Shownotes
In this episode of Be a Better Podcaster, we dive into the art of editing and why embracing pauses and natural breaths can improve your podcast.
Learn how over-editing can make conversations sound robotic, how to find the perfect balance between too much and not enough editing, and how slight imperfections can enhance the listener's experience. Sure, AI editors are useful, but the nuance of the human touch matters to avoid a "too polished" result.
Key Tips:
- Embrace natural pauses and "ums"
- Avoid overusing AI editing tools
Mentioned in today's episode
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Transcripts
Jamie: All right, so imagine this. You're really getting into a podcast, right?
Speaker:Jamie: Like maybe it's some crazy true crime thing or you're finally hearing about
Speaker:Jamie: that cool new tech everyone's talking about.
Speaker:Jamie: And then, bam, something just yanks you right out of it.
Speaker:Jaayne: Yeah, I know that feeling.
Speaker:Jamie: And it's not even the ads or anything like that. It's the editing.
Speaker:Jamie: Oh, yeah. Or like the over-editing.
Speaker:Jaayne: It's like they're afraid of any silence or something.
Speaker:Jamie: It's like listening to a robot,
Speaker:Jaayne: You know? Yeah, totally.
Speaker:Jamie: And that's actually what we're diving into today, giving podcasts some room to breathe,
Speaker:Jaayne: You know? Okay, I like that.
Speaker:Jamie: We've got this article, Give Your Podcast Permission to Breathe.
Speaker:Jamie: Love the title. And it's all about finding that sweet spot with audio editing.
Speaker:Jaayne: I see, I see.
Speaker:Jamie: And you don't have to be like a podcasting expert to get this, by the way.
Speaker:Jamie: This is about those little things that make a huge difference in how you experience,
Speaker:Jamie: well, anything you listen to.
Speaker:Jaayne: Absolutely.
Speaker:Jamie: So this author, he starts off talking about this poll he did on Twitter,
Speaker:Jamie: asking people what their biggest podcast turnoffs are.
Speaker:Jamie: All the usual stuff came up, right? Like too many ads, weird format changes.
Speaker:Jaayne: Right, right.
Speaker:Jamie: But a lot of people chose other. And when he looked into it,
Speaker:Jamie: a bunch of them were saying editing was their big issue.
Speaker:Jaayne: Interesting. It's so true, though. We think about the hosts,
Speaker:Jaayne: the sound quality, but we don't always think about the editing.
Speaker:Jamie: Yeah. And it makes sense because as a listener, you don't always notice every single edit. Right.
Speaker:Jamie: But those little changes really affect how you experience the whole thing.
Speaker:Jaayne: Yeah, I'd say so. It's like you don't notice every brushstroke in a painting. Exactly.
Speaker:Jamie: But they all add up to make the whole picture.
Speaker:Jaayne: And just like with too many brushstrokes, too much editing can kind of ruin the whole thing.
Speaker:Jamie: Totally. And that's how you get that staccato voice thing that the article mentions.
Speaker:Jaayne: Oh, yeah. The author had that great line. The human voice is not a staccato.
Speaker:Jaayne: So true. Yes. When we try to make it this perfect rhythm, taking out every little
Speaker:Jaayne: pause and breath, it just sounds...
Speaker:Jaayne: wrong.
Speaker:Jamie: It's true. And our brains can tell. We know how real speech is supposed to sound.
Speaker:Jamie: Think about it. In a normal conversation, you wouldn't expect someone to never
Speaker:Jamie: take a breath between sentences. No way.
Speaker:Jamie: Exactly. And it's those little imperfections that make us sound, well, human. For sure.
Speaker:Jamie: It's like we just instinctively know, you know, when someone's speech sounds too perfect.
Speaker:Jaayne: Yeah. Too polished. It's like that uncanny valley thing, but for audio. Totally.
Speaker:Jaayne: And speaking of uncanny valleys, one of my biggest pet peeves is when they edit out all the breaths.
Speaker:Jamie: Ugh, yes. It's like they're scared of a little silence, so they just cram everything together. Right.
Speaker:Jaayne: You get to the end and you're like gasping for air.
Speaker:Jamie: I know, right? So what's the solution then? Just got to let all the awkward
Speaker:Jamie: pauses and stuff stay in.
Speaker:Jaayne: Well, it's about finding that middle ground, right?
Speaker:Jaayne: Not totally raw, but not robotic either. The article actually had some good tips for this. Okay.
Speaker:Jamie: Yeah. What were those?
