The Absolute Beginners Guide to Podcasting: Editing

Welcome to the 4th part of our series on podcasting for beginners. Here are all 5 parts of the series:

• Part 1: Preparation
• Part 2: Equipment
• Part 3: Production
• Part 4: Editing (you’re reading it now)
• Part 5: Publishing

Editing your audio is another necessary component to creating a podcast. The two main things you need to consider are what information should you keep/omit and how do you make that information sound as good as possible. If you don’t feel comfortable with editing your own podcast, many companies and services exist that can help with the process (like ours for example, Come Alive Creative). However, if you want to edit your own show, you’ll want to understand a few elements.

Software

Quality editing software is necessary and like everything else, many options exist. It’s important to talk with others and find out what works best for your needs, but these three pieces of software are good starting points.

• Entry Level: Audacity
. Even though Audacity is free, it’s an excellent editing choice and great for anyone starting a podcast.
• Standard: Adobe Audition. 
Audition is an all-around solid choice for editing your podcast. It has all the features you could need, a manageable learning curve, and a decent price point. This is a great option for a beginner to seasoned podcaster.
• Elite Choice: Avid Pro Tools. 
Pro Tools is the professional industry standard and would be overkill for most podcasters. However, if you have professional music experience or just need to have the “best of the best,” Pro Tools might be the solution for you.

Editing Tips

How you edit your podcast will depend on the style and sound you’re trying to achieve. That being said, you should consider a few principles:

• Understand a story is leaving details out. You are telling a lie of omission. In other words, it’s ok to edit out parts of what your interviewee said as long as you stay true to his or her intent.
• Find the human moments, the things the audience will connect with.
• Sometimes parts need to be edited out. If something isn’t good enough, remove it. It’s ok to “kill your darlings.”

Tagging your File

Before pushing anything to the web, make sure the file is properly tagged. People may download the MP3s directly and if your file isn’t properly named, you are missing out on opportunities.

Try using the ID3 Tag editor which is also free. It allows you to indicate the title, track, album, artist, cover art and more. Not only that, but also make sure the actual mp3 name is reflective of your podcast and is consistent. An example for our show would be “Show-title-episode-##.mp3”