Editing is where the science and the art of podcasting continue their dance.
How much is really enough? I bounce from one idea to another in this case. Particularly with regards to editing the YouTube live events I’ve been running with my co-host Rich Bowden. Being live events, I feel editing too tightly would reduce the “live effect” that comes from that sort of recording. Equally, I don’t want to inflict coughs on the ears of the podcast listeners. So I do some light editing and try to remain faithful to the original.
In my more formal, monolog episodes for World Organic News and Zen Druid I tend to edit more tightly. In the more experimental Sound Collages, the editing can vary according to what I’m trying to achieve.
This is the clue. What are you trying to achieve? The “Bread” piece I was talking about in the post on Soundscapes is up on the PodThoughts feed and you can hear how I was a bit heavy handed in the use of some sound effects. On the whole though I’m happy with the way that turned out.
The pacing of the voice was what I wanted and the sound effects were to add colour.
I had a sound vision for that piece. Having a sound vision or template for your podcast is a good place to start. It gives you and your listeners, a baseline from which you can work and they can have audio expectations.
The consistency of the sound vision is critical.
By maintaining the sound vision across your episodes, people come to expect a certain style. That style talks about you. It is part of your authenticity. It is part of the “Know, Like and Trust” process that grows with each episode. And it is through these growing steps that you become an expert in your niche.
As we discussed in the post on Defining Your Audience, finding your niche is how you find a place to express that authority.
Takeaways
- Define your sound vision.
- Edit to your vision.
- Maintain that sound vision as a baseline for your Podcast.
- Any major changes should probably be part of a re-launch.