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Is Podcast Editing Really Necessary?
Doing your own podcast over the Internet? Trying to grab some more attention and gain more audience? There are small things that make the difference in the long run and the bad news is that some of them are not that obvious. When it comes to audio or video, you may know it already – editing is just part of the game. But then, you see all those influencers over social media shooting candid videos or random audios with no editing whatsoever – they bag hundreds of thousands of views.
At this point, it is quite simple to overlook the necessity of podcast editing. At the end of the day, the actual content is more important than what the audio sounds like, but editing is more than that. Editing also involves putting small parts in the right order, cutting some irrelevant parts and then bringing some effects in. All in all, whether you are not sure about it or you have no idea how to do it, here is everything you need to know for a good final result.
Benefits of podcast editing
You do not have to wait until your podcast becomes popular and gains an audience to edit the show. Start it as soon as you start podcasting, only to draw some attention among current listeners and entice future fans. Editing stuff shows your audience that you have some respect for their assets – mostly for their time.
Editing gives a bit of an edge to your podcast. Whether you are trying to gain notoriety or you market a product or your brand, edited audio will simply provide much more efficient results. At the end of the day, it makes no difference what your goal is – editing makes you look professional.
Then, editing makes your stuff easier to share. You might have come across all kinds of perfect podcasts. You have always wondered – how do these people do it? The truth is that most of them do not rush online to upload their work straight away. Instead, they edit it first. They clear out long pauses, as well as other similar errors that could cause annoyance.
Think about the fact that first impressions do matter. Internet users have a massive amount of content out there. They get access to everything. A bad first impression will get people to move on to the next podcast – simple as that. They will not even wait for your podcast to finish before moving on, so you need to impress.
Now that it all makes sense, what kind of options do you have when it comes to podcast editing? What is the most efficient one and why?
Editing a podcast yourself
Self podcast editing might make a bit of sense if you are brand new to this industry. How difficult could it be? You get an audio editing software – many of them available for free – and you get to work. You remove all the unnecessary breaks, parts that do not make sense or parts where you make mistakes or get lost. Some premium software may bring in extra features, such as the possibility to clear out ambient noise as well.
This option is cheap. After all, you will most likely spend a bit of time and perhaps some money – nothing else.
There is one problem though – how much experience do you have? Exactly. You plan to save money and learn to edit stuff yourself, hoping you will get plenty of experience by the time you become famous. This is one of the most common mistakes in this industry – chances are you will never make it to the big league.
Hiring a professional team
This option makes a bit more sense when it comes to quality. You employ a professional editor to look over your podcast and remove all the unnecessary stuff or problematic parts. You will lose a few minutes out of your podcast, but the quality will leave no room for mistakes.
Second, a professional team has years of experience and has probably dealt with similar projects in the past. You have the result in a timely manner and the final outcome will help you gain some reputation in the online environment.
But since no option seems to be perfect, this one has a drawback as well. You pay for more than just the project itself. You pay for the team’s experience as well, not to mention the overall reputation. Indeed, you get a quality result, but it will cost you.
Hiring a freelancer
This might be the best option in podcast editing. It is somewhere between doing it yourself and hiring a professional team. You basically get to hire someone who has years of experience editing podcasts. Some freelancers are professionals with decades of hard work behind their portfolios, while others have barely started a few years ago – they are still much better than you are.
Then, these people do not hide behind or gather around in big teams. They do not appear like large companies. Instead, you can get in touch with one over freelancing websites like Fiverr. Simply introduce your project and some of them will apply to get the job done.
From a financial point of view, you will pay a fraction of what you would pay for a professional company, yet the quality is similar – if not even better. You get an objective input from a new set of ears. You can also compare the final result to the initial podcast and find out how to improve your future podcasts.
As a short final conclusion, podcast editing is mandatory for a successful result, but it can also be tricky. Chances are at some point or another, everyone falls in the cheap trap – doing it yourself and hoping to become better at it with time. While this option saves you money, it might be worth it if your podcast is only for your school or a small community of people. If you want to gain some notoriety, you need a professional set of ears.
