Audience

When we talk to our customers, podcast editing is often the most intimidating part of podcasting. It's technical, a more laborious process, and it's hard to know when you're done. With the importance of consistently publishing new episodes, there are a few podcast editing methods to choose from.

Some some, purchasing podcast editing software and using a DIY approach is best. An option for beginners and veterans, doing the editing yourself takes more time. There's a learning curve to understand the software, self-educating on how to mix and master audio files, and having to critique your own work before publishing an episode.

For others, hiring a podcast editing service is their way to focus on producing quality content while someone else takes care of the professional sound. They hire a professional podcast production service, send their raw files, and receive a fully edited episode. There are many podcast editing services out there but there's one that makes it easy, affordable, and gives you full control over the final product.

Today, we're excited to announce the launch of Castos Productions. Our solution to podcast editing that lives right in your dashboard.

In this article, we'll review the ins and outs of podcast editing whether you choose the DIY approach or use Castos Productions. From what files you need before you start editing, ways to make the process easier, to why podcasters decide to use a professional production service.

Podcast editing is an intricate process. Whether you're mastering the audio file yourself or using a podcast production company, these are the audio files you need handy to get started:

1. Separate audio tracks: the episode audio files from your podcast specific recording tool, like Squadcast or Adobe Audition. Use separate tracks for everyone being recorded.
2. Intro and outro segments: use the same version for each episode or customize it per episode.
3. Music: use it within your intro, outro, and main segments of your podcast.
4. Host-read advertisements: any sponsor messages that you need to include within the episode.

Our biggest piece of advice to make editing your podcast easier is to start thinking about it during the recording. Capturing high quality audio from the start will reduce the time it takes to produce a final episode.

The first foundational piece to get started purchasing a podcasting microphone and recording in an optimal location. Believe it not, for those without a sound studio the best place is in your closet. Next is perfecting good microphone techniques. This takes practice but it's best to capture audio where you don't have to go back and remove the extra plosives.

Whether you're just starting a podcast or regularly producing one, you’re undoubtedly weary about investing money in services you don't need. There are a lot of companies that will help you create great content, but before you hire them, you should decide whether they are worth the expense.

Audio editing is one of the most tedious and time-expensive tasks of publishing a podcast episode. You’ll have to address noise reduction, equalization, leveling, mixing, awkward pauses, extra “umms” and “ahhs,” intros and outros, ads, and a list of other issues. It’s a lot of work, especially if you aren’t an experienced audio engineer. In fact, the post production process can turn your fun podcast into a long and drawn out process. 

Most podcasters report that hiring an editing service was the best choice they made for their show. There are four reasons why:

Even if your content is unique and interesting, it's difficult to grab a listener's attention with amateur recordings. So you want your finished episodes to sound professional so you can compete with similar shows in your niche. For podcasters who want to sound like This American Life, hiring a professional editing service is the best way to get there.

During their interview, the hosts of the Ladybug Podcast mentioned hiring Castos Productions as a crucial part of their success. Offloading their editing process to audio engineers and publishing professional episodes helped legitimize their show from the start. When you work with Castos, our trained professionals will ensure that your show has the highest quality audio possible. 

When you record a 30-minute episode, it can take podcasters upwards of five hours to create the finished product. The time spent editing a podcast can be a frustrating process, especially for those without backgrounds in audio engineering. 

With an editing service, that time can be spent preparing new episodes, writing detailed show notes, or pitching new guests to appear on the show. Imagine what you could do if you could focus on those kinds of tasks! Allowing yourself the time and energy to focus on the content of your show without being distracted by hours of post production tasks will pay for itself.

Another added bonus of hiring a production service is that many (including Castos) provide more than just podcast editing support. Many offer show notes, transcriptions, marketing assets to promote each episode, and automatically publish to a hosting platform. Consider how much time you could get back with all of these tasks handled by an experienced team. 

Imagine if you handled all the editing all yourself. Would each episode be the same quality? Would a few background noises sneak through? Would you accidentally upload your show with that segment you intended to remove? Chances are you’d make a lot of mistakes out of inexperience and lack of a second set of ears. 

When you work with an editing service, you get the same result every time. Experienced audio engineers perfect the sound quality and presentation, and trained writers know how to create valuable show notes and transcriptions. Quality control checks ensure your finished episodes are top notch all the time. 

