Timesaving Editing Tips

Timesaving Editing Tips

Timesaving Editing Tips

They say time is free, but it’s priceless. We all know time is money. The point is time is valuable for everyone and Podcasters are no different. Let’s review how Podcasters can save time with some simple podcast editing tips.

Better Planning

One of the best tips for editing is to plan better, so that you have less to edit. Make sure you’re recording in a quiet room with no interruptions. There’s nothing worse then having your dog or partner barge into the room forcing you stop and re-start the recording. Also, make sure all smart phones are on silent so they don’t ring during recording.

You’ll also want to make sure you’re recording at the proper level. If your signal is peaking or clipping, it’s going to cause you a ton of problems while editing. If you’re signal is too quiet you’re going to have to spend time boosting the signal in post production. Boosting in post can cause the noise floor to rise which can create a buildup of white noise in your tracks.

The sooner you get comfortable recording the better. Once you find a good sound with proper levels, I recommend taking a picture of the settings on your recording device and always make sure the dials or buttons are the same every time you record. This will save you hours of editing in the long run.

Edit Less

This podcast editing tip is so simple its easy to misunderstand, so let’s say it together, edit less. Many Podcasters spend too much time meticulously editing out every little mistake, in the quest for the perfect podcast. For one, perfect is boring and unnatural and for two, over-editing can squeeze the pleasure out of the podcast process.

Don’t over edit. Don’t take out every awkward pause, every slurred pronunciation, don’t take out every um. This will save you time on editing and it will make your podcast more human and maybe even add a little humor. Don’t take yourself so serious and learn to laugh at your mistakes. People will love this, and it will make your podcast more enjoyable to the listener.

Improve Transitions

Most podcast editing time is spent on fixing the transitions, so by improving the way you transition is another great tip that will save you time. However, to save that time on the back end, your going to have to invest time on the front. You will need to spend some time working on your transitioning skills, i.e introducing yourself or guests, asking and answering questions, pausing for an ad, opening and closing the show etc…

Developing solid transitioning skills will help you become a better Podcaster as well as help you save time editing. Do some research on podcast transitioning and spend some time practicing. Like with other things, practice and exercise will help you develop great transition skills.

Mark Edit Points

One classic podcast editing tip is to mark your edit points while recording. Most DAWs will allow you to do this on the fly and even the ZoomH6 Recorder has a function for markers. If you’re old school, keep a pad of paper near by and note the time of the recording where errors were made, so that you can go back and fix them.

Keep in mind what was said above and don’t try to edit every mistake. Listen to it first and see how it sounds. A lot of times you might think it sounded bad in the moment but when you go back and listen it’s fine. Also when you do make an error, try another take in that moment while the recording is still running. There’s nothing worse then having to start and stop. Get comfortable with taking a pause and then go right back to what you were saying.

Editing Best Practices

The use of good editing tools is essential. I could go on and on about what plug-ins to use but that would take days. I’m going to mention two very easy but essential tips that will improve the quality of your audio quickly and effectively. The first edit you should be doing in post production is normalizing the audio. This will smooth out the peaks and valleys and get your audio to an overall average level. Select all your audio and find the normalize plug-in in your DAW (they all have them). I’ve found an RMS setting of between 5-6 will produce solid results.

Make sure every edit has a fade, all DAW’s have a quick key for this. I like to put my fades in on the fly but you can always use the “select all” function at the end and batch fade every edit point on the entire podcast. Buy giving every edit point a fade of a few milliseconds, the sound between clips will be smooth and uniform across the whole show. You don’t want dead air in between words or phrases to be audible This will fix that so every transition is smooth.

Outsourcing Editing

If you don’t want to deal with editing at all you can outsource your editing to a Podcast Production Company. This can be a good route for people who just want to focus on content and have someone else take care of the technical side and back end of the show. Most Podcast Editing companies charge per episode or a monthly fee for 4 episodes a month. Most of these companies provide show note services and can also upload your show each week to your media host. You can get a schedule going with these companies and set up a weekly dropbox or google drive folder to share files. If you’re interested in working with The Podcast Haven for your editing needs, feel free to email us

. We do a free trial episode for new clients, no strings attached.