Editing step by step

Before you start: project and order

Create a folder for the episode with subfolders for the original audio, the music and the exports, as you saw in the workflow lesson. Copy the recording files there and never work on your only original: make a backup before touching anything.

The order we'll follow is always the same:

Import and sync the tracks

In Audacity, import the audio files from the File menu or simply drag them into the window. Each file will appear as a separate track. If you recorded an interview with one microphone per person, you'll have one track per voice: that's exactly what you want, because you can treat each one separately.

To sync, find the clap at the start: it's a very visible peak in the waveform. Zoom in, move one of the tracks with the selection or time-shift tool until the two peaks line up, and check by listening: if you hear an echo or a “doubled” voice, they're not aligned yet.

Clean and cut

Cleanup first. Select a few seconds of background noise only (the room tone you recorded) and use Audacity's noise reduction effect, in the Effect menu: first you get the noise profile and then you apply it to the whole track with moderate reduction. Listen to the result: if the voice sounds metallic, lower the intensity.

Then the cuts. Go through the whole episode and remove long silences, repetitions, coughs and distracting filler words. Use labels to mark doubts without stopping to decide. Remember:

• Cut in pauses or silent zones, never in the middle of a word.
• If a click remains, apply a very short fade at the cut point.
• In interviews with several tracks, cut all of them at once (select across all tracks) so they don't go out of sync.
• Don't remove every breath: the voice would stop sounding human.

EQ and compress each voice

Work track by track: each voice and each microphone needs its own settings. In Audacity's Effect menu you'll find equalizers, a high-pass filter, the compressor and the limiter (the exact names and grouping may vary between versions).

1. High-pass filter around 80–100 Hz to remove rumble.
2. Subtractive EQ: if there's mud, cut a little between 200 and 400 Hz; if it lacks clarity, a gentle touch in the presence zone (2–5 kHz).
3. Compression with a ratio of 3:1–4:1 and about 3–6 dB of reduction on the peaks.
4. Match the voices: adjust each track's gain so they all sound equally loud.

Music, loudness and export

Import the theme music and stingers onto their own tracks and put them in place. To lower the music under the voice, you can draw the volume envelope on the music track or use Audacity's auto duck effect, which lowers one track when it detects signal on another. Add fade-ins and fade-outs.

When the mix sounds good:

1. Listen to the whole episode once, ideally on headphones and also on your phone.
2. Mix the tracks down and apply loudness normalization (in recent versions of Audacity it's in the Effect menu) with a target of −16 LUFS for stereo or −19 LUFS for mono.
3. Add a limiter at the end with the ceiling around −1 dB, to leave true-peak headroom.
4. Export from the File menu: a WAV master to archive and an MP3 to publish (for example, 128 kbps stereo or 64–96 kbps mono). Fill in the metadata: title, episode number and podcast name.

The alternative: DaVinci Resolve with Fairlight

DaVinci Resolve is a video editing program with a free version that includes Fairlight, a whole page dedicated to audio. It's more complex than Audacity, but it has clear advantages if you make a video podcast or want a more professional environment:

• Non-destructive editing: effects and cuts don't modify the original files.
• A mixer with EQ and dynamics (compressor, limiter, gate) on every channel, and effects you can add to each track or to the mix.
• A built-in loudness meter in LUFS, to keep an eye on the target while you mix.
• Tools to sync clips by waveform, very useful with several cameras and microphones.

The working order is the same: import, sync, clean, cut, EQ, compress, music, loudness and export from the Deliver page. Only where each tool lives changes.

Shortcuts that save you hours

These are Audacity's shortcuts on Windows and Linux; on Mac, use Cmd instead of Ctrl. If any don't match your version, you can look them up and change them in the keyboard shortcut preferences.

Your turn: your first episode from start to finish

Edit a short 5–10 minute episode following every stage and export the final MP3.

1. Record or dig out a short conversation and create the project folder with a backup.
2. Follow the lesson's order: cleanup, cuts, EQ, compression, music and loudness at −16 LUFS.
3. Export the MP3, listen to the whole thing on your phone and note three things you'd improve next time.