Opportunity cost is the benefit a person could receive - but gave up - to take another benefit. It’s when you forgo one thing to have another because you can’t have both. This concept is applicable in all walks of life, but it applies to deciding whether to use a podcast editing service. 

Podcast editing comes at a price. Since you could use that money for other things, you give up the opportunity to have those other things when you hire an editing service. But that doesn’t mean all your options will have an equal impact on your business. When you hire a podcasting editing service, it pays for itself with time saved. 

A busy person with a show to host and a business to run doesn’t have the time to spend on basic editing and administration work. Your time is more valuable than that. Saving a few hundred dollars by doing all of your own editing and administration could prevent you from focusing on your content, promotion,, or your high level strategy.

If you don’t have a business or a budget, then a do-it-yourself approach might work for you. But if you have a budget and time is at a premium, you can always calculate the hourly rate that you earn and multiply it by the time it takes to produce your podcast. That will make your decision easy, because math never lies.

Understanding and finding information about basic podcast audio editing and free audio resources is not that simple. Here is a list of articles, videos, and quizzes that will help with getting a better understanding of podcast audio editing and audio principles in general.

1. NPR Training - An awesome free resource for audio, visual, digital, and social storytelling.
2. NPR Training Vimeo Videos - A collection of NPR Training videos that expands on their written content. These are great for topics that require visual instruction. 
3. Writing Through Sound - Audio storytelling is all about the dance between your narration and your sound. In this webinar, NPR lays out a library of techniques for getting into and out of your sound.
4. The Ear Training Guide for Audio Producers - This ear training guide helps you to learn how to recognize certain sounds and identify problems before they impact quality or snowball into larger technical problems.
5. Quiz: Do you have the ears of an audio producer? - Take this quiz to see if you have the ears of an audio producer!
6. Put your audio to the test: Know when to use it or lose it - These three fundamental characteristics of good audio can help guide your decision-making when there are problems in your audio. When you get stuck trying to decide what to do, run your audio through this test. 
7. ‘Butt cut what?’ A glossary of production terms - A useful glossary of audio production terms and definitions
8. Pro Audio Essentials Challenge – Test Your Skills - This is a game-based course to practice and improve your audio skills. It uses audio games, ear training, and videos to build your skills.
9. Podfly Academy - A 10-lesson podcasting course to help new podcasters lay a foundation of basic knowledge for the unfamiliar. 100% free. 
10. Developing a Show Clock - Learn how to develop a show close for your podcast to organize your segments and ads. 
11. Adobe Audition for Podcasters - A series of tutorials on setting up a podcast with a focus on Adobe’s Audition software.
12. Music Radio Creative YouTube Channel - Learn how to create great sounding audio with the right equipment and tools, all from your own home.
13. Quick & Dirty Guide to Editing Podcasts in Adobe Audition - Learn the basics of editing your podcast audio in Adobe Audition. 
14. Adobe Audition: How to record, edit and export your podcast - This tutorial will walk you through the process of recording, editing, and exporting your podcast using Adobe Audition.
15. How to use Adobe Audition to give your podcast audio that professional edge - This video teaches you how to give your ordinary audio a professional sound. 
16. Adobe Audition Basic Recording Tutorial - This is another great video that teaches you the basics of voice recording with Adobe Audition for podcasts. 
17. How To Create A Podcast Template in Adobe Audition - Templates make everything easier! Learn how to create multi-track podcast templates in Adobe Audition to speed up your podcast workflow.
18. How to Edit and Sweeten an Audio Podcast in Adobe Audition - A great Adobe Audition sample workflow to make audio full and rich, as well as how to save out the audio file in the correct format and size for podcasting.
19. How to Process Vocals for Podcasts or Voiceover - A walkthrough that teaches you how to process voice recordings for more professional podcast episodes. (Great examples!)
20. Basic Sound Clean-Up for an Audio Novice - Learn how to perform a basic audio clean-up on a voiceover using Adobe Audition.
21. Free Audio Tools for Editing Music and Sound Recordings - A review of the best audio editors to polish your sound. Use this to decide which tool is right for you. 
22. Sound Waves and Music - If you want to learn about the theory of sound, this tutorial on sound waves and music will stretch your understanding of sound waves, along with a neuron or two.
23. Podcasting Basics: Audio Levels and Processing - A deep dive into loudness, EQ, noise reduction, and audio processing in general.
24. 10 Tips for a Great Sounding Podcast - Poor audio quality can detract from your message, but these 10 podcast audio production tips to help get you the best possible sound.
25. How to Record Long-Distance Podcast Interviews - If you interview guests often or have a co-host, you'll need to record your show from separate locations at some point. Learn how to get an excellent recording no matter how far away you are from your guest.

