Beginner's Guide to Starting a Podcast | Part 2

So… you’ve got your hardware, gathered your cast, and hit record. Now you’re sitting on gigabytes of raw audio and wondering what’s next. Time to sharpen your digital blades and shape that sound into a finished episode.

If you're looking for hardware recommendations or how to record your first session, check out Part 1 - Hardware here!

Choosing Your Editing Software

Let’s not bury the lead: I use Adobe Audition. It’s a professional-grade DAW (digital audio workstation) that offers multitrack editing, noise reduction, and seamless integration with Adobe Premiere Pro and Media Encoder, which is helpful if you’re also dabbling in video.

But before I committed to Audition, I tried a few others:

• Audacity: Free, reliable, and surprisingly capable. I still use it for quick trims and speed edits.

• GarageBand: Great for Mac users and mobile podcasters. It supports multitrack editing and has a friendly interface.

Choose the tool that fits your budget and workflow. The best editor is the one you’ll actually use.

Workflow and Organization

Editing a podcast, especially something like a multi-player D&D campaign, can get messy fast. A clear structure makes the process faster, less error-prone, and much easier to tweak as your show evolves.

Label your tracks and stick to their roles. Here’s a sample layout I use:

• Track 1: DM (me)

• Tracks 2–5: Players

• Track 6: BGM

• Track 7: Ambience (world sounds, environment)

• Track 8: SFX (swords, footsteps, chickens, you name it)

Why separate tracks? Because applying effects to a whole track means every clip that lands there inherits the same polish. It also simplifies volume balancing and panning.

Also, Don't keep every track at the same volume or spatial location. Let your mix breathe. For example:

• BGM: ~50% of dialog volume

• Ambience: ~20%, barely perceptible but adds texture

Panning for Clarity

In a pure audio format, listeners can’t see who’s speaking. Panning helps separate voices spatially. Here's how I might pan a 5-player D&D cast:

• DM: -10 (slightly left)

• Player 1: -20

• Player 2: -30

• Player 3: +15

• Player 4: +30

Avoid extremes (like ±90), or your listeners will only hear certain voices on one side. This subtle panning helps differentiate overlapping chatter and keeps the experience immersive.

Subtraction Beats Amplification

Here's a trick I picked up from live sound engineers I worked with: if something needs to stand out, don’t just boost it. Subtract everything else.

Let’s say your bass in an A Capella group is getting buried. Most would instinctively raise the bass EQ. Instead, cut the competing frequencies from other mics. That way, the bass shines through without becoming overpowering.

Same logic applies in post-production: clean audio isn't about volume, it's about space.

Cleaning Up Audio

Now comes the unsexy but essential part: editing out distractions.

Silence and Filler

Use silence detectors or tools like Adobe’s Auto Heal to remove long pauses.

Tighten your pacing by trimming stumbles and "ums."

Noise and Disruptions

Use Noise Reduction tools conservatively to avoid audio artifacts.

Manually clean coughs, lip smacks, or table bumps by zooming into the waveform and cutting them.

Add gentle crossfades between edits to keep transitions smooth.

De-Essing and Leveling

Harsh S sounds? Apply a de-esser.

Normalize and compress your tracks so listeners aren’t riding the volume dial. A touch of EQ helps too—boost mids for warmth, cut low-end rumble.

Test as You Go

Don’t wait until the end to check how your edits sound. Use speakers for long edits, but switch to headphones periodically to catch noise artifacts and harsh cuts. It’s like tasting while cooking... you won’t get the seasoning right otherwise.

Happy Editing!