#39: Podcast Editing Packages = platypuses
Each package ends up being very unique no matter how standardized things get!
Thursday, May 5, 2022
Hey fellow waveform geeks,
There are now 2 versions of the newsletter:
FREE version: I’m going to share 3 types of info in this issue:
Podcast editing stuff I’m working on and learning more about
Business Stuff I’m working through and skilling up on
Podcast Stuff I’m passing on to my clients (and you can too!)
SUBSCRIPTION version: For those of you who would like more and/or would like to support the Global Podcast Editors community, I’ll share the following:
all content in the free version
and
5 recommendations (articles, podcast episodes, videos, etc) to inform, stretch and experiment with
4 recommendations for you to pass on to your current clients (and/or to build your resource list to pass on to future clients too)
Note: these subscriber items are available only in email form and are not accessible on the Substack website. So maybe save the email for future reference.
Subscriptions are $5/month or $50 a year.
PODCAST EDITING
…stuff I’m working on and learning more about
I’ve moved up the technical part of the newsletter because this is the part that gets me fired up. Experimentation and learning are a huge part of who I am and what I do. That’s been true way before I was in podcasting and will always be a huge part of me. So let me share with you a few things I’ve been working on.
Exploring tools until I found one that works for me, for my brain
Tech curious and click-happy is one way that I’d describe my relationship with technology. I’ve seen how diligent and detail-oriented some of you waveform geeks are and I’m jealous. I have a much shorter attention span when it comes to trying out new tech, especially if it’s set up differently than how my brain works.
I don’t click with Izotope RX
In walks my very unpopular experiences about Izotope RX. The way I’ve been taught how to use RX is that you have to select, train and then run and then export audio to clean it up. I’ve taken courses and I’ve even hired a private one-on-one tutor but I just couldn’t hear an improvement in the audio when all was said and done. So although I’ve not technically uninstalled it from my computer, I don’t really use it.
It’s not them, it’s me (or my brain)
To be honest, I felt similarly about most of the sound clean-up things I tried to do in Adobe Audition. I’m not saying these are bad tools, I’m saying that they don’t work for my brain right now. And some people are uncomfortable with that statement. I’ve said this in a few places online and gotten the same knee-jerk response. Which puzzles me. I would never tell anyone that they’re wrong about a preference.
My watershed moment with Acon’s DeVerberate
This all turned around for me a couple of months ago when I started using Acon’s DeVerberate plugin. Okay, it still took me a minute to figure out that it was a plug-in that you used IN your DAW and not a stand-alone one like how I was using RX. Got it. And once I got it, I was hooked. Here’s why:
I could easily access the plug-in
I could hear the difference
I could move the knobs around and again, could hear the difference
In short, it was SO easy to use and it sounded amazing. One of my clients actually mentioned that their podcast sounded better out of the blue. Love those moments.
But RX works like this too!
Now I know what you’re thinking. Why didn’t I use RX plug-ins in Hindenburg? The courses, tutoring, and online posts I was looking at did not describe how to do this. But ironically, once I learned how to use DeVerberate, I saw that they were in the same effects panel next to DeVerberate. But you know what, I still can’t hear a difference when I play with declick, denoise, etc. Maybe it’s my ears OR maybe it’s that my client’s sound cleanup does not need those tools. Or maybe it’s both.
Focus on the sound clean up issue, not the specific tool
Either way, I’m excited to finally find a plugin that fixes something that I actually needed to fix with my client’s audio. Because, as Bandrew says in The Purpose of Post Processing video, the role of post-production is to “make sure that your audio is easier to listen to for your audience.”
Soap Box Moment: Tool snobbery is just dumb
Sometimes I feel that we get so attached to the tools that work well for us that we judge others when they prefer to use something different. Stop that. It’s silly. I would never be snooty towards someone for using a clear cup versus a mug cup (yes, that’s a thing in Japan, Google it). They both do the job just fine. A preference is a preference and getting condescending on someone for wanting or needing something different than you do is just plain wrong. It’s bad humaning. And it’s one reason that a lot of women in the space do NOT share.
