We’re closing the curtain on 2021, readying to ring in the new year along with a host of improvements to Zencastr — but before we do, we wanted to take a quick look back at what happened this year:
Goodbye, 2021: You were loved 💕
While 2021 wasn’t the full return to normalcy like we all hoped, it was an all-around good year here at Zencastr. We added some stellar new features, updated our look, and started planning for a bright future!
1. New year, new look
Zencastr started off the year with a splash dropping a whole new look and feel to the brand, which included a shiny new logo.
We also started off our year on the right foot from a financial perspective, raising $4.6-million in our first-ever round of funding that we promptly put to work helping podcasters grow their shows and creativity.
2. Video!
Your show shouldn’t be limited to audio-only, so we launched video recording into open beta. Video allows podcasters to expand their reach (hello, YouTube!), connect on a more personal level with their audience, and help put friendly faces to vibrant voices.
With the open beta launch came several other useful features: a guest green room, a pause button, video mixing with our post-production tool, and recording mode options.
3. Smart Filters
Editing your show should be easier but most of us spend three times the length of the recording time to edit an episode
Smart Filters were introduced to save you editing time. There’s no reason you should have to sit there and painstakingly manually remove every long pause in your recording. With our Remove Long Pauses filter now you don’t have to.
Zencastr users who use our post-production tool can save hours of work editing with our fancy Smart Filters.
4. Video post-production layouts
Zencastr’s already loved using our post-production tool to enhance their audio quality, so we expanded access to video as well.
We didn’t stop short at just recording video — we introduced cropped and vertical video layouts. Then we took it one step further and brought you Active Speaker Detection — because why not?
5. Transcriptions
We ended the year on a stellar note, by rolling out transcriptions. Granted, it wasn’t the last thing we did (that award goes to our Active Speaker Detection) but it arguably made a much bigger splash.
Accessibility isn’t a buzzword, big companies like SiriusXM are being sued for not having transcripts readily available for those who need them. Luckily, Zencastrs don’t have to be that podcast. Transcripts are done for you, no extra work is required!
What do you want in 2022?
Do you have an idea or feature request you want to see in the new year? Let us know! We’ve got some big things coming! :)
