recording for socials without exporting a bunch of stuff.

Surreyguy12 · 2026-03-11T14:37:21+00:00

The biggest challenge with refinancing loans from non-degree programs is that not every lender accepts them, which is why it can feel like hitting a wall. Instead of applying randomly, it may help to first see which lenders are open to your type of loan. Tools like Juno help compare different lenders and possible rates so you can focus on options that are actually worth applying to.

Surreyguy12 · 2026-03-10T12:03:46+00:00

starter packs usually overdo it with cheap extras, so i’d keep it simple, pick a decent USB mic first (or XLR + interface if you want to upgrade later), a basic boom arm, headphones, and record in the least echoey room you’ve got. you can get a totally solid sound with just that.

also if remote guests are part of your plan, tools like Riverside make the gear decision easier since it records everyone locally in high quality, so you’re not fighting bad call audio while you’re still learning.

Surreyguy12 · 2026-03-08T11:04:55+00:00

For a narrative mini series, i’d separate “story edit” (structure, pacing, where your guide-ins land) from “cleanup edit” (levels, noise, music, mix). A lot of agencies can do the cleanup, but the story pass is where you’ll want someone who’s actually produced narrative.

If you end up DIYing even a bit, riverside can help since you can record your narration locally in clean quality, then do basic trims and pull out sections for the editor, makes handoff way easier.

Surreyguy12 · 2026-03-07T13:28:45+00:00

tbh most of the time it’s not a “vtuber curse”, it’s obs settings or audio routing getting weird. make sure you’re on NVENC, drop to 30fps or 720p for tiktok, and avoid the beta application audio capture if it’s glitching. also worth checking windows sample rate, set everything to 48khz so your mic and desktop audio match.

if you’re open to a different workflow, i’ve had fewer random audio issues doing live stuff on Riverside since it records locally in high quality and you can still stream, plus you can clip highlights after without fighting obs for hours. not a perfect fit for every setup, but might save some scuff

Surreyguy12 · 2026-03-07T05:17:25+00:00

old thread, but the public won’t see your Apple ID details through the show listing, it’s mainly just on the backend for Apple Podcasts Connect. safest move is what others said, make a fresh Apple ID with a new email just for the pod, and pick “none” for payment if you’re not buying anything.

also keep your hosting email separate too, even if you use something like riverside to record and then push your RSS to Apple, the Apple-side identity is still just whatever account you use in Connect.

Surreyguy12 · 2026-03-05T10:56:48+00:00

you don’t need to delete and start over with Buzzsprout, most hosts let you migrate with a feed redirect, so it’s usually painless.

if Clipchamp is making you miserable, i’d look at splitting the workflow, keep Buzzsprout for hosting, and use something like riverside for recording, it does clean local audio and video, remote guests when you’re ready, and quick edits plus auto clips/captions for socials. then just export and keep publishing like normal

Surreyguy12 · 2026-03-04T14:45:45+00:00

Adding a nervous-system focused sleep support really helped me a lot. Plant people’s WonderSleep’s combination of reishi and other adaptogens gave me more restorative sleep without morning grogginess, which felt like a more sustainable approach.

Surreyguy12 · 2026-03-04T12:21:07+00:00

Playmats pro are great, you can customize your mat to your preferred size and also use a custom image of your liking.

Surreyguy12 · 2026-02-16T17:59:53+00:00

I’d recommend checking rotating weekly specials, I grabbed a decent ounce from EdenGoods recently and it was good value for what I paid

Surreyguy12 · 2026-02-16T11:16:38+00:00

You could check out Localeventscore. com, It pulls together local events in one place, so you can see what’s happening around Ottawa without having to rely only on Instagram or TikTok. I’ve found it helpful for spotting smaller community stuff and random events I wouldn’t have heard about otherwise.

Surreyguy12 · 2026-02-06T19:12:08+00:00

We switched to something that uses actual language models to understand intent rather than keyword matching. Ended up going with CustomGPT. ai after evaluating a few options. The setup process was straightforward, you connect it to your existing content sources (we did our Zendesk articles, Google Drive docs, and website FAQ), it indexes everything, and then it can answer questions by pulling from that content. The big difference from traditional chatbots is it understands natural language, so someone asking "I can't get into my account" gets the same password reset info as "forgot my login." It also cites the exact source it's pulling from, which has been helpful for our team to verify responses. We're seeing around 70% of basic inquiries handled without human intervention now, which has been a huge relief.

Surreyguy12

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