Hi Folks, I found this on Reddit and I had to share - It’s the workflow of a professional podcast editor. Enjoy
r/podcasting•13 hr. ago
100 Episodes Later: A No-Nonsense Guide to Podcast Editing
A year ago, I quit my job and dove into freelance podcast editing. Recently, I hit a milestone of 100 episodes edited. This journey has taught me a lot, and I’ve developed some internal heuristics and frameworks that might be helpful to others.
I remember feeling overwhelmed when I started, experiencing imposter syndrome. But trust me, it gets easier. While I’m not claiming to be an expert, I hope sharing my experience will help fellow podcasters, whether you’re just starting out or looking to refine your skills.
The Five Stages of Podcast Editing
Through my experience, I’ve identified five key stages of podcast editing:
- Initial Content Optimization
- Content Condensation
- Narrative Flow Optimization
- Audio Quality Enhancement
- Final Polish and Enhancement
Each stage builds on the last, helping create a polished final product that respects listeners’ time. The good news? Stages 1 to 3 are quite accessible, even for beginners. You can pick up these skills from day one. Stages 4 and 5 require more technical know-how, but we’ll get to that.
Let’s dive deeper into each stage.
Stage 1: Initial Content Optimization
Our goal in this stage is to create a cleaner, more streamlined version of the raw recording. We’re aiming to remove the obvious distractions that can pull listeners out of the content, making the podcast more engaging from the start.
This stage involves removing unnecessary content to streamline your podcast. Even the most articulate speakers use many filler words or leave awkward pauses. This initial refinement can reduce episode length by 10-20%, making your content more engaging and focused.
Focus on:
- Removing filler words (um, uh, like, you know)
- Cutting out long pauses or dead air
- Eliminating false starts or repeated phrases
Tools: Many recording platforms offer automated options. Riverside, for example, can remove filler words and silence directly during its export. Of course, transcription based editing tools like Descript offers that too. And in my experience, they work pretty well for this and is close to 100% automated. And then there are specialized tools specifically for this.
Time investment: With the right tools, this stage typically takes ~15 minutes.
Stage 2: Content Condensation
In this stage, our primary objective is to make the content as dense and valuable as possible, respecting our listeners’ time. Remember, if you can trim down one minute and you have a hundred listeners, you’re saving 100 minutes of collective time!
We focus on making the content as compact as possible, without rearranging the timeline. This stage is about cutting anything that doesn’t add direct value to the listener.
Key tasks:
- Remove repeated questions or discussions
- Trim redundant explanations
- Cut tangential conversations that don’t add value
Tools: Transcription-based editing tools are incredibly helpful here. And they are super easy to use. If you are beginner start with these, you don’t need fancy adobe premier pro or anything like that. Editing tools landscape has changed and its much easier to edit now and beginner friendly for folks like us.
Time investment: Expect to spend 1-2 hours, depending on your podcast length.
Stage 3: Narrative Flow Optimization
The goal of this stage is to enhance the overall structure and flow of your podcast, making it more coherent and engaging for the listener. We’re now thinking about the podcast as a complete story, ensuring that information is presented in the most logical and compelling order. You will come up with your own narrative style as you start doing stuff and then you will learn how to reshuffle things around.
This stage involves enhancing the overall structure and flow of your podcast by rearranging content.
Key tasks:
- Reorder segments for better logical flow
- Move context-setting information earlier if needed (especially information dense or sciency podcasts)
- Enhance transitions between topics
Tools: Continue using transcription-based editing tools, but this stage requires more brain power and manual judgement to decide how to make this a good story.
Time investment: This could take 3-4 hours, depending on the complexity/length of your content.
Stage 4: Audio Quality Enhancement
In this stage, we’re focusing on the technical aspects of the audio to ensure a professional and pleasant listening experience. Our goal is to make the podcast sound as good as possible, removing any distractions caused by poor audio quality.
Here, we focus on improving the technical aspects of your audio.
Key tasks:
- Always Normalize audio levels across all speakers and segments and tracks (I learned this the hard way, always do it)!
- Apply equalization (EQ) to enhance voice clarity
- Remove background noise and unwanted sounds
Tools: Professional DAWs like Adobe Audition or Reaper excel here. Audacity is a good free alternative. But nowadays many of the “editors” themselves has such tools built in. Examples : AI Studio sound in Riverside/Descript/Squadcast and all its variants. This is increasing becoming accessible for novices too. But still you need to know what you are doing here.
Time investment: This stage can take 1-2 hours, depending on your raw audio quality. But if you setup a pipeline should take 15 mins or so.
Stage 5: Final Polish and Enhancement
The final stage is all about adding those professional touches that elevate your podcast from good to great. Our goal here is to create a polished, professional product that stands out in a crowded podcast landscape.
This stage involves adding professional touches that elevate your podcast.
Key tasks:
- Add intro and outro music
- Insert sound effects or transition elements
- Create episode teasers or highlights
- Final review for any missed edits
Tools: This stage often combines various software tools, including your main DAW and music libraries and all the video editing tools.
Time investment: This typically takes 1-2 hours but can vary based on your production complexity.
Key Takeaways
- Start with automated tools for basic editing, but don’t rely on them entirely.
- Prioritize content quality and narrative flow in early stages.
- Invest in good recording practices to minimize work in post-production.
- Balance thorough editing with maintaining natural conversation flow.
- Continuously refine your process based on listener feedback and your evolving skills.
Closing Thoughts
Editing 100 podcast episodes has taught me that there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. The level of editing you choose will depend on your content, your audience, and your goals. However, I’ve found that investing time in editing consistently leads to higher engagement and listener satisfaction.
Remember, you’ll learn more by actually editing three or four episodes than by reading about editing techniques. I strongly recommend just diving in and learning by doing. Stages 1-3 are quite accessible – pick any transcription-based editing tool and start experimenting. You’ll quickly develop your own workflow and heuristics.
While editing can be time-consuming, it’s often worth the effort, especially for podcasts aiming to deliver high-quality, informative content. However, the extent of editing needed can vary greatly depending on your podcast genre and target audience. I have noticed sometimes the results (subscriber growth/views) are directly correlated with how much effort you put into editing. And sometimes not. You will get an intuition of when and where to put in the effort as you start editing and actually doing stuff for your own videos.
What’s your experience with podcast editing? Have you found any tools or techniques particularly helpful? How do you balance the desire for perfection with the need to actually publish your episodes (this is something that that I sometimes struggle with)?