Ready to shine

My role in the chain of making a podcast is towards the tail end. Once everything has been recorded, transcribed and decided what will be in the episode - it is handed over to me. I edit the audio to be what the producer has asked for on the script or transcript. I enhance the audio by adding processing such as EQ and compression - think of this like adding colour to a beautiful drawing…I’m enhancing the sound, making the nice parts louder and the not so nice parts quieter. I’ll also do things like remove umms, ahhs, mistakes, mic pops, mouth clicks, noise (where possible) and anything else to make it the best sound possible. Then I’ll add music and sfx where required and will use as much or as little creativity as you need. Finally, I make sure everything is mixed nicely and master to the industry standard loudness for podcast platforms. And that’s how I add the sparkle and bring your podcast to life through sound.

A Sound Designer adds the creative sound to a mix. You might start with only dialogue, and a sound designer will add music, sfx, atmospheric effects (a room tone, a suburban street, birds, ocean) - any sound that will help elevate and tell the story.

If you’d like to read more about role descriptions, check out Podcast Workers Australia, they have a description for almost every podcast role going!

An Audio Editor (also me!) is someone who edits dialogue. Give me your interview and a paper script of what you want cut out, I’ve got you! And not just cut out, but cut out so that you can’t actually hear that something has been cut. THAT is the key to an amazing audio editor. I’ve made some incredible edits…but you’ll never know where they are ;)

If you’d like to read more about role descriptions, check out Podcast Workers Australia, they have a description for almost every podcast role going!

Audio Editing and Sound Design are honestly my most favourite things to do, but I also love getting out of the studio and into the field. I have collected some incredible equipment over the years and have a fantastic field recording setup. I can help with recording interviews on location, capturing atmos while on location and also tape syncs - recording one end of an interview if two people can’t be in the same studio. E.g a host is in a studio in Sydney and their guest is in Brisbane, I will record the guest with my location equipment in Brisbane and send that side of the audio to the producers, where they combine to edit. This sounds so much better than recording a guest over Riverside or Zoom (please don’t do that!).

The term producer is used a lot, and it’s an easy way for me to say I work behind the scenes, but when it comes down to it, a producer is responsible for shaping the story, and that is not my strength or experience. I’ve spent almost a decade listening to and editing stories, so I have a good ear for a story, and often because I’m not needed until the editing stage, I bring a fresh perspective and fresh ears to the story. I will give my two cents if I feel like something sounds a bit off or needs clarification. 

If you’d like to read more about role descriptions, check out Podcast Workers Australia, they have a description for almost every podcast role going!

It depends what you’re creating. If you’re making a straight interview podcast episode and know your brand and your audience, you might not need a producer. I can offer some tips during the edit too if you need. If you’re looking to create a more narrative story, or using a lot of different pieces of audio e.g interview, field, atmos - I think a producer is essential to bring that story to life in the best possible way.

Industry standard loudness metering, or LUFS, is the average loudness based on human perception. It’s important because it helps audio loudness levels feel more consistent to the listener. If you’ve ever had headphones in and you’ve turned up the volume to listen to something quiet, then forgotten and next thing something loud plays and blasts your ears off. We don’t want that happening when people listen to different podcast episodes, or music, or tv ads. So it’s important that the final step of mixing your podcast is to check that the overall loudness is to the industry standard -16LUFS.

Of course you can! The internet can teach us so many things and making a podcast is definitely one of them. I can also jump in towards the end of the process and help bring your podcast to the next level.

There’s a lot of things you can do yourself or with the help of AI, like record, transcribe, edit - but an audio editor and sound designer (me!) can bring your podcast episode to life. I am meticulous about edits, sound, voices, music, and sfx.

You can either use a USB microphone straight into your computer, or an XLR microphone - which will need to be plugged into an audio interface that plugs into your computer. A USB microphone is an easier and more affordable option. We can discuss specific microphones when we chat about your podcast.

There are many ways to record your podcast. You can record it into a portable recording device, such as a Zoom recorder (not to be confused with the Zoom software), or it can be recorded into audio recording software such as ProTools, Reaper, Audition. Finally, and the most popular for self recording is an online platform such as Riverside or Zencastr. I would recommend Riverside (Affiliate Link) as I’ve heard the best results from this program. I would discourage people from recording via Zoom (the software platform).  I have plenty of other tips and tricks for recording that I can share when we chat about your podcast.

In order to publish your podcast, you will need to choose a hosting platform. The platform allows you to enter all of the data and details of the episodes, upload the final audio and schedule it for release. It also collects important data about your podcast, such as demographic, platform that people are listening on, listen through rates, and so much more - this information is vital to the success of your podcast and also potential advertisers. I’ve mostly used Omny and ACast podcast publishing platforms, but there are plenty of others, such as Podbean, Buzzsprout and Captivate.

Unless you’ve asked the songwriter or musician for permission to use it (and most likely paid a fee) unfortunately you cannot use commercial music in your podcast.

You will need royalty free music, or music that you’ve paid a licensing or subscription fee that covers podcast production. I use Epidemic Music (Ambassador Link) for all of my production work - and as my client you will be covered under my licensing fee.