How We Record, Edit, and Host Our Courses

Episode Summary

Executive Summary: Wes and Scott detail their end-to-end workflow for producing web development courses: recording setup, editing strategy, hosting choices, and common production decisions. They emphasize clean audio/video capture, efficient post-production, and pragmatic tradeoffs like avoiding over-specific tech that limits beginners. The episode also covers their constantly evolving gear, platforms, and a few personal updates and recommendations.

Main Topics: Recording Software and Screen Capture Workflow: They compare tools for screencasting, with Wes using Screenflow and Scott using Screen Flick after issues with iShowU HD. They discuss why capturing metadata, multiple screens, and clean screen compositions matter for tutorials. Recording Layout and Visual Clarity: Both explain how they structure their screen real estate to keep code readable and avoid outdated UI clutter. This includes recording only part of a 4K screen, hiding menu bars, enlarging fonts, and using custom window layouts. Audio Hardware and Sound Quality: They walk through their microphone chains and emphasize that clean audio is critical. Wes uses a Heil PR40 with a DBX processor and Focusrite interface; Scott uses an Electro-Voice RE20 with a DBX processor and Focusrite interface. Editing Philosophy and Tools: Wes describes a minimalist, self-editing workflow in DaVinci Resolve, while Scott edits immediately after recording and sometimes scraps weak takes. Both prioritize speed, removing dead air and obvious mistakes without overproducing. Hosting, Captions, and Course Delivery: They discuss video hosting evolution from Wistia to Vimeo, caption workflows with Rev, download hosting with Backblaze and S3, and custom player features like speed controls and progress tracking. Design Choices for Teaching Beginners: They explain why they avoid showing keyboard shortcuts or using overly specialized stacks like TypeScript in general tutorials, arguing that broad accessibility and lower cognitive load improve learning outcomes. Personal Recommendations and Sponsor Mentions: The episode includes sponsor reads for LogRocket and FreshBooks, plus their sick picks: the Netflix show HyperDrive and a screwdriver set with interchangeable bits in the handle.

Key Arguments: Good tutorials depend on clean, readable recording setups rather than trying to capture everything on screen. High-quality audio should be captured correctly at the source to avoid expensive or time-consuming fixes later. Editing should be kept as simple and fast as possible so creators can make more content consistently. Using broad, beginner-friendly tooling and examples prevents alienating part of the audience. Hosting and delivery platforms should balance cost, bandwidth, playback features, captions, and offline downloads. Course creators should accept that their workflow will evolve over time and optimize for practical output, not perfection.

Data Points: Screen recording resolution: 2x / 4K input, exported as 2160p - Wes records on a 4K monitor and exports at 4K before Vimeo downsamples to 1080p; Scott also records at 2x for 4K output. Vimeo business cost: $200–$400 per year - Wes cites Vimeo business hosting as a few hundred dollars annually, depending on plan. Earlier bandwidth bill: Over $1,000 per month - Scott notes Amazon S3 download hosting once exceeded $1,000/month before moving more traffic to Backblaze B2. Backblaze download storage cost: Under $100 per month - Scott says Backblaze B2 is substantially cheaper for course downloads than S3. Video completion threshold: 93% - Scott marks a video as completed when the playback progress exceeds roughly 93%. Course length per release: About 20+ videos - Wes says he releases a new series every month with around twenty-some videos. Typical video length: 5 to 20 minutes - Scott says his tutorial videos usually fall in this range. Zoomed video intros: Less than one Instagram video minute - Wes says he can create one of his animated video intros in under a minute of video time. Old course royalty share: 5% - Wes describes a past publisher arrangement where he received only 5% of royalties.

Pivotal Quotes: "I think between Scott and I, we're both like: we want this recording to be as good as possible right out of the gate because we don't want to have to spend any time fussing with it after the fact." — Wes Boss: Explaining their shared philosophy on capturing clean audio and video up front. "The more prepared I am up front with everything, the less I'm going to have to do post or even a video editor or any of that stuff." — Scott Tolinski: Describing why he prioritizes preparation to minimize editing and post-production work. "The reason I don't show keyboard key presses in my editor is because they're different on everyone's computer." — Wes Boss: Answering why he avoids displaying keyboard shortcuts in most tutorials.

Implications: For course creators, the episode shows that durable production quality comes from repeatable systems, not fancy editing. The biggest wins are clean capture, simple post-production, and accessible teaching choices that keep lessons usable for a broad audience.