Castos Productions is a done-for-you, podcast editing and production service built right into your Castos dashboard.

We have a team of audio engineers and producers who have been in the industry for over five years. Clients like James Altucher, CoSchedule, and Buffer used the beta version of Castos Productions to free up their time for the more enjoyable parts of podcasting.

Here's a sneak peak at what a before and after snippet from one of our shows sounds like:

The goal with our podcast editing and production service is to help those not interested in becoming amateur audio engineers. Using Castos Productions

Getting started with Castos Productions looks like this:

1. Record the episode's audio segments, remember the checklist above.
2. Log into your Castos dashboard and upload each file under the "Add Episodes" section from the main dashboard. You can upload as many files as you'd like to this section.
3. Include editing notes for our team and send the files from the dashboard.
4. Our team mixes and masters the files to produce the final episode. If your plan includes show notes, transcriptions, and marketing assets, we'll create those too.
5. We'll upload the finished products to your dashboard. You'll receive an email notification that your final assets are ready.
6. If you have any edits or notes, our team will turn those around within ~24 hours and re-upload the new files to your dashboard for your review.
7. Once satisfied, approve the episode and it'll automatically be published to each podcast listening app.

Castos Productions offers three levels of services depending on your podcast editing needs. The best part is, the services are per episode so you don't have to commit to a subscription. When you purchase a package, we'll bill you on a monthly basis.

Our Pro Audio Editing services take 72 hours to turnaround a finalized episode. Whereas the Concierge Package and Complete Solution services take one week.

Learn more about Castos Productions and see how easy it can be to put your podcast on autopilot.

This week on Audience we chatted with Eric Nuzum, an expert who started NPR’s podcasting efforts back in 2005. Eric help found some of NPR’s most successful shows, has published three best-selling books, and co-founded a podcast production company called Magnificent Noise.

Recently, he found time to write and publish his fourth book, Make Noise: A Creator’s Guide to Podcasting and Great Audio Storytelling. The words of wisdom and exercises on being a better storyteller lead Craig to his position to sit down with Eric to pick his brain. Throughout this interview, they focused on how to conduct a more engaging interview, why DIY podcast networks succeed, the similarities between hobby podcasters and big budget productions, and where podcast advertising is headed in the midst of COVID-19.

Listen to the full episode now for Eric’s expert insights on all things podcasting.

With Eric’s experience being the interviewer, interviewee, and producing interview-style podcasts, there’s no better person to ask about how interviews create good stories.

He points out, when compared to monologue episodes, interviews help people who aren’t accustomed to telling their own story. Rather than the pressure to grab the mic and figure out their own way forward, the interviewer leads the guest to the questions the audience wants to learn about. But the tough part is the communal lift involved in getting the good story. There’s more than one stakeholder involved in shaping the narrative so it’s everyone’s job to keep the interview’s focus on the information that’s most useful to the audience.

Another key to getting a good story is the interview needs to feel natural, organic, and authentic. Podcaster’s most common hangup is trying to emulate someone else as their interview persona. While trying to mimic another person, you’re pretending to be an interviewer instead of actually engaging with the guest. Eric’s tip is to get out of that mindset and get back to being genuinely curious about the person you’re talking to. An organic, give-and-take conversation will help create a more riveting story arc.

Eric’s biggest interview tip: don’t ask questions you already know the answer to. It leads to inauthentic sound bites and a guest who can’t wait to end the conversation.

To promote his most newest book, Eric is often on the road talking about podcasting. From boardrooms to coffee shops, how to tackle the big creative decisions plagues every podcaster no matter their experience level.

