What are the best podcast editing techniques for social media impact?

In addition to editing the material for sound quality , it is also helpful to have a rough script to help eliminate tangents and meandering narration.

I suggest removing around 90% of filler words for audio podcasts. You want the audio to sound human, and not like a robot or AI talking. In music production, there is a "humanize" for MIDI tracks that are played perfectly in time by a programmable synth sound. We want to have a similar "human" effect in the recording. This involves several things, like variable length for pauses, some (very few) filler words, some hesitations, etc. However, any really disrupting imperfections, like lips smacking or loud sounds (eg snorting) should be either completely taken out or being make much less prevalent by minimizing their volume an loudness.

To trim the fat of my rather lengthy file of 4 hours I first take it off Soundforge after recording it off the air. Bring it home open it on my laptop and work using Audacity to clean up the entire file takes about two hours

Podcasts are meant to be listened to for LONG, continuous periods. According to 2 studies, the average audio podcast length is 30-42 minutes. This necessitates a very specific kind of audio editing and enhancements that minimize all things in the audio that might annoy the listener and make him tune out. People will happily listen to 2' of a badly edited recording but will start quitting after 5' of bad sound, even if they do not consciously realize that is why they are leaving. If you want to keep them around for 30+ minutes, then meticulous preparation is necessary. This goes even more for solo episodes, where only one person is talking.

This is an incredibly important aspect of the podcast experience, but be wary of the easy to use consumer-grade processing apps. These apps will make adjustments based on an algorithm, not based on what the human ear actually hears. For example, out-of-the-box noise reduction will often reduce noise while adding compression, unnecessary EQ'ing, and leave other unwanted artifacts that can sound more distracting than the original noise itself. If you're not in a position to use a professional audio editor/engineer, look for tools that allow you to adjust the parameters of the effect you are using.

I use the same music with some talk intro for each episode and conclude with just music same every time and it's been working pretty well

Intros can in all kinds of shapes and use cases! 1) You can have a generic intro, meaning the same intro for each episode. 2) You can skip the talk altogether and just have a short intro music that fades in the actual podcast episode 3) You can have a quick spoken custom intro. Usually, this is the case for interview podcasts and is used as an intro to both the actual guest and the subject matter to be discussed. Finally, don't fret about this too much. Podcasting is a fairly forgiving medium on this part since you can go back in and add/change intros and outros at any point!

Your intro sets the tone of your podcast, so be sure to be intentional in building it. Be mindful that any music you select carries the mood, feel, and brand of your podcast, If using music in your intro, listen carefully for the appropriate tempo, key, instrumentation, and key that will carry the listener to the emotional place you want them to be when they start your episodes. The same is true for outros.

Make sure you audition several sound effects before you choose one for your transitions. This is something that will appear several times throughout the podcast and will be part of its branding and identity. On the other hand, don't let perfectionism throw you off course. You can start without a transition for your first few episodes and gradually add them to later episodes!

Make sure that transitions help to carry the listener on the journey you are taking them on. Transitions might allow for a mood change, a topic change, a "beat" to ponder a heavy thought or ponder a profound moment, or even to move a listener from one segment to another. Bottom line, transitions should be done with intention and purpose, not simply to add fluff.

After producing over 2000 episodes, we have found that using short video reels is the ideal way to get new listeners to your podcast. According to the latest (2023) analytics, these reels should: 1) be between 30''-60'' 2) have flashy animated subtitles and even emojis 3) should not have an intro or outro, and just get straight to the point, the value nugget of the video. There are quite a few more things that will help these stand out even more, but these 3 are way more than enough to get you started!

Create "Pull Quotes" from each episode. These quotes can be added to images and then shared with links, keywords, tags, hashtags across your social channels, as well as in email, newsletters, and other promotional assets.

Being a composer, podcaster, and someone who hosted a weekly radio show for three years , I agree with the consistency of music at the beginning and the end. It sets the mood and an expectations and gets the audience excited for what is to come. If I didn't play my regular tunes at the beginning and end of my show or changed my theme song, people weren't always sure it was going to be me on air.