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Cut the Fluff, Keep the Gold: How to Edit for Your Audience
Episode 102316th February 2026 • School of Podcasting: Expert Tips for Launching and Growing Your Podcast • Dave Jackson
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In this episode, I’m walking you through why great podcast editing doesn’t start with software, plugins, or secret shortcuts — it starts with knowing your audience. Once you’re crystal clear on who you’re talking to and what they value, editing becomes a lot easier: you simply remove anything that wastes their time or doesn’t deliver value.

Editing For Content

I’ll share examples from real interviews (including Amy Poehler’s “Good Hang” and conversations with my friends Daniel J. Lewis and Katie Krimitsos) to show how to tighten up questions, trim rambling answers, and keep the pace moving so your listeners stay engaged from start to finish.

If you’ve ever listened back to your show and thought, “It’s fine…but something feels off,” this one’s for you.

---

Where To start?

Editing starts with your audience, not your software

  1. Why the first question is, “Who am I talking to and what do they want?”
  2. How knowing your audience’s problems, language, and attention span guides every cut.
  3. The “vegetarian at dinner” analogy: if you know who’s coming, you know what not to serve.

Did they actually answer the question?

  1. Using Amy Poehler’s friend and Jennifer Lawrence as an example of a non-answer answer.
  2. How to spot when guests talk *around* a question instead of answering it.
  3. When to follow up, when to re-ask more simply, and when to just fix it in the edit.

Cut the fluff, keep the value

  1. Trimming long-winded questions where the host gives too much backstory.
  2. Shortening guest answers that wander, repeat, or add no value to the listener.
  3. Why you don’t need to include your guest “thinking out loud” to get to the point.

Friends, comfort, and wasted time

  1. How being comfortable with guests (friends, colleagues) can lead to bloated conversations.
  2. Why “fun to say” isn’t the same as “valuable to hear” for your audience.
  3. The discipline of deleting entire questions and answers that just don’t land.

Content editing vs. cosmetic editing

  1. Why removing bad questions is more powerful than removing ums and uhs.
  2. When it makes sense to leave in human imperfections for a natural feel.
  3. The mindset shift from “How do I make this cleaner?” to “How do I make this stronger?”

Basic audio cleanup that actually matters

  1. A practical order of operations: repair first, then shape the sound.
  2. What plosives, noise gates, compression, EQ, and de-essers do in plain English.
  3. Why “listenable” beats “perfect,” especially for guest recordings.

Testing popular cleanup tools on bad audio

  1. What happened when I ran intentionally bad audio through different tools.
  2. How tools like Voice Regen, Auphonic, Descript Studio Sound, Adobe Enhance, and others compare in real use.
  3. Why the cheap, simple option sometimes wins for everyday podcasters.

Know your audience, know your cuts

  1. How hanging out where your audience hangs out (YouTube, Facebook groups, Reddit, etc.) tells you what to keep.
  2. The simple question to ask of every segment: “Does this deliver value to *my* listener?”
  3. How better audience understanding leads to faster editing and stronger episodes.

Key Takeaway:

Editing isn’t about showing off your software skills. It’s about respecting your listener’s time. When you know exactly who they are and what they care about, the decisions of what to cut — and what to keep — almost make themselves.

Links Mentioned In This Episode

This content may contain affiliate links, meaning I earn a small commission if you purchase through these links at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services I trust and believe will provide value to you. Thank you for your support!

School of Podcasting

Podpage

How to Pitch a Podcast Show (submit your show)

Good Hang Jennifer Lawrence Episode

Women's Mediation Network

Podchapters

Podgagement

Samson Q2U Microphone

Voice Regen from Waves

Auphonic

Descript Studio Sound

Adobe Enhance

Accentize Dxrevive Pro

Check Your Loudness at https://loudness.app/en

YouTube Demonetizing Shows (30K Goodbye!)

Big Lash Energy's Jayna Marie is Next Week.

Mentioned in this episode:

Question of the Month

One of our favorite questions, "What are your top podcasting pet peeves? You know the things that make you press fast forward, delete, or maybe even unfollow... share your frustration with these tactics along with a little bit about your show and your website (so I can add a link in the show notes). You can upload a pre-recorded version or press record on the website. I need your answer by March 27th, 2026

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Help Us Fight Back Against Spam and Get Some Exposure

How to Pitch a Podcast is a show I'm launching that NEEDS your stories of good/bad pitches. Read your bad/good pitch (I'll remove the guilty names) and explain why it's good or bad. Then (if it's bad) explain what your perfect guest would be, tell us about your show and your website. Don't over-think it. I need your stories by 2/28 to launch. Go to pitchapodcast.com/story

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Transcripts

David Jackson:

