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Opinions Wanted Regarding Removing Imperfections
Do imperfections like stumbles and restarts, hitches, pronunciation corrections and stutters pull the listener in and make them pay attention more? Or are they simply distracting.
If you remove all those imperfections will the speaker seem more boring or sterile? And will the listeners mind wander more easily?
Also, what about out-of-the-blue singular background noises? Like a car honk, dog bark, a cup falling to the floor.
How about when you edit podcast episodes — are there some imperfections that you always leave in and others that you always remove?
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Comments
6 responses to “Opinions Wanted Regarding Removing Imperfections”
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I don’t mind listening to podcasts with normal speech, verbal pauses, and re-dos, but I delete it from my podcast. The main reason for this is that part of our podcast (the first and third sections) are read, so there are no mistakes. The middle section is an interview with all the speech problems. I don’t remove them all, but I do take out a lot, so the parts flow better. Also, I usually have to cut the interview down by a few minutes (or more) and removing verbal pauses, and extraneous noises are an easy way to do this.
A bigger turn off to me is when podcasters ramble. I’ll tolerate bad speech that is on topic but will unsubscribe from a perfect-sounding podcast that takes fifteen minutes to get to the point.
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When I launch my podcast later this year, I intend to record it pretty much like a live radio show. I’ll do very little editing. I want each listener to feel that it’s just the two of us, talking about sound systems over a cup of coffee or a beer. A little pause, or correction, or hesitation just enhances that feeling, I believe.
Now, when I’m editing/producing for a client, I’ll cut it anyway they want it. If they want it flawless and sterile, we can do that too.
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It depends.
You have to understand the feel, emotion and the expectation of the audience.
If a guest is speaking about something highly emotional, you might leave every gasp, breath, pause. If it’s a factual, serious podcast, you might polish it within an inch of it’s life.
On average, you have to consider the listener. Can you hear the person talk? Can you understand them? Do they make sense? Are there any noises that are distracting? Is the speaker rambling?
Sometimes, you just have to cut and ask permission later.
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Listening to “feel” what goes and what stays in is another piece of the art of editing. Sometimes, you immediately hear something that’s gotta go, but other times, the same utterance sounds okay in the context of the conversation. I find myself taking out less now than I did when I first began editing podcasts.
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I try to remove anything that I think will be distracting and leave in anything where removing it changes the feel or creates its own distraction. Over the past couple of months I got some feedback about how I can do that better and I’m continuing to refine.
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Chris,
I do “gradient” editing to my episodes. These means I clean up the front end of my episodes the most, and worry less about the middle and end. This gives new listeners the best initial impression as they sample the first few minutes. Those who listen deeper into the episode tend to switch their focus from the nuances of the production quality to the value of the content. And the obvious benefit to me is less editing.
This gradient editing applies to subtle and overt noises and distractions at the start of the episode. But I always will remove overt noises and distractions from the entire episode (mic bumps, coughs, loud mouth clicks, dogs barking, etc.).
The focus of my podcast is to help people fall asleep, so overall I do have to attempt to remove all major distractions.
Harris, host of the Sleep Whispers podcast
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