Eric found both corporate conglomerates and podcast hobbyists struggle with the same frustrations. With so many decisions to make, combined an abundance of available options, every person he’s encountered is looking for the same information. This should be encouraging for beginners because it means having a big budget or a room full of media professionals doesn’t guarantee a hit podcast.

Since podcasting is a relatively new industry, it’s still considered the wild west of content channels. This is great in terms of the limitless ways new hosts can enter medium but also a curse as more options can hinder creativity. Eric suggests leaning into the minutia and really nailing down the details of your podcast. Start with who your audience is, what information you want to tell them, and then think about which format best serves that setup. Use those boundaries as guidelines when you’re at a crossroads and need to make a big creative decision.

Back in December of 2018, Eric wrote an article for Neiman Labs predicting the rise of DIY podcast networks. He bet podcasters would start banding together to form smaller networks to cross-promote each other’s shows to their respective audiences to mutually grow.

He’s prediction continues to ring true in 2020 so we asked him what makes for a successful DIY network. The short answer: a high degree of related appeal. The podcasters who partnered with other shows where the audience had enough overlap have found a great growth opportunity in DIY networks. They saw that people interested in subject A would likely be interested in subject B then found hosts producing podcasts in those niches.

They also didn’t shy away from cross promotion. Both in frequency and repeating their messaging, successful DIY networks made a concerted effort to to advertise the network’s partners. Eric mentions consumers need to hear things at least three times before they really stick. Considering many listen while performing other tasks, continuously promoting the same message is the best way to make it stick.

If you’re considering starting your own DIY podcast network, focus on the overlap and work with hosts who aren’t afraid of lending airtime to promote everyone’s show.

Thinking back to the Financial Crisis of 2008, legacy advertising networks are what fell first. The institutions behind print magazines and newspapers felt the biggest effects but newer digital platforms didn’t. Eric believes the same trend will happen during the global COVID-19 pandemic.

The podcasting industry is in a relatively stable place. As advertisers start to make budget cuts, they’ll reduce spends across the least effective channels first. Podcasts have proved to be an extremely valuable way for brands to connect with their audiences so they may not see a drastic change in sponsorship revenue. It’s more likely the legacy digital and print media channels will feel the biggest shift.

• Find Eric Nuzum at Magnificent Noise
• Learn more about Eric’s book, Make Noise
• Eric Nuzum for Neiman Labs: The Year Of The DIY Podcast Network

In this episode of Audience, we sat down with the hosts of the Ladybug Podcast. Emma Bostian, Ali Spittel, and Kelly Vaughn produce a weekly show geared towards developers at all stages in their careers. They create episodes about technical coding topics, interview industry experts, and weave in “softer” development conversations to keep their audience engaged.

Throughout this interview, our conversation regularly transitioned back to personal brands and their importance. These women are the perfect examples of how putting resources towards creating a personal brand can dramatically improve a podcast’s performance.

Inside this episode, you’ll learn more about how they run their show. With a track record of rapid growth under their belt, their insights are great takeaways for seasoned hosts looking to turn up the heat. Listen now to learn more about:

• How to explain technical topics via a podcast (hint: show notes play a crucial role).
• What you need to do before approaching or accepting sponsors for your podcast.
• A checklist for beginners on how to brand their podcast before launching the show (hint: it always comes back to your ideal listener).
• And the Ladybug Podcast’s most effective promotional strategies that contributed to their rapid growth.

The Ladybug Podcast details how episode transcriptions are an important part of their promotional game plan. With Castos, you can access automatic pay-as-you-go transcription services directly from your dashboard. Check out our comprehensive podcast transcription guide to find out how.

But ahead, we’re diving deeper into how and why their personal brands contributed to their success. This is a piece of podcasting that doesn’t always get the attention it deserves but can be the basis for sustained growth. Let’s find out why the Ladybug Podcast is the personal brand example you should follow.

By definition a personal brand is how you market yourself and skillset. It’s the combination of online and in-person content that represents what you want to be known for. A personal brand should tell a story about your background and provide an authentic look inside your life.

Personal brands are important because it humanizes the person behind a product. Giving an audience a peak behind the curtain allows for more authentic interactions and creates loyal followers. Many podcast listeners say they want to listen to hosts who feel like a friend and share their beliefs. The way to create that connection is to focus on curating real-time interactions with your audience members.