All right, let's be honest. How many times do you

David Jackson:

feel like your episode sounded like, okay, but you kind of

David Jackson:

still felt like something was off, maybe the energy or the

David Jackson:

pacing, or, I don't know, your voice sounded okay coming out of

David Jackson:

your head, but you're listening back and you're like, Well,

David Jackson:

today we're gonna go past cutting out the boring bits into

David Jackson:

editing that actually keeps people listening. We're going to

David Jackson:

talk about smarter cuts, cleaner sound and a few simple tools

David Jackson:

that can make your podcast feel instantly more professional

David Jackson:

without turning you into a full time audio engineer. Hit it

David Jackson:

ladies, the School of

David Jackson:

The SOP Singers: podcasting with Dave Jackson,

David Jackson:

podcasting since 2005 I am your award winning

David Jackson:

Hall of Fame podcast coach. Dave Jackson, thinking you so much. I

David Jackson:

mean that for tuning in, I realize you could be doing other

David Jackson:

stuff. I greatly appreciate it, and this is where we help you

David Jackson:

plan, launch and grow your podcast. The website is School

David Jackson:

of podcasting.com and today was inspired by the show good. Hang

David Jackson:

with Amy Poehler. Now, Amy just won a Golden Globe, so I was

David Jackson:

checking out her show, and I've checked out Amy show before. Amy

David Jackson:

is a comedian from Saturday Night Live, then later, Parks

David Jackson:

and Rec and other things, and she was interviewing Jennifer

David Jackson:

Lawrence. And Amy has a cute little thing she does, and so

David Jackson:

kudos for being creative, and that is, she finds someone who

David Jackson:

is a very close friend to the person she's going to interview

David Jackson:

and ask that person, what should I ask the famous person? And

David Jackson:

there are a couple things that I was just like, Oh man, what a

David Jackson:

bummer. Number one, this is a video first show. And one of the

David Jackson:

things I like about Amy is, you know, she kind of introduces the

David Jackson:

guest who's going to be on what they're going to talk about, and

David Jackson:

then she does an ad read. And what I love about it, Amy

David Jackson:

doesn't even pretend to read a teleprompter. She's basically

David Jackson:

looking at you're watching her read this off a piece of paper.

David Jackson:

I think that's actually kind of like all right, let's not even

David Jackson:

try to hide the fact that I'm reading this. Let's just show

David Jackson:

you that I am reading this. And so what I thought was

David Jackson:

interesting is, in this case, Jennifer Lawrence's friend knows

David Jackson:

that the call is coming. And there are a couple things that

David Jackson:

I'll put a link to the video. Number one, don't put the camera

David Jackson:

lower than your nose, because it's a great shot right up the

David Jackson:

old nostrils, and you better have your Phillips nose trimmer,

David Jackson:

handy, you know. So there's that. And then the fact that at

David Jackson:

times when she talked, she would tilt her head back, giving you

David Jackson:

an even better look right up her nose, and the fact that she was

David Jackson:

using the built in microphone. Now, I realize she's not a

David Jackson:

podcaster. Why should she have a microphone, because her friend

David Jackson:

is Jennifer Lawrence, who probably has bazillions of

David Jackson:

dollars in the bank. And you could go, Hey, Jen, can you loan

David Jackson:

me 100 bucks so I can go get a decent microphone. But that's

David Jackson:

not why she's here, but we will clean up her audio a little bit

David Jackson:

later. But this is one of the things that I see so many times

David Jackson:

when I talk about people editing interviews, the first thing you

David Jackson:

have to listen to is, Did they answer the question? And so this

David Jackson:

is Amy explaining, you know, hey, you're such a good friend.

David Jackson:

I'm dying to hear what question you think I should ask her, but

David Jackson:

let's pay attention to her answer.

Unknown:

You know her really well. You know, sometimes we ask

Unknown:

people to talk well behind our guests back and they've worked

Unknown:

with them, or they kind of know that. But you, you know her

Unknown:

really, really well. You've known her for a really long

Unknown:

time, and you're deep partners in in work, and you're loving

Unknown:

friends in life.

David Jackson:

And so Amy's throwing in a lot of background

David Jackson:

there that we don't need. And now she's finally going to ask

David Jackson:

the question,

Unknown:

what do you think I should ask her today? What do

Unknown:

you want to know about, hear about, or what do you think

Unknown:

she'd want to talk about, or a story she'd want to tell?

Unknown:

Oh, man, I mean, with Jen, it's funny, because she is so, like,

Unknown:

transparent in these spaces, like, I don't think that she's

Unknown:

somebody who, or there are, like, a ton of subjects that are

Unknown:

off limits.