What to do instead:
Listen
Make a note of what works for them
Suggest this thing to someone else when they ask for an alternative to the most common recommendation
Pat yourself on the back for being open-minded and kind
My point: Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough (of the tools that fit you)
(Yes, that title should be sung to the Michael Jackson song!)
If you are newer to podcast editing and don’t find the tools that folks are recommending to work for you and the audio you’re working on, search elsewhere. Ask lots of questions in other spaces. Then, and this is key, come back to the stubborn “we only use this known tool here” group and drop your new bomb of knowledge in there to make a path for others. Trust me, it’s needed and they will thank you later. There are a variety of tools available for what we do and it’s our job, literally, to find ones that work for us AND for the audio at hand. Go play and then share. Thank you.
Newsletter recommendation: Podplane by Tal Minear
Podplane is a podcasting newsletter spotlighting trans and nonbinary podcasts!
https://tinyletter.com/starplanes/letters/2pod2plane-podplane-flight-2
Spatial Audio Experiment: Mix3
I’ve started a new playlist on the GPE YouTube channel: experiments. I wanted a place to show audio experiments that I’m doing without them being tutorials. Experiments and tutorials are very different things, right?
Experiments=you + a tool + no desired outcome except to feed your curiosity
Tutorial= you talking to someone who needs help + a specific aspect of a tool + a method that will help someone (save them time, clean up an audio issue, etc)
I was reminded about this video that I made back in Albania nearly a year ago because of a Transom article I read about spatial audio.
I especially love this bit:
“...spatial audio isn’t just about creating a sense of physical realism. For the audio creator, a 3D mix environment also offers a larger “canvas” to paint on. It encourages us to think creatively about what Neil Verma calls “audioposition” — the listener’s perspective as captured by a microphone. Should all the voices get mixed to the center?”
I’m collecting audio for my Summer 2022 season of Geopats. But I’m also collecting ideas. I’ve been doing interview episodes for so long that I want something different. That’s not entirely true. I did a few other audio experiments when I created:
-The Podcast Review Day promo spots
-The Podcast Matchmaker episodes
-a Geopats episodes where I tried my hardest to be as funny and clever as Ally Ward of Ologies. Spoiler: it didn’t work at all! I was just disruptive. I’m not linking the episode because I’ve blocked out which one it was so feel free to go fish if you want.
But overall, the vast majority of my podcast episodes have been interviewed. And although the new season’s episodes will have interviews as their backbone, I want more. And reading this made me think that there’s a place for spatial audio. The new season is diving into the experiences of other expats who grew up with immigrant parents. Maybe the flashback to childhood segments could be spatially enhanced. I’m a firm believer that the tool should fit the need and that you should not create a reason to use the tool. 100%. And I think this flashback experiment might fit that bill. What do you think?
Spatial Audio Podcast recommendation: Uncanny Japan, especially the yo-kai episodes, https://uncannyjapan.com/
BUSINESS
…stuff I’m working through and skilling up on
Until the playful technical side of podcast editing, I find the business side the equivalent of teeth pulling. Or maybe I should say root canal doing (cause I had 3 root canals on the same tooth last year. And they still couldn’t find the elusive 4th root. Still in pain. But I digress). Pricing, contracts, and business boundaries are difficult for me in the best of times. And then there’s worse. But I’m improving. I think it’s important to share our growing pains, so here goes!
Redesigning my packages (again!) and updating all trails to the packages webpage
I adore all of my clients and enjoy the empowering messages that they are putting out into the world. But I’ve had an itch recently that I couldn’t put my finger on until a couple of months ago. And even then, it felt more comfortable to marinate in it than talk about it. It goes something like this:
I want to give feedback
Being a multi-passionate creative, it’s been difficult to hone in on what I can offer clients because in general, the answer to a “Can you…” is “yes.” But I’ve found with offering some value-added services that were not in the original packages I had on my website, there were some I enjoyed doing more than others. And the one I loved doing the most is one that I never listed nor monetized until a few months ago: feedback.
Feedback?
You have to remember that I come from a language instructor background. I taught adult students how to use the grammar knowledge they had in their heads in conversations and on paper (emails, essays, etc) for about 15 years. So I consider what some people might call producer services feedback. No matter what it’s called, when I realized that since I wasn’t owning my own feedback value by listing it, pricing it or offering it in my packages but was sending it to my clients in emails, I know something had to change. It’s not that I didn’t think it was useful, it was. It is. I just didn’t see anyone else listing it out specifically, so I wasn’t sure how to do it.
