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Reasons to edit podcasts manually as you listen to them.
At the end of the quite excellent "corporations don't know what they don't know" about technology episode, Rym commented that he didn't understand why podcasters edit their shows as they listen to them. I've been thinking about his comments and I have to admit there are some things I need automate in my own shows. For one thing, I need to automate the process of taking out pauses. Also, if there's an easier way to do bumper music than importing the files, I should explore that.
That being said, on Skype shows, you often don't get pristine audio files out of your recording. Either Skype will create artifacts you don't want or your have to rebuild a conversation from what you've got. Moreover, not all the people on the shows have perfect elocution all the time. Sometimes, a co-host will make a good point, but hem and haw his way there. You want to save the point, but you need to edit the manner in which it is stated. Other times, a topic will suck and you'll want it out without losing audio on either end. Audacity is good for this style of editing, it's much faster than Garage Band, but it must be inferior to Rezound.
There's no question that I covet Rym's 4 minute podcast producer skills, but you get the highest degree of control over the audio when you listen to it all the way through and edit as you are listening.
That being said, on Skype shows, you often don't get pristine audio files out of your recording. Either Skype will create artifacts you don't want or your have to rebuild a conversation from what you've got. Moreover, not all the people on the shows have perfect elocution all the time. Sometimes, a co-host will make a good point, but hem and haw his way there. You want to save the point, but you need to edit the manner in which it is stated. Other times, a topic will suck and you'll want it out without losing audio on either end. Audacity is good for this style of editing, it's much faster than Garage Band, but it must be inferior to Rezound.
There's no question that I covet Rym's 4 minute podcast producer skills, but you get the highest degree of control over the audio when you listen to it all the way through and edit as you are listening.
Comments
For each section I talk about is a different track in audacity. After recording each one I edit it before starting the next and it really cut down on the time of editing compared to listening to the entire thing. I do want to learn how to automate stuff if it is possible in Audacity.
Otherwise I don't really understand how one can edit a podcast without actually listening to it. Or is it just speaking, waiting, playing the premade audiobit, wait and then continue speaking?
I think the main difference lies in the quality of the technology used and the need for speed. Geeknights is 4 nights a week, thus benefits a lot from fast post-processing, whereas Friday Night Party Line (to use as example) is a (bi?-)weekly podcasts and thus isn't in super urgent need for fast post-processing. Thus you (Thaed and other podcasters podcasting once a week) tend to take their time finding faster solutions and possibly take small steps at a time.
Of course, not editing costs even less time then GeekNights (though barely) since that only takes theoretically 0 seconds. It all depends on processor speed and bandwith on how fast the MP3 comes out and is uploaded.
While recording each one, any time there's ANY problem with the audio at any point, I put a mark in the file right away. After all three parts are recorded, I edit each one by simply going to each marker and checking to see what's wrong there. I then run a script that adds the music and other bits to the right places and puts the whole thing together, including several filters. I then run a Python script that automatically takes this wav file, makes an mp3, sets the filename and id3 infomation based on the date, and then uploads the show.
Unless there is a marker at a given point, there's no reason to listen to it at that point.
The Python script saves practically no time compared to better audio editing techniques.
While recording each one, any time there's ANY problem with the audio at any point, I put a mark in the file right away. After all three parts are recorded, I edit each one by simply going to each marker and checking to see what's wrong there. I then run a script that adds the music and other bits to the right places and puts the whole thing together, including several filters. I then run a Python script that automatically takes this wav file, makes an mp3, sets the filename and id3 infomation based on the date, and then uploads the show.
Unless there is a marker at a given point, there's no reason to listen to it at that point.
Will this all be in the "Rym's Guide to Better Podcasting" e-book?