David Jackson:

So she answered the question, but she didn't

David Jackson:

answer the question. So Amy kind of comes back again with another

David Jackson:

version of the question.

Unknown:

Well, it's okay. This is really helpful, because I've

Unknown:

been prepping for the interview, and I don't want to put her in

Unknown:

an uncomfortable position ever to ask her something she doesn't

Unknown:

want to talk about, but she also feels really well aware of what

Unknown:

she feels comfortable talking about. I guess

Unknown:

I think she is, and I think she'll also like, tell you,

Unknown:

like, I think that she has. I think, like she'll pivot if she

Unknown:

needs to.

Unknown:

You never have to answer a question if you don't want to

Unknown:

answer and it is, and it's a magic trick to not answer it,

Unknown:

and people often forget that what question they asked. I

Unknown:

mean, this isn't a good thing to tell a guest. Probably, this is

Unknown:

probably not a good thing to get but anyway.

David Jackson:

But anyway, getting back to the fact that

David Jackson:

you still haven't answered my question, and now Amy's gonna

David Jackson:

kind of dumb it down. She's like, look, this is what I'm

David Jackson:

looking for.

Unknown:

Do you have it doesn't have to be a heavy question. It

Unknown:

can be something small, anything that you think we should ask her

Unknown:

today.

Unknown:

I mean, gosh, like, maybe because she's in a position of

Unknown:

constantly being asked questions, and she is never in

Unknown:

charge of what is being asked. Like, maybe it's asking her,

Unknown:

like, what would you like to talk more about that you don't

Unknown:

feel Whoa. That's a good friend to declare. You know, maybe,

Unknown:

maybe she has a big announcement, or just something

Unknown:

that she'd like to, like, reflect on.

Unknown:

You know what? That's a really good friend. Because what you're

Unknown:

basically saying is, just check in with her and see if there's

Unknown:

anything else she wants to talk about. Yeah, it's so true. She,

Unknown:

like is tired of talking about you know that too. Yeah.

David Jackson:

So her question that we should ask Jen is, Hey,

David Jackson:

Jen, what do you want to talk about this from the person that

David Jackson:

knows her the best, and for me, I was like, that even Amy's

David Jackson:

like, oh yeah, you're a good friend. Well, you're a good

David Jackson:

friend, but you're a horrible question comer upper with her,

David Jackson:

holy cow. So I went back and looked from the beginning of

David Jackson:

that question to the shortest answer. It was almost two

David Jackson:

minutes, and yet I took that and boiled it down to 18 seconds.

Unknown:

What do you think I

Unknown:

should ask her today? Maybe because she's in a position of

Unknown:

constantly being asked questions, and she is never in

Unknown:

charge of what is being asked. Like, maybe it's asking her,

Unknown:

like, what would you like to talk more about that you don't

Unknown:

feel

Unknown:

Whoa, that's a good friend

Unknown:

to declare,

David Jackson:

you know. And if I had separate tracks, I could

David Jackson:

have muted out Amy going, Whoa, that's a good friend and let her

David Jackson:

finish her answer. So that's an example of, did they answer the

David Jackson:

question? We got a couple more of these. Yeah. What can really

David Jackson:

mess things up is when you know the guests really well. And so

David Jackson:

these next two examples are two friends of mine that I

David Jackson:

absolutely just love to hang out with. They're good friends. And

David Jackson:

the first one here is Daniel J Lewis. Now this comes from an

David Jackson:

old interview. When Daniel had released pod engagement, that's

David Jackson:

a great tool. He recently launched pod chapters. So if

David Jackson:

your media host doesn't allow you to put in chapters, you can

David Jackson:

use pod chapters for that. But in this case, we're talking

David Jackson:

about pod engagement. And I asked him, what's coming in the

David Jackson:

future? Nice, what else is coming? Because it's already

David Jackson:

Daniel J. Lewis: pretty handy. Yeah, there are integrations

David Jackson:

that now?

David Jackson:

So he started to answer the question, and then he

David Jackson:

took a little tangent

David Jackson:

Daniel J. Lewis: that I've built this myself, which my heart is

David Jackson:

really in every line of this code, like 10s of 1000s of lines

David Jackson:

of code that I've written for this my podcast reviews was

David Jackson:

programmed for me by another guy, and he did great work, and

David Jackson:

he was really good to work with. But now I did this myself. I've

David Jackson:

learned how to program since then, and I did this myself. So

David Jackson:

that means that at the slightest whim, when I get the idea of how

David Jackson:

to improve something, I can do that myself.

David Jackson:

So Daniel is explaining because he made it.

