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Creating podcasts using Audition

Last updated on Apr 27, 2021

Record, mix, edit, and publish podcasts using the custom-built templates and presets in Audition.

Podcasts are radio-style talk shows and audio broadcasts that can be downloaded or streamed over the Internet. Creating a podcast requires basic understanding of recording, audio editing and mixing, and streaming or publishing.

Audition makes the podcast creation process easier through its intuitive editing and mixing interface. Begin your podcasting process by scripting the content and setting up the ambience, microphone, and other recording equipment. After you record the audio, you can edit and refine it in Audition to remove unwanted noises, using the EQ to enhance the audio, and perform advanced edits and refinements.

Preparing your recording setup

You can record your podcast audio using a variety of equipment ranging from a standalone USB or analog microphone to a combination of microphones, audio interfaces, and mixers. Most podcasters record audio by directly plugging in a microphone to a USB slot or microphone slot on their audio hardware.

Audition supports a wide range of audio input and output hardware. The equipment is detected, drivers are updated, and audio preferences are set as you connect a recording device to your computer. Before you start to record, be sure to check the audio input and output preferences in the Audio Hardware Preferences dialog box.

To set audio preferences according to your requirements, choose Edit > Preferences> Audio Hardware and select your settings under the Default Input and Output options.

Note:

The recommended Sample Rate for podcasts is 44100 Hz. If you are planning to deliver your podcast as a video file, you can choose 48000 Hz.

Choose Edit > Preferences> Audio Hardware or select Audio Hardware from the Default Input or Default Output drop-down when you are working on a Multitrack session.
The connected input and output devices appear in the Default Input and Default Output drop-down boxes with their auto-detected settings. Select your options according to your requirement and click OK.

To know more about connecting your audio hardware to Audition, see Connecting to audio hardware in Audition.

Recording your podcast

You can record your podcast using the Waveform editor or the Multitrack editor. Waveform editor is ideal for recording the voice from a single microphone and editing an individual recording. On the other hand, Multitrack editor is used if you are recording and editing multiple audio tracks from more than one source.

Record using Waveform editor

Plug your microphone or any other voice recording equipment into the microphone input port of a sound card of your computer. Audition detects the hardware and sets up the device for recording.
Choose File > New > Audio File to create a recording.
Choose your sample rate 44100 Hz or above, channels as Stereo, and Bit Depth as 32 (float), and then click OK.
Click the record button when you are ready to record the audio and click the pause and stop button as needed during your recording.
Choose File > Save and save your file after verifying the settings. You can keep the Sample Type and Format the same as the source or change them by clicking the Change button.
Clear the Include markers and other metadata check box if you want to avoid default markers and metadata, in case you to want add custom markers and metadata later on.
Click OK to save your file. The Save As dialog box gives you an estimated file size before saving.

Record using Multitrack editor

Choose File > New > Multitrack Session.
In the Session Name box, type a name for your podcast multitrack session file and in the Folder Location, select the location to save your file.
To create a podcast session with default Host, Interview, Sound FX, and Music Bed tracks pre-populated with effects suited for podcasts, select Podcast in the Template dropdown box. Audition automatically populates the Sample Rate, Bit Depth, and Mixing fields with recommended values.
Click OK. Your multitrack session is ready for recording.
Select the settings for the track. For example, the volume level, input as mono/stereo, and output as mono/stereo/5.1.
Click the R icon in the track in which you want to record the audio and place the marker in the Editor panel at the exact time at which you want to start the recording.
Click the record button to start the recording and use the pause and stop buttons to control the pauses and endpoint of your audio track.

Editing your podcast

Your podcast can be a solo recording or a combination of voice and other elements such as ambience, special effects, background music, and voices of multiple speakers. To bring all these elements together and prepare a complete program, edit the various audio tracks in a multitrack session.

In a multitrack session, add your voice recording, music, and other audio elements to different tracks.
Arrange your clips on different tracks in the sequence that you want them to appear. For example, if you have different types of clips in your podcast session, arrange them in the following sequence with pauses and effects:
1. Title music
2. Intro sequence
3. Voice of the primary host introducing the episode/topic
4. Recording of the other hosts' talks with overlapping background music
5. Sign-off
To know more about the techniques of arranging and editing a multitrack session, see Arrange and edit multitrack clips with Audition.

Removing unwanted background noise from your audio

The Essential Sound Panel allows you to assign a mix type for your clip and apply edits that suit the nature of the clip. For example, if you assign Dialogue as the mix type for a voice clip, the Dialogue tab of the Essential Sound panel presents you several parameter groups related to that mix type. The parameters allow you to carry out the common tasks that are associated with dialogue, such as unifying the different recordings to common loudness, reducing background noise, and adding compression and EQ.

The mix types in the Essential Sound panel are mutually exclusive, that is, selecting one mix type for a clip reverts the previous changes done on that track using another mix type.

