The "tick-tock, tick-tock" of a metronome lets a musician know how to keep time.
Have you ever considered that your audio may need the same type of tempo and pacing?
When creating an audio product whether it's a podcast, audiobook, or even a sales piece timing is one of the most important things that you can nail down in your presentation.
I recently had a consultation with a LinkedIn connection of mine who is starting her own podcast.
She was concerned about editing and about how her show sounded.
She gave editing a crack herself and came out with a product that was good for a first effort.
However, she felt something was amiss, and reached out to Westport Studios in order to help make sure that her product would from good to great.
A lot of this had to do with timing.
My connection had all the pieces of a podcast ready to go in an audio file but she didn't possess the knowledge herself as to how to make everything flow just right.
It's okay to not have this knowledge especially if you're new to the world of audio.
A lot of this knowledge is shared with music.
If you've ever played or practiced an instrument, knowing the timing of volume changes crescendos, de crescendo, tempo changes, and the loudness of the accompaniment volume can all either make or break the musical piece.
Giving music motion, (and EMOTION) is almost as important as keeping accurate time throughout the piece. The same thing goes for your audio endeavors.
You need to keep a solid tempo throughout your entire production; it's not that you can't change tempos throughout the product, but your changes need to be accurate and swift.
Once you change them you need to make sure that they lock in just as their predecessors had.
Looking at my connection's podcast, she had all of the pieces in the right places. She did a really great job for a first outing on editing a show!
The issue was, the timing was disjointed. And keep in mind this wasn't by much. 1-2 seconds in some cases.
A quick session with myself turned her podcast from something that was a good first effort into a podcast that sounded much more professionally produced and higher-quality.
This, in turn, is likely to get her more listeners as she launches her show, with the added benefit of having them stick around for more episodes.
There is a minimum audio quality for your content and if you don't meet it, folks will take one listen and never come back to your show again.
You wouldn't let a unprofessionally produced advertisement on the air would you neither should you let an unprofessionally produced podcast or audiobook loose on the internet.
In the span of an hour while teaching her how to do the edits that I was making, we brought her podcast trailer from Simply Good to Absolutely Great. The difference is night and day and you can hear it in the two files linked below. This was done remotely, to boot, and while the final product isn't perfect, the evolution of being better is plain to see
If your podcast, audio book, or advertisements need a more professional treatment than what you have currently, book some time with us here at Westport Studios.
We're happy to help, plus that free consult can definitely be used to help further your Audio Journey.
We're happy to teach, that's how people grow, and that's how we make audio for everyone
Podcast Final product:
https://open.spotify.com/show/4Jh5yUxOKXOetcwHl344iy?si=BUhQ1pkZQOOeeUbH33cnPw
Podcast Starting Product: