Riverside Session Readiness Check

Hello! Your studio is set up for video and audio, with settings chosen to preserve useful raw material for an editor. Before connecting the shared microphone and phone camera, check the system that will run the session. A good studio setting cannot rescue a recording if the computer sleeps, the browser cannot access a device, or an upload is interrupted.

This lesson is a pre-session readiness check for the Windows computer: its capacity, browser permissions, internet connection, power, and storage. Allow about 40 minutes, including time to inspect your own setup. You do not need to start a full podcast recording today.

Understand what the computer must sustain

Riverside can record a participant’s audio and video locally, then upload that material. This helps preserve recording quality when the live call briefly looks or sounds poor. It does not make the internet optional: a remote guest still needs a usable live connection, and the original files still need to finish uploading.

Watch the explanation in Riverside.fm Tutorial for Beginners by TheFigCo. Treat its claim that network instability cannot affect the final recording as an explanation of local capture, not a guarantee against every connection or upload failure.

For your setup, the Windows computer will handle the room’s Riverside session. If a remote guest joins, their own device must also remain available until their upload completes. You can check your computer now; you will give the guest their own preparation instructions later in the course.

Verify Windows and leave capacity for recording

Start with the computer you will actually use, not a different machine used to plan the podcast. In Windows Settings → System → About, check the Windows version and installed RAM. Run available Windows and browser updates well before the session, allowing time for a restart and another check afterward. Avoid beginning a long update just before people arrive.

The guest-oriented Podcast Guest Connection Guide from Content Monsta gives a useful route to Windows memory and storage information. Its Windows 10 and 10 GB storage references are examples from that guide, not assurances that those figures are sufficient for your planned recording.

8 GB RAM is a basic planning floor for video; more headroom is preferable. Memory alone does not certify the computer. Before recording, close unnecessary tabs and applications, especially another video call, a file-sync job, or video rendering. In Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc), look for a computer already struggling with sustained heavy CPU or memory use while little else is open. If that is happening, resolve it before relying on the machine for a long session.

Separate permission from device selection

A browser permission answers “May Riverside access a microphone or camera?” Device selection answers “Which microphone or camera will Riverside use?” Granting access does not prove that the external microphone has been selected. You will make and test those source choices in the next lesson.

Use a current Chrome or Edge browser in a normal window, and sign in to your Riverside studio. When the browser asks whether Riverside may use a device, allow the microphone needed for the room setup. Allow camera access on the device that will provide the group shot. If the phone joins Riverside separately to provide video, granting camera access on the Windows computer does not, by itself, connect that phone camera.

If a permission was denied, open the controls beside the Riverside address in the browser’s address bar—often a site-controls icon—find Camera and Microphone, change the relevant permission to Allow, and reload the studio. Browser labels vary by version. This screenshot shows the site permission controls; its switches do not identify which physical devices Riverside has selected.

The short Chrome tutorial below shows another route when the address-bar controls are hard to find. Its example site is not Riverside, so apply the site-specific steps to Riverside’s entry rather than granting every website permanent access.

If the browser says access is allowed but a device remains unavailable, check Windows too. In Windows 11, look under Settings → Privacy & security → Microphone and Camera. In Windows 10, look under Settings → Privacy → Microphone and Camera. Make sure access is enabled for the device you intend to use and, where shown, for desktop apps such as your browser. Reopen the browser if a permission change does not take effect. Do not enable a second audio source merely to make a permission warning disappear.

Test the connection you will use on recording day

Test from the room and network where the session will happen. An internet speed test can show upload and download speeds; upload matters particularly because recorded files must reach Riverside. Run more than one test if the connection varies. A single good result at a quiet time does not establish that a busy network will remain stable.

In How to Not Mess Up Your Recording in Riverside, the School of Podcasting suggests 10 Mbps upload as a minimum planning figure and 25 Mbps or more as a preferable target. These are the author’s practical recommendations, not a promise that a particular speed guarantees success.

If practical, use Ethernet for the Windows computer. If you must use Wi-Fi, test at the planned recording position and limit competing uploads on that network. If a remote guest is expected, a short connection test with them is more informative than a speed number alone: confirm that conversation is intelligible and that both sides can remain connected. A weak result calls for troubleshooting or a backup connection before the interview, not an assumption that local recording makes it irrelevant.

Protect power and storage for the entire session

Plug the Windows computer into reliable power before joining. Check that it is actually charging, not merely connected to a loose adapter. In Settings → System → Power & battery (or Power & sleep, depending on Windows), inspect sleep behavior while plugged in. The computer must stay awake during both recording and subsequent uploads. A screen going dark is not necessarily a problem; the computer going to sleep is. Keep the phone camera charged or externally powered as well, and check that any powered microphone or hub will remain powered. Avoid changing Windows update or security controls unnecessarily; schedule updates outside the session instead.

Next check Settings → System → Storage and identify free space on the computer’s system drive. Riverside’s local capture can require working space on the recording device. Free space on an unrelated external drive does not necessarily mean the browser has enough room on its own drive. Likewise, clearing browser site data to “make space” is a poor response if recordings may still be waiting to upload.

The School of Podcasting article supplies rough file-size estimates and recommends keeping substantial spare space. Use them to plan a buffer, not as exact predictions for your equipment.

For a 1080p room video, the article estimates roughly 2–4 GB per hour for a video track, with audio and other working space in addition. Your three in-room speakers sharing one room source do not automatically create three separate room video tracks. A remote guest records on their own device; their local storage needs a separate check. For a planned session, 20 GB free is a more cautious starting point than 10 GB, and 50 GB or more provides a more comfortable buffer, especially for a long recording or uncertain file sizes. These are planning margins, not Riverside-certified thresholds. If Windows already warns that the drive is nearly full, free space and recheck it before recording.

Make a readiness decision

Before moving to device configuration, you should be able to confirm all five conditions:

Riverside’s entry screen may then offer tests for the camera, speaker, and microphone. Seeing those controls is a useful checkpoint, but passing this infrastructure check is not yet proof that the right sources are selected.

The key distinction is readiness versus capture. Today you established that the computer, browser, connection, power, and storage can support a session. Next, you will configure the intended external microphone and phone camera, then check that the room is contributing one audio source—not two competing microphones.