Polishing Your Content - The Joys of Podcast Editing
“So the writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the reader who reads.” - Dr. Seuss “I've found the best way to revise your own work is to pretend that somebody else wrote it and then to rip the living shit out of it.” ? Don Roff “You write to communicate to the hearts and minds of others what’s burning inside you, and we edit to let the fire show through the smoke.” - Arthur Plotnik I love editing. It's one of my favorite parts about filmmaking. Steven Spielberg. When I was in California for a new Media Expo, one my my friends scored ticket to the Tonight Show and my wife and I were able to Go. Jay Leno came out and I'm still not sure what happened (it might've been a cue card issue) but he stopped, and he went back behind the curtain and they did the whole intro again. Obviously, the first intro never made it to air. They do a thing called editing that takes the hard work that you've put into finding a topic, and it makes sure you don't get in your own way. I know improve can be electrifying, but in my travels (see Second City in Chicago and a couple improv groups here in Cleveland) most improv sucks. It could be funny, buy it needs this thing called editing. There are movies where people are paid lots of money to read words into a camera. We've all been in a movie that would've been better had it moved quicker. It woud've been better if they left a part out. It would've been better if they had done this thing called editing. The Gold Rules of Content Editing - Listen Through the Ears Of Your Audience 1. When I edit my show, I'm listening through the ears of my target audience. I listen to see if we are on topic. If I'm not if I should cut something, I always ask WWMAD (what would my audience do). 2. It should never sound edited. There will be times when Skype burbs, and you have almost nothing to piece together - I get that. But if you go to cut out an "Um" and the person said, "UuuuuumI think that.." and it's to hard to get the Um out without it sounding weird then leave it it. 3. If you want someone to promote it, they better sound good. These are my opinion/rules do with them what you will.
Podcasting Is All About Being Real Right - Why Edit?
When podcasting first came on the scene in 2004 you could use your built in microphone and just talk. Much like Milton Berle was the king of TV in the 50's you could be the king of podcasting. Looking back you had a choice of watching Milton Bele or a test pattern. In 2004 you had about 50 podcasts to compete with. Guess what? TEN YEARS later podcasters are spending hundreds of dollars on microphones and using dedicated media hosts and interviewing A list celebrities. You can't just wing it. Wait, I take that back. YOU CAN. The question is should you. I'm here to throw my vote as a yes. I edit my podcast. I love this quote: "“You write to communicate to the hearts and minds of others what’s burning inside you, and we edit to let the fire show through the smoke.” - Arthur Plotnik."
The Real Reason People Don't Edit Their Podcast
It takes time, and from my days of being a public speaker - it's harder to do a 15 minute presentation than a 30 minute presentation as you have to pick out the key points and hit them well.
Editing (and Podcasting) Can Be a Lot of Work - How to Fix That
Be Prepared - One of the reasons we have "ums" is our brain is trying to figure out what to say next. SLOW DOWN, and you will have less ums to worry about. If you're doing an interview, have some questions planned to use as a "game plan" that you can refer to if the conversation needs a poke. Don't Mess With Your Stuff - If possible set your equipment up and leave it. This eliminates technical issues in the future.
Give Your Guest a Target
Here again, the more you "Wing it" the more you will be editing later. If you are doing...
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