Choose Window > Essential Sound to open the Essential Sound Panel.
Assign a mix type for the track that you are editing, for example, Dialogue.
You can refine a track using a preset from the Preset drop-down box. For example, the Podcast Voice preset has predefined settings for noise and rumble reduction, and de-essing.
To manually repair your sound, under Repair Sound, select the check boxes for the following settings and use the slider to adjust each of them according to your requirements:
- Reduce Noise - to identify and reduce background noise.
- Reduce Rumble - to reduce low-frequency sounds and plosives.
- DeHum - to reduce hum sounds caused by electrical interference.
- DeEss - to reduce harsh ess -like sounds.
To use advanced noise reduction techniques such as capturing noise print of a specific frequency range using the spectral editor and removing it, see Noise reduction techniques and restoration effects for Audition.
Play the multitrack audio after you change the settings to test the output.

To know more about editing your audio using the Essential Sound Panel, see Editing, repairing, and improving audio using Essential Sound panel.

Matching loudness

In Audition CC, you can measure loudness in audio clips and apply correction to align loudness levels to accepted loudness standards.

Because podcasts are primarily consumed on mobile devices and in noisy environments, they require higher target loudness. You can set it at a level between -20 LUFS and -16 LUFS. The ITU broadcast standard for target loudness is -18 LUFS.

Choose Window > Match Loudness to open the Match Loudness panel.
Drag one or more audio files and drop them in the panel.
Click the Scan icon to analyze the current loudness values for each clip.
Click Match Loudness Settings to expand the loudness parameter group.
From the Match To drop-down list, select a loudness standard that suits your regional standards and content. For your podcast, choose the ITU broadcast standard preset that sets the Target Loudness to -18 LUFS.
Adjust the Maximum True Peak Level (between -0.2 dBTP and 1.4 dBTP), tolerance (at 2 LU), and click Run.

Applying effects

Note:

This section is meant for expert users of Audition who want to edit their audio using the advanced features. If you apply rack effects by following the instructions given in this section, Audition overwrites the changes that you had made using the Essential Sound panel.

In the Multitrack Editor, you can apply up to 16 effects to each clip, track, and bus and adjust them while a mix plays. (Apply clip effects if a track contains multiple clips that you want to process independently.)

Spoken word podcasts sound better when they are equalized by boosting the lower frequencies and dampening higher frequencies. You can do this using the effects in Audition.

Do any of the following:
- Select a clip, and click Clip Effects at the top of the Effects Rack.
- Select a track, and click Track Effects at the top of the Effects Rack.
- Display the fx section of the Editor or Mixer. (In the Editor panel, click the fx icon in the upper-left corner.)
To add preconfigured effects for podcasts, select Podcast Voice in the Presets dropdown box. The following effects are added to the track:
- Speech Volume Leveller
- Dynamic Processing
- Parametric Equalizer
- Hard Limiter
To manually add and configure effects, choose a slot and add an effect. For example, the Vocal Enhancer effect that enhances male and female voices using separate settings.

You can add effects for up to 16 slots in the list.

For more information, see Insert, bypass, reorder, or remove effects in racks.
You can choose from a list of Equalizer effects to equalize your audio--typically to boost the lower frequencies and reduce the higher frequencies.

For more information on using EQ effects, see Filter and equalizer effects.

Exporting and publishing your podcast

After you are done with your edits and previewing your changes, you can save your podcast in the format and settings that suits your target media.

The most common formats for podcast delivery are MP3 or AAC. MP3 is the most popular format used by podcasters. However, AAC files, often stored as .aac or .m4a files, offer better audio quality at smaller file sizes compared to MP3. AAC also supports metadata that MP3 does not support, such as Chapter Markers, and embedded links and images.

Recording your podcast at a higher encoding rate retains rich audio details. For stereo podcasts, 128-kbps MP3 is widely used. For mono, podcast talks, 64-kbps MP3 is used. When it comes to efficient compression, smaller file size, and better audio quality, a 64-kbps AAC-HE (high efficiency) stereo file would fare better than a 128-kbps MP3.

Audition gives you a range of output and encoding options within the application or outside, such as exporting to Adobe Media Encoder.

Adobe Media Encoder includes a series of formats and presets that allow you to render and publish high-quality audio output from Audition.

Note: To use the Export with Adobe Media Encoder, you must have installed the same version of Adobe Media Encoder as Audition on your computer.

Use one of the following options:
- To create a podcast file using Audition, choose File > Export > File.
- To create a multitrack mixdown, choose File > Export > Multitrack Mixdown, and then select Time Selection, Entire Clip, or Selected Clips.
- To export your output to your chosen output format using advanced encoding settings, choose File > Export > Export with Adobe Media Encoder.
To export using Audition, choose your format, sample type, format settings, and mixdown options by clicking the Change button in the Export Multitrack Mixdown or Save As dialog boxes.

To know more about the various options of exporting your audio output, see Saving and exporting files in Audition.

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