When I edited the sample for MandRproductions (you can read more in the previous blog post to this one), the editing was a little different than usual. Here's what I did: I first cleaned out the white background noise and started the "dynamics processing" (that I always do).
This episode was a live one, so I had to cut out any phrases of the host or guest(s) mentioning that it was live. This is different than what I usually do, only once or twice have I edited a live episode.
I then looked for any disconnections, long non-related discussions that come up, repetition, etc. (also what I always do, though it was more common in this episode)
Now for the hard part, finding the right music for the podcast episode. Why is it so hard? There are hundreds of different types of music, but only a few would sound right to the kind of podcast. For instance: one of my clients, the Pioneering Today podcast, is a podcast all about growing your food, raising your farm animals, etc. When I started editing for the podcast (about two years ago), I thought it needed some music to liven it up, since it didn't have any music at the time.
I contacted the host and asked what type of music she would want for the podcast. She said she would want a western/folk type of music, which made sense of the kind of the podcast. I sent her about five different copyright free songs for her to choose from, and she picked the one she liked most. If she or I had decided to try a different type of song, like hard metal music, it would sound pretty silly listening to metal music and then hear a podcast about homesteading.
So, I spent around an hour looking for the right music to match a podcast about Lego Star Wars, Movies, and video games. And, over a selection of about four songs, I picked one.
Here's the sample I sent: