The content editing phase is Step 4 of The Pod Paste Production Process. Please go back to the introductory overview here to familiarise yourself with the full process.
Alternatively, you can dive right into this part and figure it out as you go. We don’t mind either way as long as you get something out of this!
Imagine wearing your favourite shirt that is half a size too small or too big? You would still wear it, right?
Or taking a beautiful photo of you and your friends with lighting that’s not so great. You wouldn’t delete it, right?
This is similar in the post-production process after recording a podcast. Just because there are a few audible blips and slip-ups doesn’t mean you need to throw the baby away with the bathwater. There is a fix for that.
In this article, I’ll be touching broadly about content editing. We’ll cover points around what we at Pod Paste like to do, why we do them, and how they are applied. This is where some or even all of the following creative services are used to help enhance the episode flow and listenability;
- Thinking about the story structure and flow (from micro to macro-level)
- Editorial content editing
- Feedback sheets/templates
- Technical content editing
Think about the story structure and flow
Even conversations can have story-like arcs. A conversation doesn’t need to be a sonically epic and emotionally moving as a narrative podcast. That’s ambitious by even the most seasoned podcast standards.
Always have an objective of where you want to go. It’s best to do this in pre-production with your questions. (go back to part 1 & part 2 of this series). Obviously, the conversation has the ability to go left, right, up, down, backwards and forward, and that’s all okay. Remember your objective and where you want to go will help guide you during this phase.
Editorial content editing
This is more art and feeling than analytical science but leaning into what just feels right is my best advice for you.
Example – Only you know to keep in the rant about your cat. This is based on your audience, the guest, and your main objective around the episode, season, and series.
I do recommend cutting out more fat than you are comfortable with. This is subjective, but we’ve found having super tight episodes is key for a good listening experience. Tight as in not too much banter, not too many awkwardly answered questions, etc. If you can have the listener feel like they are moving towards answering a series of questions or just going to a place of interest and curiosity then your work is done.
Feedback sheets/templates
Email is great for reading blogs, an introduction to someone and official document transportation. It’s terrible for most other things in the podcast world.
At Pod Paste, we use a slew of simple and familiar to aid with the back and forth of editing out specific words and specific times to make the episode flow well for your listeners and fans.
If you choose to work with us, we’ll onboard you with our fully intuitive documents and processes to make sure we don’t miss a beat.
Technical content editing
This is where we actually edit out the parts that the podcast owner doesn’t want. This is a beautiful mixture of feeling and knowing, analytically, what is right.
There are two parts to the technical content when it comes to this editing stage;
- The Spoken Words and Copy
- The Audio Wave
Editing The Spoken Words and Copy
You may choose to transcribe your podcast or write out some/most of what you say. This is all dependent on the format you choose from your pre-production phase.
Most people do end up writing the Intro and Outro (Also known as book-ins/book-outs or top and tails) and this is the same process as editing any words. You can use your reference copy to help guide exactly what you want to say.
You can edit and revise as necessary while you practice your delivery so that you are ready to record it for the final episode.
Editing The Audio Wave
This is exactly what it says. You need to get your hands dirty and get under the hood of your episode or let us do that if you don’t feel comfortable/don’t have the time.
We go more in-depth on the editing of the actual audio waveforms in the next section “Audio Sweetening”. Feel free to jump to part five of the Pod Paste Process – Audio Editing here. Or go back to the overview and start from the beginning.
We can help you create, promote and grow your podcast in whatever way you need. Consistency in quality from the content, audio fidelity, and marketing assets are what we strive to assist people with.
Get directly in touch with us here to find out how we can help you with your next project.