Each social media or blog post that supports a personal brand is an opportunity to engage. From retweets to comments to email responses, interacting with others in your niche community helps grow your following. In addition, weaving in content from your life or the inner workings of your company provides a necessary break from promotional posts.

Finding the right channel and committing the time to routinely post original content is step one in building a personal brand. The hosts of the Ladybug Podcast took this foundation seriously and achieved rapid growth as a result. And this is how they did it.

Throughout our interview with Kelly, Ali, and Emma, they repeatedly said the time spent building their individual personal brands contributed to their success. Before coming together to produce their podcast, each had gained a loyal following by consistently posting social media and blog content.

Each woman started their personal brand from different channels–from Twitter to blogging, choosing the platform where their intended audience already gathered. Here are the top tips they recommend to beginners who are starting out from scratch.

A tip from Emma: with personal brands, it’s about the journey not the end goal. It’s more effective to focus on refining the skills necessary to build the following than the actual numbers. If you want 200,000 followers by the end of this year, you’ll need to commit to the journey to get there.

Another reason to not strictly focus on the end result is the size of every niche is relative. Growth possibilities within one community don’t always translate to another due to the total number of people interested in that topic. For example, if you want to build a following of craft beer lovers then building a personal brand with 200,000 followers is achievable. However, considering the number of people afraid of heights, building a community of 200,000 enthusiastic bungee jumpers is more difficult.

While there is a community out there for every niche, the size of the audience varies greatly between each. Focus on the skills needed to connect with them, not the hard numbers.

So what skills do podcast hosts need to focus on to build a personal brand? The unanimous answer from all three women was consistency and unique content.

When asked how much time they spend building their brands outside of the podcast, each committed at least 3-4 hours a week. From writing tweets, sending newsletters, and publishing blog posts, all three saw consistently posting personal content contributed to their growth. Without consistency, it’s easy for a following to forget you’re there. Or you miss an opportunity to chime in on a conversation that generates a retweet from a high-profile user in your community.

Spending time and resources building an online presence is the first key to growth. But then what to post?

Kelly recommends upping the level of transparency is necessary to create a holistic personal brand. Reveal the positives alongside some negatives to show your human side. But remember, authenticity is key.

Ali shed light on how creating unique content for each channel gives people a reason to follow you across multiple platforms. Her followers head to her blog for the latest CSS cheat sheets then to Twitter to answer a poll about the best way to teach React.

After seeing an uptick in followers of your personal brand, it’s time to leverage that exposure for your podcast.

The hosts of the Ladybug Podcast go about this very intentionally. First posting content from the podcast’s account and then reposting from their personal accounts. Ali, Emma, and Kelly have access to podcast’s feeds so the expert in a specific topic has free reign to push the conversation forward.

They also don’t shy away from engaging with podcast listeners from their personal social media channels. And they don’t undersell the value of their personal brand followers in sponsorship deals either. With the podcast’s content regularly promoted within their personal feeds, they’re able to charge more for advertising packages compared to other shows.

Having established followings before launching their podcast no doubt contributed to the show’s success. But that means veteran and beginners can achieve similar success by actively growing their own personal brands. Committing to consistently posting unique content can mean the difference between growing a podcast from 100 to 10,000 listeners. Now it’s your turn to try.

• Subscribe to the Ladybug Podcast
• Follow Ladybug Podcast on Twitter
• Follow Kelly Vaughn, Emma Bostian, and Ali Spittel on Twitter
• Check out Hatchful by Shopify for logo generation
• Try PodcastMotor for your podcast production needs
• Join Ladybug Podcast Book Club on Goodreads
• Read Atomic Habits by James Clear
• Subscribe to Bad On Paper Podcast

On this week’s Audience episode, Craig sits down with Jay Acunzo from Marketing Showrunners. The two founders and podcasters dig into why defining and sticking to a point of view is the key to building an engaged audience.

The episode touches upon why it’s OK to have a podcast that doesn’t speak to some people. And how to differentiate their negative feedback from the reviews that will help you succeed. Jay clues us into his team’s mantra and how it continues to serve as their guiding light to produce a better podcast.

Listen now to figure out why Jay asks himself if he’s teaching chess or checkers, and how to adopt his growth mindset for your show.

