Had a talk with a podcaster that made me rethink my whole editing flow

I was at a coffee shop last week and ran into this guy who runs a pretty big storytelling podcast. He asked what I was working on and I told him about a video project I'd been sitting on for weeks because I kept tweaking the audio levels. He just looked at me and said "you know most people won't even notice a 2dB difference, right?" That hit me hard because I've been spending hours on tiny sound fixes that basically nobody cares about except me. He told me he finishes a 45 minute episode in under 2 hours now by just setting his mics right once and never touching the levels after that. I tried it on my latest video and finished editing in half the time. Anyone else ever get stuck obsessing over details that don't matter to the audience?

2 comments

2 Comments

mary_foster9228d ago

Completely agree, I fell into the same trap with color grading for way too long. Spent hours tweaking skin tones that nobody but me would ever notice. Now I just use one LUT and move on, my editing time dropped by like 40%.

oscarc5327d ago

Are you sure that podcaster is actually making good content, though? I've heard people say "nobody notices" about all kinds of basic stuff, but sloppy audio really does pull me out of a video or podcast if it's bad enough. Those tiny level tweaks he's skipping might be the difference between a pro sound and something that sounds like it was recorded in a bathroom. I'll admit there's a line, like spending 20 minutes on a 2dB fix is crazy, but having a decent mix with consistent volume across different clips isn't some hidden detail. It's like saying nobody cares if the bass is clipping or the dialogue gets buried under music, which plenty of people definitely do notice, especially if they're wearing headphones.

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