61. How Long Does It Take to Edit a Podcast? | Podcasting Tips for Beginners

FAQ Friday answering the question of "How Long Does It Take to Edit a Podcast?"

This episode was produced by me, The Podcast Teacher! Contact me at Hello@ThePodcastTeacher.com.

Transcript

Welcome to podcasting for solopreneurs and FAQ Friday, where I answer a common podcasting question in 5 minutes or less. Today's question is, how long does it take to edit a podcast? This question comes from listener and aspiring podcaster, Kaylee. Hey, Kaylee. Thanks so much for listening. As you might expect, the simple answer to this question is it varies. It depends on a variety of factors, such as what the baseline audio quality is, how particular you are about removing things like filler words, how much editing experience you have, and how much of a perfectionist you are. I'm chuckling because that describes me. A general rule of thumb, though, is that editing a podcast takes about 1 to 2 times the length of the recording.

And just to clarify to make sure we're on the same page here, this is just for audio editing, not video as well. That is a whole another beast. So for a 15 minute recording, you can expect to spend 15 to 30 ish minutes editing. This estimate is for someone who is their own super basic editing and not getting into anything fancy. If you hire a podcast editor, they are likely spending significantly more time within this because they have advanced skills and tools that they are using to make your podcast sound great. You can make the process go more smoothly by making sure that you have a good recording setup. It takes a lot of work to make garbage audio quality sound good. If you read from a script or detailed outline, you're probably going to use fewer filler words than if you're talking off the top of your head.

So if reducing filler words, such as, like, you know, if that's important to you, consider scripting out your episodes. While you're recording, you can also use a dog clicker to mark spots that need attention during editing. Tune in to episode 21 of this podcast to hear more about how I implement this strategy. Editing your first few episodes will probably take forever, but then you'll get into a groove and the process will go faster. If you tend to be a perfectionist, like me, consider giving yourself a time limit. I am way more likely to let the little things go when I'm on a time crunch. A lot of people dread editing their podcast, but I promise it's not really that bad once you get used to it. If you have a podcasting question, click the send me your question link in the episode description, and I'll answer it in an upcoming episode.

Until next time. Happy podcasting.