Speaker:Jaayne: So the first one is actually to embrace the um.
Speaker:Jamie: Really? I'm usually pretty quick to edit those out.
Speaker:Jaayne: I know, right? But an um can actually make a conversation better sometimes. Hmm.
Speaker:Jamie: Okay. When does that even work?
Speaker:Jaayne: Think about someone like Ira Glass from This American Life. Oh, sure.
Speaker:Jamie: Yeah.
Speaker:Jaayne: He's a great storyteller and he uses ums on purpose almost to give you a little pause.
Speaker:Jaayne: You know, like those little pauses are part of how he tells a story.
Speaker:Jamie: That's a really good point. I'm going to have to listen for that now.
Speaker:Jaayne: Yeah. Yeah, it's amazing how much something that small can change things,
Speaker:Jaayne: right? That's for sure. And that kind of leads into the next tip,
Speaker:Jaayne: which is about breaths. Okay.
Speaker:Jaayne: Obviously, we don't need to hear every breath, but a few natural ones here and
Speaker:Jaayne: there just make it sound more real.
Speaker:Jaayne: Less like you're reading a script, you know?
Speaker:Jamie: Like that balance. Yeah. Right. Sounding natural, but not like you're out of breath.
Speaker:Jaayne: Yeah, exactly. And they even suggested like instead of cutting breaths out completely,
Speaker:Jaayne: just lowering the volume of the really loud ones.
Speaker:Jamie: That's actually really smart. So, it's still there, it just doesn't like blow out your ears.
Speaker:Jaayne: Right, it's like subtle editing, not trying to make it perfect.
Speaker:Jaayne: Which actually, speaking of, that brings us to the last tip,
Speaker:Jaayne: which is about all these AI editing tools. Yeah.
Speaker:Jamie: Those are everywhere now. Yeah. So what's the AI editing warning?
Speaker:Jamie: I feel like there's got to be one. Lay it on me. What's the catch with AI editing?
Speaker:Jaayne: Well, it's not really a catch. More like a heads up, right? Those AI tools,
Speaker:Jaayne: they can be amazing, but they can go a little overboard sometimes.
Speaker:Jamie: Overboard how?
Speaker:Jaayne: It's like they get a little too excited about cleaning things up.
Speaker:Jaayne: and they might end up chopping out those breaths and pauses that actually make
Speaker:Jaayne: the conversation sound natural.
Speaker:Jamie: So it's like those grammar checkers, you know? Yeah. You just need a comma.
Speaker:Jamie: They want to rewrite the whole sentence.
Speaker:Jaayne: Totally. Like AI editing tools are great, but they're tools,
Speaker:Jaayne: right? You still need a human to listen and make sure it flows right, you know?
Speaker:Jamie: Yeah, make sure it doesn't sound like too processed.
Speaker:Jaayne: Right. It's like when you can tell someone's used those AI photo things to smooth
Speaker:Jaayne: out every little wrinkle on their face.
Speaker:Jamie: It's like too perfect.
Speaker:Jaayne: Exactly. And that kind of takes away from it, you know?
Speaker:Jamie: It's like we connect more with the real stuff, you know, like those little imperfections
Speaker:Jamie: that remind us we're all just human.
Speaker:Jaayne: Yeah, absolutely. And that's a big part of why podcasts are so cool.
Speaker:Jaayne: It's like you're just part of this conversation, right?
Speaker:Jaayne: And that goes away when it's all edited to death. Right.
Speaker:Jamie: Like we're programmed to think perfect is better, but sometimes those little
Speaker:Jamie: imperfections actually make it more interesting.
Speaker:Jaayne: Totally. So, like, next time you're listening to something, try to listen to the editing.
Speaker:Jamie: Oh, that's a good point.
Speaker:Jaayne: Like, notice those little breaths, those pauses, even the ums and ahs.
Speaker:Jaayne: Do they make it better or do they distract you?
Speaker:Jamie: That's such a great point. It's like anything, the more you pay attention,
Speaker:Jamie: the more you start to notice the little things.
Speaker:Jaayne: Yeah, exactly. And who knows? You might even catch those over-edited podcasts
Speaker:Jaayne: and be like, man, this thing needs to chill out a bit.
Speaker:Jamie: Totally. Well, I think that's a perfect place to wrap up our deep dive into
Speaker:Jamie: the world of podcast editing.
Speaker:Jaayne: I agree.
Speaker:Jamie: So, until next time, folks, remember...
Speaker:Music: Music