David Jackson:

He knows what's going to be coming in the future, but he

David Jackson:

still hasn't answered that question. And sometimes when

David Jackson:

somebody gives you information that's not exactly the answer,

David Jackson:

like this isn't bad information. But sometimes you can summarize

David Jackson:

this at the end of the interview and summarize what might be a

David Jackson:

longer answer down to a condensed version. But at this

David Jackson:

point, Daniel starts to answer the question.

David Jackson:

Daniel J. Lewis: So there are all kinds of things that I am

David Jackson:

planning.

David Jackson:

So if we go back now and put the question and the

David Jackson:

answer together, nice, what else is coming?

David Jackson:

Daniel J. Lewis: So there are all kinds of things that I am

David Jackson:

planning to build into this and tweaking along the way.

David Jackson:

And so one of the reasons I wanted to bring up

David Jackson:

that these are my friends, are those of the people that you're

David Jackson:

comfortable with and you're kind of just having a conversation,

David Jackson:

which is what you want it to sound like, but on the other

David Jackson:

hand, you don't want to waste people's time. So my next

David Jackson:

example here is from the lovely, the talented. Don't be fooled by

David Jackson:

cheap imitations. Katie SOS from the Women's meditation network.

David Jackson:

And here's the question, like, let's say you're trying to grow

David Jackson:

your audience. I'm going to do this new strategy, right? How

David Jackson:

long do you give it before you go and it's not working

Unknown:

well, I would love to tell you I'm I, you know, have

Unknown:

the spreadsheets of all the tracking and all of that stuff.

Unknown:

I it's only been recently that I have started to actually get

Unknown:

really serious about that stuff.

David Jackson:

And so she's giving me an answer. But the

David Jackson:

question was, how long do you leave a test in? And she hasn't

David Jackson:

really started answering that yet.

Unknown:

Some of it, you see right away. I mean, aha.

David Jackson:

And there she is. She starts to answer the

David Jackson:

question. So when you take out, and really, there's a part of

David Jackson:

that beginning of that question that I could take out where I'm

David Jackson:

like. So you're trying to do this, you're trying to do this.

David Jackson:

And then I asked the question. We don't need the background of

David Jackson:

my question either. How long do you give it before you go?

Unknown:

That's not working. I don't know. It depends on what

Unknown:

the strategy is. It depends on who the people are. It depends

Unknown:

on what you're seeing. I mean, with some strategies.

David Jackson:

And so there you go. Now, what does this do? It

David Jackson:

keeps the pace moving. I don't really think it's necessary for

David Jackson:

me to listen to someone think it through, like, gosh, was it

David Jackson:

Tuesday or Thursday? I don't know. I think, let's see, I had

David Jackson:

a coffee on Tuesday and then, no, just get to the answer. Now

David Jackson:

there are times it's not 100% as always with all even heard Katie

David Jackson:

say it, it depends, but many times for me, I give people a

David Jackson:

lot of background on why I'm asking a question, I cut that

David Jackson:

out, and then I listen to their answer, and even if they answer

David Jackson:

the question, the next question is great. They answered my

David Jackson:

question, does it deliver value to my audience? So those are

David Jackson:

some quick examples of how do you edit for content, and it all

David Jackson:

starts with knowing your audience. Because how do you

David Jackson:

know what stays and what goes? Because you know your audience,

David Jackson:

and that's where you want to go. Hang with them, whether that's

David Jackson:

on a YouTube channel, reading the comments, hanging out. Well,

David Jackson:

when you can tell me your audience's eye color, you're in

David Jackson:

the right spot. But the more you can spend in Facebook groups and

David Jackson:

Reddit and things like that, seeing what they're looking for,

David Jackson:

that's how you know what to edit. A little later, I'm gonna

David Jackson:

play with some tools to clean up some bad audio, because we all

David Jackson:

know not every guest has spent that 80 bucks on a Samson Q to

David Jackson:

you and their audio sounds like caca, the School of podcasting.

David Jackson:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, we're gonna kind of get slightly

David Jackson:

nerdy here. This is a little too deep. We do have chapters. You

David Jackson:

can skip to the next one, and we're going to talk about the

David Jackson:

different tools. But here's the thing in the too long didn't

David Jackson:

read, better known as TLDR. Tweak a knob. Does it sound

David Jackson:

better, good, then keep it if it sounds worse, don't it really

David Jackson:

comes down to that. But what should you do first? Well, I

David Jackson:

read about six different articles on this, and it is the

David Jackson:

ultimate It depends. But what they say, and I'm kind of

David Jackson:

summarizing these, is try to repair and clean up before you

David Jackson:

try to, like, shape it so remove bad takes, obviously, mouth

David Jackson:

clicks, plosives. What's a plosive? That's where here.

