Hey Mike do you or anyone else in the lovely forum have step by step guidance on setting up the best work flow for a narrative podcast series?
I have 8, 30min episodes to edit, with 10 actors, music tracks, and sound design. It’s a lot of material. I’m presently working with a Mac mini M1 w/8g ram and an insanely fast 200gb external drive. I’m working on Audition.
Hey there, welcome to the forum – and congrats on taking the leap from listener to contributor!
Editing a narrative podcast with multiple actors, music tracks, and sound design is indeed quite an undertaking. Here’s a basic workflow to consider with your setup on Audition:
Organization First: Before you start editing, organize your files. Label each recording by actor name, episode number, and scene if possible. The more organized you are upfront, the easier the editing process will be.
Template Creation: If all your episodes will have a similar format (intro, outro, music beds, etc.), create a template in Audition. This will save you a lot of time in the long run.
Multi-track Editing: Make use of Audition’s multi-track editing feature. Assign each actor to a different track. This will make it easier to balance levels, apply effects, and keep everything coherent.
Effects & Processing: a. Dynamic Processing: For voice recordings, especially with the dynamic range that actors can have, consider using compression to level out the volumes. b. Noise Reduction: If there’s any background noise in your recordings, Audition’s noise reduction tool can be a lifesaver. c. Equalization: Apply a slight EQ to each voice to make it crisp and clear. Boosting the highs a bit can help with clarity.
Sound Design and Music: a. Dedicate separate tracks for sound effects and music. This allows you to adjust their levels without affecting the voice tracks. b. Always ensure that music or sound effects don’t overpower the dialogues.
Regular Saves & Backups: Given the amount of material you’re dealing with, always save your work regularly. And consider making backups, especially if you’re about to make major edits.
Listen on Different Devices: Before finalizing, listen to your podcast on different devices (phone, car speakers, headphones) to ensure consistent sound quality.
Limiting: Before exporting, apply a limiter to ensure that your podcast doesn’t clip and maintains a consistent volume.
Lastly, the Mac mini M1 should handle Audition pretty smoothly, but if you find any lag, consider closing other applications. The 200GB external drive is great for storing and backing up raw files, but try to edit directly from the Mac’s internal drive as it’s faster.
I hope this helps! Best of luck with your narrative podcast, and feel free to ask if you have more questions or need clarifications on any steps.
