97: Why Not Editing Your Podcast is a Terrible Idea
What’s This Episode About?
"I don't edit my podcast because I want it to sound natural."
Every time I see or hear a statement like the one above, I can't help but roll my eyes. And, no, it's not just because I'm a podcast editor who thinks people don't appreciate what they do.
I mean, that's true ... but that's not really the point here. ;)
As someone who's been in the podcasting industry for over five years, I can promise you that not editing your podcast is doing FAR more harm than good.
Take a listen to this quick solo episode to find out why that's the case and what you should be doing instead if you really want your podcast to succeed.
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Transcript
Welcome to podcasting for coaches. I'm Britany Felix and I'm a podcast launch consultant who specializes in helping coaches and consultants utilize the power of podcasting as a way to build brand awareness and generate new leads for their business. I realize not every new coach or consultant can afford to hire someone to help launch their show. So I created this podcast as a way to guide you through the process of launching and utilizing your very own podcast to help you grow your business and reach a new audience of adoring followers and potential clients. If you're ready to get your voice and podcast out into the world, head over to podcasting for coaches.com to learn more. Welcome to Episode 97 of podcasting for coaches. I'm gonna say right off the bat up here that this episode might sound a little bit like a rant, or like I'm on a soapbox, but it's just because this conversation and the comments I'm going to talk about happen all the time in podcasting communities. And every single time I roll my eyes and cringe and want to punch a wall. So we're gonna go over why it is such a terrible, terrible idea to not edit your podcast. And I promise you, I am not saying that's just because I'm a podcast editor and I want you to hire me, I have plenty of clients. But I am saying this because I truly, truly care about you not wasting your time and potentially your money in your podcast and having it be completely ineffective for some silly things that honestly can be fixed fairly easily. So if you have clicked play on this episode, I'm going to assume you're one of three types of people. One, someone who frequently says, I don't edit my show, because I don't want it to sound robotic. And I want it to sound natural. And you very staunchly believe that. And you were clicking play, just so that you can dismiss everything I say and be like, Yeah, no, I'm not worried about that. My thoughts on this are definitely correct. Or you're someone who's like, I'm getting ready to launch my show. And I didn't really think I was gonna need to edit, but maybe I do. Let me just look and see here. Or you're the third type of person, which is somebody who makes those same comments as the first one. But you're actually open to learning and understanding why you might have been doing things incorrectly up to this point. And you want to make your show the best that it can possibly be. If you're person one, you can absolutely feel free to keep listening. But don't ask me and tell me about how all the things I said in this episode are wrong, because they're not I've been in this industry for over five years, and I know what the hell I'm talking about. If you're type number two or three, I am so glad you clicked play. And I am really excited to share this information with you. And if I get a little bit passionate about it, and a little bit preachy about it, please know it comes from a place of love and really, really wanting you and your show to succeed. Okay, so let's go back to those statements. I don't edit my show, because I want it to sound natural. I 100% get that. And trust me, I want 100% agree with you. I want your show to sound natural as well. But the misconception here is that editing your show makes you sound unnatural, makes the conversation sound robotic and stiff, and way too polished and dry sometimes, and just not conversational in tone. And that is 100% not true. In fact, editing can help you achieve those things when leaving your show alone doesn't. So the thing about an editor is that you have to understand good editors, ones who really take their crap seriously and aren't just doing this because they think this is a way to make money. Their whole entire goal and objective is to make you and your guest and your show sound and be the best that it can be. And we do this basically by being a fucking ninja. Our goal is to get in there, make it sound great and get out without anyone ever knowing we were there. A good editor can do their job. And no one ever knows an editor touch that audio file. So when you end up with conversations that sound robotic, they have awkward pacing and it's too stiff. There aren't any of those verbal tics or crutches left in, you hear breaths being just chopped off right in the middle of it. You hear words being cut off, all of those things are signs of a bad edit, or a bad editor. So a good editor will come in and actually take out all of the things in the show that are a distraction for the listener, all of the things that prevent them from being lost in the moment when listening to your show. And that's what you really want. You want that listener to almost forget that they're even listening to audio But that there instead part of the conversation with you, you want them to truly be lost in the moment. And when you leave in background noises, a lot of static, the volume isn't even even a solo episode between the different segments of your show or with you talking. There are a lot of crutch words. So as likes, you know, knows, filler phrases. And so stuff like that, I'll start so somebody who starts to say something, and then just changes their mind mid sentence, because they realize that's not the direction they really wanted to go, or what they really wanted to say. So they just like start over. All of those things are distracting to a listener, and they're taking them out of the moment, I am sure, if you listen to enough podcast, there has been an episode where there's been a guest who just seemed like they didn't know what the hell they were trying to say. And you're just like, Oh, my God, spit it out, please, you've taken 30 seconds to say something that should have only been like three or four words, because they're just a little bit scattered, and how they give the information, maybe they're nervous, all of those things. And yeah, that's what the real conversation is. But you're not doing this podcast for you. You're not doing this podcast for your guests. If that were the case, there's no need for a microphone and a recording program. And for you to put all this time to putting out a podcast, you could just have these conversations, you're doing this podcast for some other reason. And that some other reason has to involve the listener, and the listener wants the best experience possible. And that does not include listening to someone stammer through because they don't actually know what the hell they're trying to say. Now, a little side note here, little Asterix to that statement. If someone actually has a speech impediment, like a stutter or stammer, that absolutely should be left alone, just from an ethical standpoint, I hope you understand why. But if it's just because someone's nervous, and I have known several people who when I have a conversation with them offline, or on social media, they are totally fine. But