David Jackson:

Let's see if I can just make one. I'm going to take my

David Jackson:

windscreen off my Rode pod mic, USB, and I will say, directly

David Jackson:

into the microphone, please bring Pizza Pronto. There you

David Jackson:

go. Here, all those P's there, and the bees. And we're just

David Jackson:

we're jarring. Yeah, that's a plosive, and that's why now,

David Jackson:

with my windscreen on, I am, if this was 12 o'clock, I am now

David Jackson:

pointing my mouth at 10 o'clock, I'm talking across the

David Jackson:

microphone. You know, any kind of hum, you know, because you've

David Jackson:

got bad electricity, anything like that. Cleaning that up

David Jackson:

first. Then there's, if you want to get totally nerdy, gain

David Jackson:

staging. Some people call it normalization. And what this

David Jackson:

does, from what I understand, if the maximum level was minus 12.

David Jackson:

And it's weird, because we go up to zero was minus 12 and the

David Jackson:

lowest was minus six. It basically looks at the top and

David Jackson:

the lowest, and then kind of makes the every not so much

David Jackson:

everything, but the lowest one go up to minus nine, it splits

David Jackson:

the difference. And so what this does, why you want to do any

David Jackson:

kind of leveling of audio, whatever it is first, is this

David Jackson:

gives all the other things we're going to play with, a nice kind

David Jackson:

of consistent input. And it also has what they call headroom,

David Jackson:

which basically means a little room to boost things up. And

David Jackson:

then there is your EQ. And what a lot of people don't realize is

David Jackson:

they look at, what can I turn up? In some ways it's better to

David Jackson:

turn the other thing down. So if I want to make things a little

David Jackson:

more clear. Accent, my S's and T's. Everybody grabs the treble

David Jackson:

and cranks it. It might make more sense to take the base and

David Jackson:

turn it down, usually anything beneath, especially 80 hertz, I

David Jackson:

guess is what we're talking there is just a rumble. It's

David Jackson:

stuff you don't even feel, so you'll hear, and this is always

David Jackson:

confusing. A high pass filter is saying that we're going to cut

David Jackson:

out the low end. So whatever it is, high pass means just that,

David Jackson:

if it's high end trouble stuff, you get a pass. If you're not,

David Jackson:

if you're really bassy, you can you're not. And so it's going to

David Jackson:

cut out the low end. And so what this does is it keeps, in

David Jackson:

theory, the useful sound, so you're not trying to compress

David Jackson:

things that are too bassy or too trebly. There's a thing called a

David Jackson:

noise gate, and this is always one of those, if needed, because

David Jackson:

sometimes you don't need it. But what this means is, you know,

David Jackson:

you've been to the apart the amusement park, you must be this

David Jackson:

tall to ride the ride. We're saying you need to be this loud

David Jackson:

to make it to the listeners ears. And so if you have the

David Jackson:

sound of the dryer in the background, that's only, you

David Jackson:

know, a foot and a half tall, but when you talk, it's four

David Jackson:

feet tall. So you can say, Oh, well, the dryer is one and a

David Jackson:

half feet tall. Let's set the gate for two, meaning my voice

David Jackson:

is loud enough to get over the two foot wall, but the dryer at

David Jackson:

one and a half feet and I'm just using feet, just so we can

David Jackson:

visualize this is not tall enough to get over the two foot

David Jackson:

wall. Thus the dryer sound won't make it into the audio. However,

David Jackson:

when you talk, if you have the dryer running in the background,

David Jackson:

you're going to hear it while you're talking. So that's one of

David Jackson:

those. We always just want to make things as good as they can

David Jackson:

before we hit record. So that's something you might do here.

David Jackson:

Another one is compression. And in a nutshell, a compressor

David Jackson:

makes the loud things a little softer and the soft things a

David Jackson:

little louder, but that may make things like breaths, room tone

David Jackson:

more audible, because that's noise that shouldn't be there,

David Jackson:

and especially if you use something like all phonic off

David Jackson:

phonic, I've had people that are somewhat loud breathers. They're

David Jackson:

a little, maybe a little too close to the microphone, and,

David Jackson:

you know, and then so it sounds all of a sudden. You're like,

David Jackson:

Well, Mr. Vader, tell me about your you know, whatever. So that

David Jackson:

can be bad. A de Esser is, if somebody has a really clear mic.