Bespoke Listener Feedback
So a couple of clients ago I offered a bespoke listener feedback service and explained it something like this:
Listener feedback: bespoke service. This is listener feedback regarding the content of the audio from a complete listener viewpoint. What might the listener have wanted more of? What might have been unnecessary to have in the episode? And more.
Example 1: Guest links in the show notes in addition to them being mentioned in the episode
Example 2: That moment when ______ mentioned that he calls his clients every 2 months. I wish there was more discussion around that. How does he manage the strain on his voice? Why does he say he’s calling?
($25 per episode/$100 per month)
And it worked
This has been an opt-in service that some clients have decided to do. And I can see some of the changes that are coming from the questions I ask in this listener feedback when I listen to their episodes. It’s really rewarding. But the itch didn’t go away. You see, I don’t want this to be an optional service, I want this to be part of the package. A non-negotiable. I don’t want to just clean up their audio and dialogue, I want to use my listener and creator experience to be a second set of ears for them. So I did! This week I officially changed my packages. And now the feedback looks like this:
-Producer feedback (from audio, not during recording): Tips on how to improve your audio, interview tips, content tips and so on. It's podcast listener feedback with an experienced ear and industry knowledge.
What’s your value?
I had the itch. I was package restless. But there were 2 things that really got me thinking about how to rearrange my packages like this.
Listening to the Value: A New Pricing Consideration for Freelancers of The Writers’ Co-op. Jenni Gritters and Wudan Yan talk about freelance writing but so much of this talk on what is valued and not valued in creative spaces maps over to podcasting. It’s worth a full episode listen. With notes!
Seeing Mischa Euceph’s Twitter thread from last year on rates in podcasting mentioned in the Podcasting By The Moon newsletter. This is a newer newsletter from Alexandra Cohl of the Podraland podcast (and so much more!)
Podcast Editing Community recommendation: Get a taste of what's in the Podcast Editor Academy with this free lesson about how to help your clients communicate what they want within the recording itself
https://www.podcasteditoracademy.com/how-podcasters-communicate-edits-to-their-editors
Client Attraction: LinkedIn Connections
Now that my packages were done I needed to get them out into the world to be seen and considered by the right client. I’ve spent more and more time on LinkedIn in the past year. In fact, that’s where I started writing about DAWs and podcasting editing. And in a real way, it’s where this GPE community started. So I thought this would be a good place to start actively networking.
LinkedIn is really fruitful for podcast editing business
Also, finding clients on LinkedIn is something both Puneeth and Mark mentioned in our last Global Podcast Editors Chats. Here’s a timestamped link to that part of our chat where we talked about where we find clients.
https://youtu.be/DEry3q_RWaE?t=1078
Plant a seed and leave a trail
My method of client attraction so far has been a planting seeds kind of method. I share things of value in different spaces online, make sure that my profile links and my services webpage is up to date, and wait for them to find me. It’s been really quiet on the discovery call front for the past 3 to 4 months but I was fully booked, so I didn’t check to see why.
Update my links
All of these items online were out of date: my
LinkedIn bio
website link on LinkedIn
newsletter link on LinkedIn
bio on my website About page
and more
Put it in the calendar!
So now I’ve added a repeat reminder for every month to check my links all over the web. Every month! I know I was really busy but if those items are out of date, that’s a horrible first impression. Not to mention I’m making it harder to contact me. This is messy and I’m not making that mistake again. So while I’ve got 1 client slot open, it’s not going to be quick to fill because of this mistake. It happens. No. It happened. But it’s not happening again.
How often do you check that your client attraction trail has your most current information? I want to know! Email me and let me know.
Podcast newsletter recommendation: Podcast Fiction Weekly
There’s a lot of audio drama podcasting news in this newsletter but there’s more like jobs, podcasting news, etc etc. Personally, it’s in my top 5 podcasting newsletters, and I subscribe to A LOT of newsletters.
https://www.thepodcasthost.com/fictionpodcastweekly/
Podcast Growth/Guest Outreach:
I don’t provide guest outreach services to my current clients but I do have a client that’s having a difficult time with too many guest cancellations. So I sent this episode to their guest outreach person to try to help. I do send articles, episodes, and such to my clients but usually not to other team members. I don’t want to overstep. But this episode was packed with tips. I couldn’t resist.
