Riverside.fm Keyboard Shortcuts
Riverside.fm's core technical differentiator — recording each participant locally in high quality and uploading afterward, rather than capturing a live call's compressed stream the way Zoom or StreamYard do — doesn't primarily show up as a shortcut difference, but it does shape which controls matter most during a session. Because local recording continues even through network hiccups (with automatic re-sync afterward), the emphasis during an actual recording session is less on troubleshooting connection issues and more on managing the recording state itself and, once recording, on Riverside's built-in producer controls for the host. Riverside also bundles post-production tools (an AI-powered editor with transcript-based editing similar in spirit to Descript) directly into the same platform, so some of its more useful shortcuts exist specifically in that post-recording editing phase rather than during the live session, reflecting how Riverside spans both the capture and post-production halves of a podcast/video production pipeline in one tool. Magic Clips, an AI-powered feature that automatically identifies compelling short segments from a longer recording for social media repurposing, extends Riverside beyond raw recording and manual editing into automated content-derivative generation, a capability increasingly common across podcast production tools as short-form social clips have become a standard distribution channel alongside full episodes. Because each participant's media uploads independently once recorded, Riverside's studio dashboard shows per-participant upload progress separately, which matters for understanding why a session might not be immediately ready for editing right after everyone leaves the call.
Recording Session
| Action | Windows | Mac | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start recording | Record button (host control, no dedicated key) | — | Starts local recording for all connected participants simultaneously, with each participant's media captured directly on their own device at full quality before later upload, rather than relying on the live call's compressed stream. |
| Mute/unmute your microphone | M (varies, or click mic icon) | — | Toggles your own microphone during the session, a broadly shared convention across most video conferencing and recording tools. |
| Toggle your camera | V (varies, or click camera icon) | — | Switches your own outgoing camera feed on or off without affecting your microphone or leaving the recording session. |
| Check per-participant upload progress | Studio dashboard > Upload status | — | Breaks down upload status per participant once the call ends, since each person's locally recorded track uploads on its own timeline — worth a glance before assuming the session is fully synced and ready to hand off to editing. |
| Add a branded overlay to the recording | Studio settings > Layout & Branding | — | Applies a branded visual overlay to the recording layout, such as a lower-third name banner, configured before or during a session rather than added in post-production editing. |
Producer Controls
| Action | Windows | Mac | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mute a guest (host control) | Click guest tile > Mute (no dedicated key) | — | Lets the host mute a specific guest's microphone remotely, part of Riverside's producer-style controls for managing a multi-guest recording session. |
| Remove a guest from the session | Click guest tile > Remove (no dedicated key) | — | Disconnects a guest from the active recording session, a host-level control relevant for managing larger multi-guest podcast or interview recordings. |
| Invite a new guest mid-session | Studio dashboard > Invite | — | Generates a shareable join link for adding another participant to an already-running session, letting a host bring in a late guest or a surprise interview subject without needing to restart or reschedule the recording. |
| Change the recording layout mid-session | Studio controls > Layout | — | Switches between different on-screen arrangements of participant video tiles during a live session, such as moving from an even grid to a single-speaker spotlight view, applied live without interrupting the ongoing local recording. |
Post Editing
| Action | Windows | Mac | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Edit recording via transcript (post-production) | Select transcript text + Delete/Backspace | — | In Riverside's post-production editor, deleting selected transcript text removes the corresponding audio/video segment, a transcript-driven editing model similar in concept to Descript's core editing approach. |
| Export edited recording | Export button (no dedicated key) | — | Exports the finished edited recording in the selected format and quality, completing the pipeline from local high-quality capture through transcript-based editing to a final deliverable file. |
| Generate Magic Clips from a recording | Recording menu > Magic Clips | — | Scans a finished recording for the moments most likely to work as standalone social clips and cuts them out automatically, sparing you the manual scrubbing-and-trimming pass that generating short-form content usually requires. |
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does Riverside.fm record locally instead of just capturing the live video call like Zoom?
Recording locally on each participant's own device captures uncompressed, full-quality audio and video that doesn't degrade due to internet connection issues during the call, then uploads that high-quality file afterward — genuinely different from capturing the live call's stream, which is inherently limited by whatever bandwidth and compression the call itself uses in real time, and can suffer visible or audible quality drops during connection hiccups.
What happens to a recording if a guest's internet disconnects mid-session?
Because recording happens locally on the guest's own device rather than depending on a continuous live stream, a temporary disconnection doesn't necessarily lose recorded content — Riverside is designed to continue recording locally through connection interruptions and reconcile/upload the full file once connectivity is restored, which is a meaningful reliability advantage over live-streamed recording approaches.
Is Riverside's transcript-based editor as capable as a dedicated tool like Descript?
Both use a broadly similar transcript-driven editing concept, and Riverside's built-in editor covers core needs like removing filler words and restructuring segments by editing text; a dedicated standalone tool like Descript may offer deeper additional features (like Overdub voice correction) depending on current product capabilities, so the right choice depends on whether an all-in-one recording-plus-editing platform or a specialized editing tool better fits a given workflow.
Can Riverside automatically create short clips for social media from a longer episode?
Yes — Magic Clips scans a full recording and flags the segments most likely to work as standalone social posts, cutting out the manual scrubbing that generating short-form content usually takes. It's become table stakes across podcast production tools generally, and Riverside's version applies it directly to your raw session footage.
Why isn't my recording immediately available for editing right after the call ends?
Because each participant's media is captured locally on their own device and uploads independently afterward, a session's full recording may not be immediately ready if a participant's upload is still in progress, which the studio dashboard's per-participant upload status shows separately rather than as one combined indicator.
Can I add branding like a name banner without doing it in post-production?
Yes, layout and branding overlays can be configured through the studio settings before or during a session, applying automatically to the recording layout rather than requiring a separate manual step added afterward in post-production editing.
Can guests join a Riverside session without creating an account?
Yes, guests typically join via a shared link without needing to create their own Riverside account, lowering the friction for one-off interview guests compared to tools requiring every participant to sign up first.
Can I add a guest to a session that's already recording, or do I need to restart?
A host can generate a fresh invite link from the studio dashboard and bring a new participant into an already-running session without stopping or restarting the recording, which is useful for a surprise guest or someone joining slightly late without disrupting everyone already recording.