it's like the second you stick a microphone in front of their face, they freeze up and they start to get nervous. And that's common, that happens all the time. But again, the listener doesn't need to listen to that if it can be cleaned up a little bit, so that the conversation does flow better, and it does sound more natural. Now, the reason this is so important, beyond it just making it a better experience for your listener, especially if we're talking about things like mouth noises, because who wants to listen to a bunch of saliva, I have a huge problem with that. And plosives, which are just these really harsh sounds when somebody pops their peas, and there's a lot of air going into the microphone, those are just physically unpleasant to listen to. But again, beyond that, the reason this is important is because your podcast is a representation of your business, and the work that you do in that business. So if you put out a poor quality podcast, it's not that much of a leap for people to think that you do poor quality work. But if you really take the time to put out a quality show one that's enjoyable to listen to one that sounds good, then it translates into the listener thinking that you actually care about what you do. And you put time into things to make sure that it's quality, which means you would probably do that if they hired you to perform work for them or coach them in some way. I mean, think about it, if you were looking for a new hairstylist, and the person that you thought you were going to hire, you look at some pictures of them online, or you actually meet them in person, and their hair is just a fucking mess. It is disgusting. Looks like it hasn't been washed in a week. If they've got roots showing they've got split ends, do you really want that person touching your hair? Probably not. And it's the same with this your show is a lot of times if it's working the way that it should, the very first impression that your potential clients or customers get of you. And if the first impression is something that is frustrating them that is unpleasant to listen to. That sounds like you spent all of 30 seconds trying to put this thing out for them. It's not a very good first impression. So having a poor quality podcast or podcast that is left on edited, is actually hindering the growth of your show and your business because it is turning your listeners and more importantly, your potential clients and potential customers off. Now, I am not by any stretch of the imagination saying that you need to have an NPR level quality or you need to go out and hire some top tier audio engineer who's like worked with the pros. There are lots of levels in between a terrible quality show and that level of show and you don't need to go all the way to the top. You just need to show that sounds good enough honestly, a show where the volumes leveled the background noise is there moved, you're actually using a decent microphone, your guest quality will just about never be as good. And that's fine listeners have been conditioned to expect that but you as the host, and the other components of the show need to sound as good as they can. So that looks like getting a decent microphone for your recording environment. The Samsung q2 is a pretty good starter microphone that's forgiving for most environments. If you have a Blue Yeti, it can potentially work just know that they are super, super, super sensitive to background noises. So if you live in New York City, that is not the microphone for you. You want to have a very quiet recording space if you're going to use a Blue Yeti. Recording in a space that does not have a lot of hard surfaces will help reduce some echo. Obviously turning off any fans sometimes even going so far as a turning off your heat or your AC if it's really loud in your home. That helps cut down on the white noise in the audio. Using a program like level later, which is free or a phonic, which is paid, that does about 80% of the work for you in terms of leveling the volume so that everyone's fairly consistent. And the elements of the show are fairly consistent will go a long way as well. Getting a pop filter and putting that on your microphone, and also positioning the microphone so that it's pointed at the corner of your mouth and you're talking over the top of it rather than directly into it will help with plosives. When it comes to mouth noises, you have to figure out the reason behind your mouth noise. For most people, it's their mouth is too dry. So you just want to make sure that you're very hydrated with room temperature water. And sometimes even a green apple right beforehand can help as well. If you're someone like me, and this is extremely disgusting, you produce too much saliva, then you obviously need to go the other route. And then when it comes to those verbal tics and crutch words and phrases, it's been some time to go through and do what we call the low hanging fruit, the things that are going to be really easy for you to remove. And honestly, if you edit long enough, you will be able to spot just by looking at the waveform, which word is an M, trust me they become super identifiable, eventually, you don't even have to listen, you can just tell visually, that's enough. And you can just take it right out. If you go through and get those low hanging fruit that generally will get rid of about 80% of those verbal tics and crutch words. And then that leaves you at 20%, which is plenty to have the conversation still sound completely natural, because yes, we do say arms. And sometimes they need to be kept in, because it's a particularly difficult thing that they're talking about. And the M helps emphasize that that they're struggling to try and find the words to explain the thing they're trying to explain. So we don't want to remove absolutely every single one of them. But I promise you, even if you're the best editor in the world, you can't remove every single one of them so you don't have to worry about it getting to the point where it sounds unnatural or non conversational or robotic. Now if you don't want to learn how to do all of these things yourself of course you can absolutely contact me. I do occasionally take on some new editing clients and even if I am not available or I am outside of your budget I do like to utilize the female podcast editors Facebook group that I am an admin of There are over 1000 of us in there and I can absolutely put up a job posting for you. So if you want to chat about potentially hiring me to edit your show or me helping you find an editor please feel free to reach out you can do that either on Instagram at podcasting for coaches. You can email me directly Brittany br it a ny at podcasting for coaches calm or of course just use the contact form on my website. It's linked right in the main menu. podcasting for coaches calm Alright, that's going to wrap up this episode. If you have follow up questions about editing, definitely feel free to contact me as well. Thank you so much for joining me and I will see you back here next week for yet another episode. And that wraps up another episode of podcasting for coaches. If you'd like to connect with me further, you can do so on Instagram at podcasting for coaches. If you know it's time to finally get serious about starting your podcast, go to podcasting for coaches calm and click on the work with me tab in the main menu to learn more about my one on one launch consultation packages or my self paced online course. And I look forward to seeing the podcasts that you create and put out into the world.