The Podcast Manager Show, Episode 107. 5 Must-Have Tools to Use for Pitching
Lauren’s guest Marie Tamrowski shares very practical and specific ways you can find and pitch guests. You may not be the one to do guest outreach BUT you certainly can send this episode to your client and/or the person who is in charge of it in their podcast team. Trust me, finding guests is not easy and any and all tips are usually appreciated.
I tried to timestamp one section of this 43:15 episode but the gems are evenly distributed, so it was not possible.
The Podcast Manager Show is created by Lauren Wrighton, who runs THE podcast manager training program.
Podcast list recommendation: Asian American Podcasters Association’s Asian American Podcasts List for APPI HERITAGE MONTH 2022
https://aapodcasters.org/31-asian-american-podcasts-for-aapi-heritage-month-2022/
Podcasting
…stuff I’m passing on to my clients (and you can too!)
I’m not that active on social media anymore but I do subscribe to a lot of podcast and podcast-related newsletters. And whenever I find something that fits one of my client’s podcast goals, I tag it to send it to them. This is part of my feedback mentioned above. I wanted to share some of these with you so you can see if they benefit your clients. If so, pass them on!
Storytelling: (Content) : Story Structure
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, story in podcasting is NOT just for audio drama. This workshop is from Podcasting, Seriously from LWC Studios and proves to be, like all their work, impactful.
What Goes Where?: Story Structure for Audio
Wednesday, May 18, 2022, 1pm-2pm New York, 7pm-8pm London
“Structure is simple. Structure is hard. In this workshop, Peabody-Award winner and former LWC Studios' executive editor Jen Chien breaks down audio story structure to the essential question: what (usually) goes where? She'll explain how to diagnose structural issues, and share some of her favorite techniques and tools for editing audio stories.”
Purchase tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/311281028937
Podcasting article recommendation: What Makes a Good Podcast Host
In this piece, I asked podcasters and podcast listeners what traits they thought were important in a podcast host. I wonder if you’ll be surprised by the 4 most common traits.
https://www.thepodcasthost.com/mindset/how-to-be-a-good-podcast-host/
Global Podcast Editors is a global podcast editor community where we dive into the successes and growing pains of being a freelance podcast editor, running a small podcast editing business, or transitioning between the two like I am!
Global Podcast Editors (GPE) has:
a twice a month LIVE Global Podcast Editor Chats on YouTube. NEXT live is May 12: LIVE Global Podcast Editor Chats:
a private LinkedIn group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12589124/
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Podcast Editing Community & Resource List:
https://globalpodcasteditors.substack.com/p/online-podcast-editing-communities/comments
this twice a month newsletter, where I share podcast editing technical and freelance/small business tips, resources, and conversations mixed in with my own struggles, successes, and projects.
Affiliate Links:
There are affiliate links throughout this newsletter. What this means is that if you purchase their product/service then I’ll get a small commission. These items are listed in the newsletter because I’ve tried or heard amazing recommendations about them. I’ll never list anything just for the money: that’s of zero value for you, the hard-working podcast editor.
My current tools:
-Audio podcast editing: mostly Hindenburg & rarely Audacity
-Video podcast editing: Reaper and Windows Video Editor
Location & Such: I’m writing this issue from Split, Croatia, where I’m swimming in ideas but trying to be more methodical about how I move forward. Part of this conundrum is if I should go to The Podcast Show in London at the end of May. It’s a quick jump from Croatia so it’s tempting. And I miss live events so much. But with moving every 3 months I am weary of extra travel.
If you’re interested in learning more about me, check out my revised About page on my website: https://www.stephfuccio.com/about.html
DAWingly yours,
Guesting episodes:
https://www.podchaser.com/lists/stephanie-fuccio-guesting-spots-107aNEz7dI
Website:
https://www.stephfuccio.com/
Twitter: @stephfuccio
Instagram: @geopatscoffee
LinkedIn: @dstephfuccio
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