David Jackson:

They really boosted the trouble. And it's kind of just it cut. It

David Jackson:

makes you blink when you hear it. It's so clear a de Esser

David Jackson:

goes up to the very, very bright settings and just backs them off

David Jackson:

a bit. And then overall EQ is again. Now that we have

David Jackson:

everything, we have it compressed. We've removed the

David Jackson:

noise things like that, a gentle a gentle boost to kind of warm

David Jackson:

things up, maybe clear things up. That's where you would do

David Jackson:

this. And then the last thing you want to do is work on your

David Jackson:

loudness and what you're looking for, the current standards in

David Jackson:

podcasting is, if you're doing a stereo file, you should be at

David Jackson:

minus 16 luffs. And we don't really care what that stands

David Jackson:

for. That's just the way we measure minus 19 luffs if you

David Jackson:

are mono. Now, I'm a rebel.

David Jackson:

I go minus 14. Why? Because I've been walking on a street with

David Jackson:

traffic, and I can't hear my show. So it's one of those,

David Jackson:

again, where the minus 14, it's a smaller number, and yet that

David Jackson:

makes it louder. So I go up a little more for that. Now we're

David Jackson:

going to talk plugins here in a minute. So if you're like, Wait,

David Jackson:

how do I do all that stuff? And also, there is a site you can go

David Jackson:

to to for free, have it tell you How loud is my file. One is

David Jackson:

loudness dot app. And almost all of these, they're free. So you

David Jackson:

know you're probably going to have to put in some sort of

David Jackson:

email address or something of that nature. But for me, I'm

David Jackson:

sitting here in Hindenburg, and almost everything I do is in the

David Jackson:

yellow, because that's where I want it. That's a good volume.

David Jackson:

Occasionally I get a little excited and it's a little too

David Jackson:

loud. But basically, if it's in the yellow, you're probably

David Jackson:

pretty close to being loud or loud enough where you need to

David Jackson:

be. Now the bottom line on all that stuff I just said is, as I

David Jackson:

said at the beginning, tweak it does it sound better? And what

David Jackson:

you also want to do is I listen through my computer. Computer

David Jackson:

speakers, I will record something before I upload it, I

David Jackson:

listen to it through earbuds, because that's how a lot of you

David Jackson:

are now going to hear it is through earbuds. And then you

David Jackson:

ask yourself, Does it sound better or worse? Because so many

David Jackson:

times we make changes, and I think we're making changes just

David Jackson:

to make it different, and we're not asking ourselves, are we

David Jackson:

making it better? Because sometimes you can kind of go

David Jackson:

crazy, losing your mind over this stuff, and then it's like,

David Jackson:

okay, so I'm going to use the noise reduction. But does the

David Jackson:

noise reduction come after the compressor? Or when do I do the

David Jackson:

EQ switch it around? The thing I love about Hindenburg is I can

David Jackson:

look at all the things I have turned on and go like I use a

David Jackson:

thing called the Sheps omni channel. It is a compressor,

David Jackson:

noise gate, de Esser and EQ all in one, and I can move it before

David Jackson:

the compressor even that's built into Hindenburg, or just just

David Jackson:

play. I know it sounds weird. I There are times I work at pod

David Jackson:

page, and one of the things I tell people all the time,

David Jackson:

because we make websites for podcasters, is just go play.

David Jackson:

What does it look like if you do this? Do you like it? Keep it.

David Jackson:

If you don't, don't, you're not really going to break anything.

David Jackson:

And the same is goes for your audio. So in a second, we're

David Jackson:

going to hear some tools that clean up bad audio the school of

David Jackson:

podcasting.

Unknown:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

David Jackson:

All right, so I made some bad audio that sounds

David Jackson:

like this. All right, so this is me recording on a Mac laptop.

David Jackson:

I'm going to turn up a fan noise. There we go, and I got a

David Jackson:

little music in the background. So this is some pretty horrible

David Jackson:

audio right now. And so here is that same thing run through a

David Jackson:

new service called Audio regen. It is from waves, so it's called

David Jackson:

Voice regen. It's $5 a month for 300 minutes, all right. So this

David Jackson:

is me recording on a Mac laptop. I'm gonna turn up a fan noise.

David Jackson:

There we go. And I got a little music in the background. So this

David Jackson:

is some pretty horrible audio right now. So it's a little

David Jackson:

muffled, but it took out all the noise. Here's all phonic All

David Jackson:

right. So this is me recording on a Mac laptop. I'm gonna turn

David Jackson:

up a fan noise. There we go, and I got a little music in the

David Jackson:

background. So this is some pretty horrible audio right now.

David Jackson:

And here's audacities built in noise reduction, all right. So

David Jackson:

this is me recording on a Mac laptop. I'm gonna turn up a fan

David Jackson:

noise. There we go, and I got a little music in the background.

David Jackson:

So this is some pretty horrible audio right now. And the next

David Jackson:

one from accent eyes. It's called, it's a plugin called dx,

David Jackson:

revive Pro. All right, so this is me recording on a Mac laptop.

