Starting a Podcast: Key Podcast Editing Skills You Need

The podcast landscape is showing no signs of slowing down. There are now two million active podcasts and 78% of the population are familiar with podcasts.

If you’re a business owner, starting a podcast can be an excellent way to boost brand awareness and grow your consumer base. Or if you are someone who wants to start a podcast about a certain topic unrelated to your vocation, podcasting could end up being a great side hustle.

However, to have success in this field, your podcast editing skills need to be up to par. Read on to learn the editing skills you need to develop when starting a podcast.

Elements of Podcast Editing

Editing a podcast goes beyond simply recording a podcast, cutting out a few things, and then condensing the whole thing together. Listeners expect way more effort than that.

You need to listen to your recordings all the way through and make note of any background noise, uses of the word “um,” or anything that is redundant or boring. You also need to mix tracks, add music, fit in areas for advertising if you have sponsors, and add music where it fits (i.e. intro and outro music). 

For reasons like this, you’re going to need good podcast editing software. There are various software options available, and the one you’ll want to go with will depend on your budget or goals.

If you want a free service to get started, you will have a great resource with Audacity, or you can work with GarageBand if you have a Mac. Adobe Audition is also a great paid option when you are ready to upgrade. Pro Tools is considered by many to be the cream of the crop, but it comes with a high cost that you don’t want to pay when you’re just starting out.

Hire a Podcast Company

While all of these tips will help you if you have the time it takes to do all this editing by yourself, here’s the question: do you have that time? Or do you have the experience and skills to know that your editing will pay off?

If you have any doubts, consider getting help from podcast companies. Hiring professional services can save you a lot of time by covering needs such as production, marketing, scheduling interviews, and of course editing.

If you don’t feel you have the time or expertise to make high-quality edits to your recordings, don’t let that stop you from starting a podcast. Just be willing to pay a little extra to have the experts come in and give you a hand.

More on Media Editing

These podcast editing tips should help you as you take the steps toward starting a podcast. While you could do this all alone, why not go the extra mile and bring in some experts to give you a hand? It will cost you a little, but a professionally done podcast is much more likely to get you some revenue and make the investment worth it.

Take these steps and start making great podcasts.

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