Podcast Editing: How To Edit The Perfect Podcast? Seven Tips!
Editing the perfect podcast can be a bit daunting for the technically challenged producers. Don’t worry, most successful podcasters started where you are today. With little to no knowledge about editing the podcast to make it sound professional. It doesn’t have to be daunting though, the software is just there to help you polish your content and make it presentable.
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To conquer the editing process, you just need to understand a few underlying princliples and techniques. Here are 7 tips that would make your podcast editing dilemmas fade away:
1. Get Organized
Organization right from the get go will make your editing life a dream. Here is what you should make a habit of doing:
Time stamp the audio you record. Just add the take number, episode number and/or time and date of the recording.
Start a file naming convention and stick to it. Everytime you save a project or an mp3 it should be named in the same convention e.g. date of creation_niche_episode number_topic or any other variation of this you prefer.
Archive everything properly. Have dedicated folders and sub-folders for your podcasts. Including related research, session notes, contributor’s materials, interviews, recorded effects, background music options etc.
Religiously back-up your files.
2. The Perfect Zoom Level
Find the most comfortable zoom level for you. There is no set limit for a zoom in or out, but without a zoom level you are comfortable with your editing will suffer.
3. Center All Tracks
Have you ever heard interviews where one person’s sound was coming in left and the other’s right? Annoying aren’t they? Not only does it sound amatuer, but it makes the listener feel disconnected. They don’t feel like they are a part of the conversation, in the same room.
How can you prevent that? Simply, use the pan tool provided in any good audio editing software (including the free Audacity and Garageband). Pan the audio coming primarily from the left to the right a little. Less than half the way. And vice versa.
4. Balancing Volume
Make sure different people, clips, effects, music clips etc sound at the same level. Nothing should be too jarringly loud or inaudibly low. Keep the audio within a set limit.
5. Use Compression, Equalization
Compression will help reduce the volume of your entire audio so that it sounds more even. Use any limit to begin with and adjust it after playing back the audio.
E.Q. or equalization is the process which decreases certain frequencies to even out the levels of the audio. When does right E.Q. will make your audio more clear and understandable.
6. Prevent Clipping
Using both E.Q and normalization (from the effects menu in your software) will help prevent clipping audio. If there are any unusual spikes in your audio that make the sound levels go red. Get rid of them through either using normalization, E.Q. or both. These will sound like distortions in the audio file if not removed.
7. Trust Your Ears
When editing your greatest tool are your ears. Your God-given natural ability to pick up distortions in sound. If you have trouble detecting the distortions in the audio – it’s probably time to take a break. You have been going at it too long and all you need is a fresh pair of ears after a well-deserved break.
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