David Jackson:

I'm gonna turn up a fan noise. There we go. And I got a little

David Jackson:

music in the background. So this is some pretty horrible audio

David Jackson:

right now. And here is descript studio sound, all right. So this

David Jackson:

is me recording on a Mac laptop. I'm gonna turn up a fan noise.

David Jackson:

There we go. And I got a little music in the background. So this

David Jackson:

is some pretty horrible audio right now. Next up the free

David Jackson:

version of Adobe enhance, which is in Adobe podcasts. All right,

David Jackson:

so this is me recording on a Mac laptop. I'm going to turn up a

David Jackson:

fan noise. There we go. And I got a little music in the

David Jackson:

background. So this is some pretty horrible audio right now.

David Jackson:

And so I upgraded, paid the 10 bucks a month to have a little

David Jackson:

more control over this, where you're able to say how much

David Jackson:

background you're eliminating. And so I left a little bit of

David Jackson:

background in because it made my voice a little clearer in Adobe,

David Jackson:

and it sounded like this. All right. So this is me recording

David Jackson:

on a Mac laptop. I'm gonna turn up a fan noise. There we go. And

David Jackson:

I got a little music in the background. So this is some

David Jackson:

pretty horrible audio right now, and that seemed to be the tricky

David Jackson:

part was adding noise in the middle of something. And for me,

David Jackson:

the one that sounded the best was the one that cost the least,

David Jackson:

which is the new one from waves the voice regen. Now, this

David Jackson:

doesn't take out any UMS or your no. Knows there's no settings.

David Jackson:

You upload it, it does it, and then you get what you take. And

David Jackson:

so if you wanted more clarity, I would think I would go with

David Jackson:

Adobe, because it's $10 a month, where descript, which would

David Jackson:

probably be my number two, is who knows a month, because they

David Jackson:

keep changing their plan, and nobody can figure it out. I am

David Jackson:

paying 35 ish dollars a month, and of course, that comes with

David Jackson:

remote recording, not just the studio sound, and that whole

David Jackson:

thing that descript is, and I will say that when I logged into

David Jackson:

it today, I haven't been in descript in a while, and I don't

David Jackson:

recognize it at all. I don't know what they're doing over

David Jackson:

there, but enjoy the learning curve, because it never ends. So

David Jackson:

as always, it depends the accent ice plugin, the one I talked

David Jackson:

about that is $300 and I bought that because I got tired of

David Jackson:

paying off phonic and these other people, and I had a client

David Jackson:

that just kept handing me horrendous audio, and so it

David Jackson:

saved me so much time that it was worth that. But the voice

David Jackson:

regen for five bucks a month, if all you're getting is bad audio

David Jackson:

with room noise, and you can clean up the ums and your nose

David Jackson:

later. You know that one for me for five bucks is a great deal

David Jackson:

of links to all of these in the show notes. And my apologies,

David Jackson:

because I realize listening to like an audio test like that,

David Jackson:

that's real close to falling into cruel and unusual

David Jackson:

punishment, which, of course, is against the law per the

David Jackson:

Constitution of the United States. The bottom line of all

David Jackson:

this stuff is, if you can take the time to have a good mic,

David Jackson:

have good mic placement, have a decent area to set up that's not

David Jackson:

surrounded by glass or things like that, the better the

David Jackson:

recording, the less time you have to spend trying to make

David Jackson:

something that doesn't sound very good. Sound listenable, and

David Jackson:

that is my goal. Listenable. Yes, I would love pristine

David Jackson:

audio, but when it comes to guests and other things, I'm

David Jackson:

just going for listenable, because, again, it's going to be

David Jackson:

heard through earbuds in computer speakers and maybe in

David Jackson:

the car, if you're lucky. Yeah, one of my favorite people is

David Jackson:

coming back soon with a new podcast, the one and only Eric

David Jackson:

Kay Johnson. You might know him as the podcast talent coach, and

David Jackson:

I was digging through these old episodes and such, looking for

David Jackson:

editing examples, and I found Eric talking about editing

David Jackson:

Erik K. Johnson: should you go in and take out questions that

David Jackson:

flopped? I would spend more time doing that than I would cleaning

David Jackson:

up the ums and the UHS and the lip smacking and everything. If

David Jackson:

you ask a question and it doesn't go where you intended it

David Jackson:

to go, it doesn't give you a great answer. If it wastes your

David Jackson:

listeners time, then go take that question and answer out

David Jackson:

completely. I would spend more time doing that because it's

David Jackson:

going to make your interview stronger than spending time

David Jackson:

taking out the stammers, because that's not going to make your

David Jackson:

interview stronger. That's just going to make your audio a

David Jackson:

little cleaner.