Hot on everyone’s mind, especially for our Audience listeners, is growth. Almost ad nauseam, we always find ourselves back at the foundation of building a listenership: who is the target audience?

Throughout the episode, we found Jay shares our thought process. He believes the age of the “generalist” is over. Marketers and podcasters shouldn’t try to be a carbon copy of their competitors and aggressively follow the latest trends to grow.

Your podcast doesn’t have to appeal to the mass market. And Jay argues that brands who try to broaden their target audience will ultimately dilute their message and slow their growth. Instead, it all comes back to the niche listeners.

First identify who you show is for, and more importantly, who your show isn’t for. Then go deeper and deeper into figuring out how to better serve those specific people rather than following the latest trend. Naturally, your podcast will continue to innovate and be more engaging to the people who share your point of view.

For many podcasters, turning off potential listeners with a strong, decisive perspective feels counter-intuitive to growth. But Jay reminds us this is actually the foundation to building an audience.

If you continually articulate your beliefs clearly and loudly, your point of view gives people a way of saying your show is absolutely for them. You give their struggles and thoughts a voice that didn’t exist beforehand. Not shying away from your pathos builds loyal and engaged listeners who will routinely tune in.

A podcast’s point of view becomes a “trust accelerant”, creating visceral reactions that build communities and allows the show to generate a bigger impact.

But holding a firm stance will alienate some people.

This alienation can be scary but remember: if someone says something negative about your podcast, ask yourself if the commenter’s point of view aligns with your own. If you share the same mindset, then it’s a useful exercise to figure out how you’re underserving them. But if they aren’t part of your target audience, reset the thought process to remind yourself that their needs aren’t the ones you’re trying to satisfy. It’s OK for your podcast to not be for the checker players.

• Jay Acunzo
• Marketing Showrunners
• 3 Clips Podcast
• Marketing Showrunners on Show Bibles
• Subscribe to Audience

On this week’s Audience episode, Craig sits down with Jay Acunzo from Marketing Showrunners. The two founders and podcasters dig into why defining and sticking to a point of view is the key to building an engaged audience.

The episode touches upon why it’s OK to have a podcast that doesn’t speak to some people. And how to differentiate their negative feedback from the reviews that will help you succeed. Jay clues us into his team’s mantra and how it continues to serve as their guiding light to produce a better podcast.

Listen now to figure out why Jay asks himself if he’s teaching chess or checkers, and how to adopt his growth mindset for your show.

Hot on everyone’s mind, especially for our Audience listeners, is growth. Almost ad nauseam, we always find ourselves back at the foundation of building a listenership: who is the target audience?

Throughout the episode, we found Jay shares our thought process. He believes the age of the “generalist” is over. Marketers and podcasters shouldn’t try to be a carbon copy of their competitors and aggressively follow the latest trends to grow.

Your podcast doesn’t have to appeal to the mass market. And Jay argues that brands who try to broaden their target audience will ultimately dilute their message and slow their growth. Instead, it all comes back to the niche listeners.

First identify who you show is for, and more importantly, who your show isn’t for. Then go deeper and deeper into figuring out how to better serve those specific people rather than following the latest trend. Naturally, your podcast will continue to innovate and be more engaging to the people who share your point of view.

For many podcasters, turning off potential listeners with a strong, decisive perspective feels counter-intuitive to growth. But Jay reminds us this is actually the foundation to building an audience.

If you continually articulate your beliefs clearly and loudly, your point of view gives people a way of saying your show is absolutely for them. You give their struggles and thoughts a voice that didn’t exist beforehand. Not shying away from your pathos builds loyal and engaged listeners who will routinely tune in.

A podcast’s point of view becomes a “trust accelerant”, creating visceral reactions that build communities and allows the show to generate a bigger impact.

But holding a firm stance will alienate some people.

This alienation can be scary but remember: if someone says something negative about your podcast, ask yourself if the commenter’s point of view aligns with your own. If you share the same mindset, then it’s a useful exercise to figure out how you’re underserving them. But if they aren’t part of your target audience, reset the thought process to remind yourself that their needs aren’t the ones you’re trying to satisfy. It’s OK for your podcast to not be for the checker players.

• Jay Acunzo
• Marketing Showrunners
• 3 Clips Podcast
• Marketing Showrunners on Show Bibles
• Subscribe to Audience