How a 25 minute interview was professionally edited into 3.5 minutes of audio for a national podcast

We all need to learn how to edit that well

This article is about some pithy findings I have taught and tried to implement. They were recently pounded home with wild abandon by my experience as the subject of Hidden Brain Media's My Unsung Hero podcast from December 2023.

1 Ask great questions, then sit back and listen

The conversation with the producer conversation lasted 24 minutes.? She asked open ended questions less than 20% of that time and let me speak 80% of the time (coaching along the way) to ensure she had enough coverage for the story from which to choose.

2 Edit like you get paid more for fewer words

The podcast that aired was 401 seconds.? Of that:

• The host Shankar Vedantam used 27% (109s) of that time to frame the story.
• The producer used 58% (232s) of that time for clips from the original interview.
• Intro and outro were 15% (60s) of the running time.
• Music was used in the story only for a few seconds. The producer allowed the words to be the music.
• The original interview with the producer was ~25 minutes (1,484 seconds)
• Yes, I know, these numbers should be an infographic. But I wrote this when I was flu-ish over holiday break and didn't draw one. Hopefully you can see the waveform image well on your screen.

3 Prepare the interviewee technically

The producer sent me instructions on how to record on a phone. (I used a studio, not a phone, btw.)

• I sent her test audio before the interview – and again before the interview at the start of our Zoom call.
• I happen to have access to a studio with pro mic and Audition.
• I drank a lot of hot tea before the interview.

For those who like sausage making:? I connected with the producer live on my mobile phone on Zoom for the conversation cues.? Simultaneously, I recorded my answers (and her questions got picked up from my phone on the studio mic) locally in my studio. I shared the uncompressed WAV files on Google Drive with her before we ended the Zoom call.

4 Prepare the interviewee emotionally (or prepare yourself if this is a self record)

• Make sure to speak conversationally with the interviewer (or if you are self-recording, like you are having a conversation with an unknown audience).
• Make sure the interviewee knows (if not live) that they can screw up and start over.
• Make sure you are really, and truly interested in what they have to say and that the interviewee knows that. Empathy FTW.
• Keep it real, as the kids used to say.
• Smile and laugh and react.
• Don't sound like you are reading. Unless you are. But then let the audience know that.

5 Don’t tell everything, to everyone, all the time (#2 stated in more ways...)

Just because you don’t tell the complete story doesn’t mean you don’t tell an effective story. Sometimes having fewer beats makes for a more memorable, more powerful story.

Cut cut cut cut cut (and cut)!

At the end of the day, what do you want your audience to walk away with?? Do you want them to click “stop” before listening to your entire, “complete” story?? Or, do you want them to recall and share a crisp, accurate, and powerful story even if it isn't technically "complete"? (Don’t get me wrong, sometimes you need all the detail! But that’s not always the case.)

We need to coach technical people and business leaders who don’t know how to, how to best present and tell stories that meet their specific business goals at that point in time.? It's the who are you speaking with, where are they in the sales cycle, NOW what do you tell them model.

In my case, I had a lot of background information that fleshed out the story Shankar ended up narrating – but many details were unnecessary to the final 6 minute version of the story. ?They were cut!

There were technical details that were very interesting but didn’t move the narrative forward.? They were cut!

The producer asked some questions that were “deep background”, “warm up”, or ended up not working as well as she planned.? They were cut!

But wait, there's more!

I am sure I learned or had driven home many more lessons. But this was written recovering from the flu over my holiday week!

PM me if you have thoughts, or leave comments.

Thanks - Gary

Thanks to the leadership, hints, or unknown (by them) coaching of:

Ashley Hamer Pritchard Abdul Rastagar Dan Slepian Arthur Jones Dallas Taylor Zach H. Matt Wasowski Teresa de Onís Matt Wasowski Priya Doty Steve Johnson Bryan Grover Robert Davis Jeremy Shere, PhD Lisa Sharapata?? Sangram Vajre Judd Borakove Justin Dunham and many others