Being a Podcast Editor is not as easy as you think

Listening to podcasts is relaxing, educational, insightful, and sometimes makes you feel that you are involved in the discussion. Have you ever wondered about the people behind improving the sound quality of the podcasts?

Podcast editors are hardworking people. They should be recognized and appreciated. One of the myths that they debunk is that podcast editing is not essential since the audience will not be able to notice if it's edited nor there is a change. But the most common myth is, podcast editing is easy.

So, what podcast editors actually do? Here are the lists of their skills and tasks:

They edit almost an hour of podcasts.

Most of today's podcasts that you usually hear on streaming applications last about 30-50 minutes and there are even podcasts that last an hour. So, it's no joke to edit that long duration of an audio file. Editing podcasts can take hours or even days to finish.

Editors require patience

There is a saying that patience is key to success. Since they edit a long duration of audio clips, they will have a tendency to replay the podcast multiple times before they will send it to their clients or post it to a streaming app.

It's gonna be a long road of editing if the raw audio file has noises, long pauses, uhms, and hmms. Podcast editors need to cut it off and improve voice quality.

Most editing software needs monthly subscriptions

In today’s world, most software has “pro subscriptions” per month. It is rare to have full free editing software - like Audacity & GarageBand. Podcast editors mostly invest in the software with pro subscriptions to hone their skills and to fulfill what the client and audience want, which is the sound quality.

The most known editing software that they use is the Adobe Audition. This tool is developed by Adobe for Windows and Mac. Adobe can give you a 7-day free trial of the software and it costs $20.99/month to avail the full version. This is a good investment for podcast editors especially if they want to improve their editing gears.

But, if you want to save money, there is Audacity. Audacity is a free-cross platform audio software. You can use the software in various ways like recording your audio, mixing sounds together, adding sound effects, changing pitch, and more.

Podcast editors are creative

Editing a podcast is not just cutting or removing unnecessary pauses and noises, but also adding sound effects. A podcast editor named, Mike Russel, shared his podcast editing experience. He mentioned that he sometimes adds the “calling” sound effect and makes the other person sound like he/she is actually talking on the phone. Amazing, right?

Editors also need to be communicable

Being a podcast editor does not necessarily mean that there is no talking involve. The job also requires to have good communication with their clients, especially if the podcast editor is a freelancer. They need to know what are the things that they need to remove, add, or mix.

In conclusion, there is no easy job and no man wants to call their job easy because every work that we do requires hard work. And being a podcast editor, again, is not as easy as what you think.