David Jackson:

Amen brother Eric and I'll put a link out to his

David Jackson:

stuff in the show notes. Just go to school of podcasting.com/

David Jackson:

1023 but when it comes to editing, the key ingredient is

David Jackson:

not the software. What? Yeah, it's not the software. How do

David Jackson:

you know what to cut is based on your audience. The more you know

David Jackson:

your audience, the better you can edit. I always like to take

David Jackson:

podcasting out of podcasting, and I always compare it to, in

David Jackson:

some cases, a meal. If I know I've got a vegetarian coming,

David Jackson:

I'm not serving meatloaf. So the more you know your audience, the

David Jackson:

better the content, and the less time you spend on editing. I

David Jackson:

remember once I interviewed somebody about storytelling, and

David Jackson:

they were from the video side, but I wanted to talk to them

David Jackson:

about storytelling, and I told him, I said, Look, if you start

David Jackson:

talking about F stops and lenses, that's going to end up

David Jackson:

on the editing room floor, and he's like, Okay, I got it, but

David Jackson:

that was kind of his jam. And he started talking about cameras

David Jackson:

and lenses. And you know what? You never heard it. Why? Because

David Jackson:

back in whatever 2010 11, we weren't really interested that

David Jackson:

much in cameras and lenses. Today, maybe I saw the guys from

David Jackson:

Thinkific, and they had a link to the lens they were using, and

David Jackson:

it was $2,000 for the lens, not just the camera, just the lens.

David Jackson:

And those guys are doing IT pro, but that's why, yeah, holy cow.

David Jackson:

Speaking of them, I'm gonna put a link to their episode. Yeah,

David Jackson:

because they talk about how, and I guess this isn't new, but they

David Jackson:

talk about two channels that were making $30,000 a month from

David Jackson:

YouTube, income, like from YouTube, and they got

David Jackson:

demonetized. And so the video was talking about how it's kind

David Jackson:

of funny. YouTube, apparently, is using AI to find AI. And the

David Jackson:

interesting thing was, in this one example, it wasn't really

David Jackson:

AI, and so they talk about what you can do to not be

David Jackson:

demonetized. Now, they didn't lose their channel completely,

David Jackson:

although I know people that have done that, they just were like,

David Jackson:

Yeah, you know how you're making this money from YouTube. Not

David Jackson:

anymore, so that'll be in the show notes again. School of

David Jackson:

podcasting.com/ 1022 next week, I'm looking forward speaking of

David Jackson:

editing this episode, because I talked to this guest for

David Jackson:

probably close to two hours, because she's just that

David Jackson:

interesting. It's Jana Marie from the big lash energy, and I

David Jackson:

had her do humble brag theater.

Unknown:

Yes, I won eight signal awards. I've been nominated for

Unknown:

one ambi and I was nominated for two Podcast Awards as best

Unknown:

female host and best storyteller, most inspirational

Unknown:

podcast, the one that I'm the most proud of is I won gold for

Unknown:

Best Writing in the comedy category, and I actually beat

Unknown:

Barack Obama's speech writer.

David Jackson:

And the interesting thing is, it's a

David Jackson:

solo show, and you'll find out some unique ways that she's

David Jackson:

using to grow her audience and her unique attitude in the fact

David Jackson:

that, at least right now, she's not trying to make money.

Unknown:

I was making radio shows for fun. What?

David Jackson:

What? What can you do? Wait? Is that allowed?

David Jackson:

Wow, never miss an episode. Go to school of

David Jackson:

podcasting.com/follow. And that, of course, is the page that is

David Jackson:

automatically made because I am now using pod page Hooray for

David Jackson:

the School of podcasting website. For more information,

David Jackson:

check out tripod page.com and when you're ready to start plan

David Jackson:

grow, or if you want to monetize your podcast, go over to school

David Jackson:

of podcasting.com click on the Join Now button and get access

David Jackson:

to our courses, our coaching and our amazing community. And it

David Jackson:

comes with a 30 day money back guarantee. I'm Dave Jackson. I

David Jackson:

help podcasters. It's what I do. Can't wait to see what we do

David Jackson:

together until next week. Take care. God bless. Class is

David Jackson:

dismissed.

Unknown:

If you like the show, please share it with a friend.

Unknown:

If you like the show, pretty, pretty. Share it with a friend

Unknown:

right

David Jackson:

now. Audio regen, what's the name of it? Survey

David Jackson:

says, Where did it go? This is now a blooper. Voice regen.

David Jackson:

There we go. Voice regen, links in the show notes. School of

David Jackson:

podcasting.com/ 1000 and now I don't know what the number is,

David Jackson:

great, wonderful, and it's 1023 phenomenal show prep. Just check

David Jackson:

your show notes. Yeah.

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