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I have been playing around with the idea of leaving in all the ums and dead spots during my show. Even thought they are not often it takes a few hours to listen back and edit everything out.
Should I leave it in or spend the time to edit ? What do you guys do?
I personally leave them all in. Although most of what I am working with is people who have broadcasting experience, it makes it feel less produced. Although I do know people who do edit everything and it sounds fine, just not as natural.Quote:
Originally Posted by Podnutter
I guess it depends on how bad the ums, etc distract when listening. If they are too much of a distraction, then it might be a good idea to clean it up.
I always leave it in. the only way you learn to correct your mistakes is by learning not to do them anymore. a few pauses and ums add character to the show.
To add this this I was listening to a podcast the other day where the best was saying um every other word. there is very little you can do when thats the case. you just need to train your self not to do it.
I agree, leave them in. Even the mistakes and failures are good to leave in. On our Let's Make It show we demonstrate electronic projects and from time to time they just bomb. That is part of the fun, we typically try to find out why live too.
I also listened to a show the other day where the guest used um more than any other word. That was a bit excessive but normally I don't even notice them if I am interested in the content.
To me it makes you seem "normal". If I'm listening and I hear one, I'll take it out, but for the most part I leave it in. Its um, when, um, its um, you know, excessive, that, um, it needs, to be, you know, like, taken out. Which means you need to practice, or prepare a little more. The um is used to fill dead air because you're trying to think of what to say next (because you may not be prepared).
I think it depends on whether it's audio or video. If the "you knows" and "ums" are excessive in audio it could be distracting in some cases, and like podcastcoach pointed out, makes the host appear to be ill-prepared. However, once you add the visual component the mind picks up on different cues and it might not even be noticed.
Im my case, people are distracted by my movement disorder so I don't have to worry about it.:)
I never noticed a movement disorder.
Thanks!..That's what I'm going for.:)Quote:
Originally Posted by techzentv
I struggled with this as well, but ultimately I didn't think it was worth the time to edit everything out. I want my program to be as "live" as it can be without actually being streamed in real time.
However I am actively trying to say um less and trying to learn how to let silence happen if the moment calls for it.
I usually cut down lengthy pauses or dead air when I have guests on. The "you knows" and "ums" stay for the most part but at times I cut out the ones I can see easily. For video I leave all of that stuff in since I take my time editing the audio. I am usually more concerned with editing out tirades when stuff does not work correctly.
Leave them and learn not do say it
I think it depends on your style of recording/workflow. I do leave the majority of the um's and pauses in, but if I had to check a page for some information and it took longer than i expected, I will go in and remove the long pause.
I find that if I dont prepare well I have a lot more than if I actually have read and thought out what I was going to say. If I was doing a live stream and then podcasting after the fact, i wouldn't touch the recording at all.
I hate when I hear, "There is this really cool website, it's um... wait a second, it was just here..... um..." that can be avoided with a bit of show prep. I listened to a podcast yesterday that was an HOUR on Feedburner. It was TOPS 10 minutes of content that was stretched to a painful length. The podcaster kept talking about some crackling noise he was hearing (I didn't hear it). He would stop. I was listening at 2X so I can only imagine how long these pauses were. They were so long Paul Harvey would go, "Dang that's a long pause.." Now this podcast (I feel) thinks this is part of their charm. I can understand if its a panel and its live, but we just had someone drop some words that would get us the Explicit tag on a show and we went in and bleeped them out.
I once went to see a tonight show taping. They introduce Jay, he came out, and somehow, something went wrong. Jay went back behind the curtain, and was reintroduced, and he came out and went forward. It was called 'editing.." This is why "Bloopers" exist. They should not be part of your show in most cases.
Dave just wondering .. how long has this person been doing a podcast? I know many people struggle when starting out. Best think to do is test shows to learn how to talk.. or you can edit everything out lol
If you are broadcasting live, or want to make it seem like you are live, go ahead and leave it. But if I'm doing a pre-recorded segment that is important I'm editing it to make it sound polished and plush.
It's all about the intent.
we're getting better about the "um's" but being from the south, I can't help the pauses when I talk. It drives my wife crazy, so I can imagine how podcast listeners would feel if I left them in. I use the Truncate Silence plugin in Audacity to clean it up and it does a great job.
When we first started out, we were very conscious of our "umm", like" and "you know" so we edited them out in post. But that resulted in weird gaps and abrupt cutoffs within the conversations so we eventually leave most of them in, unless it is too distracting or we are talking overeach other.
Apart from training yourself to use fewer fillers, it's always good to be prepared for your podcasts. Often my best performance occurred when I knew my topic well and did my prep beforehand, even for simple things like loading up all the necessary webpages before the start of the recording. The less awkward silence there is, the less likely I would try to stall time by resorting to fillers.
Tomboy I was about to ask you how did you master the art of cutting out the umms and ahhs. I imagine it took a lot of time until you got the hang of it.
I feel this is analogous to public speaking. Over the years I have attended several public speaking training classes. Inevitably a fair amount of time is spent coaching students on avoiding filler words or phrases. These not only include the umms and ahhs but the overused words which can be particularly annoying. I have had to change radio stations during some interviews as the halting dialog of the speaker was unbearable...even though I truly wanted to hear what they had to say, it was lost in the umms and ahhs...very unfortunate for myself and for them. In many cases these are highly visible public officials who really should get some better training.
Actually the most common over used word, according to most sources, is actually "actually" actually. However there are many others including; "basically, literally, unique and of course the ubiquitous like"... then there are the overused phrases for example; "for example", "for the most part", "to be honest", you know, I mean, like I said...so many and I am as guilty of it as anyone using these.
I try make it a point, when presenting to an audience, to maintain a somewhat disconnected viewpoint as I am speaking. It has allowed me to cut down on overuse of words and phrases but not totally eliminate them. The only way this works effectively is if you are completely well versed on the subject matter being discussed. Otherwise the filler word or phrase inevitably pops ups as you try to figure out what to say. I usually make the attempt to pause whenever I sense a filler word or phrase about to utter from my lips. This has sometimes led to some funny situations where the pause was a little too long :)
So should they be left in or cut out?... I think it depends on how severe it is and only you and your audience can be the judge of that. I agree that leaving them in can create a more natural or casual feel for your show. However if they interfere with the message then it has gone too far.
Here's an article regarding ums and ahs that I found fascinating:
http://www.speech.sri.com/press/nyt-jan03-2004.html
Podnutter:
Of course the easiest way is to avoid using them in the first place but because we have guests, it is impossible to eradicate the umms and ahhs completely so we learn to deal with it as part of our usual editing process.
It really depends where the filler turn up in the recording. If they are standalone words, it's easier to snip them out. But if there is overlap with other words, we will make a judgement call whether to leave them in. If we have to edit them out, we fade down the last couple of frames so the cut sounds less abrupt. We use a lot of sound effects in Tomboy Tirade podcast so sometimes if the edit calls for a sound effect, I will use them to hide my cuts.
Hope that helps! :)
Thanks Tomboy. You are right its very hard to control how the guest is going to sound when you are interviewing them. Many times they get nervous and cant articulate what they are trying to say clearly.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tomboy Tarts
I do a 45 min show and it takes me about an hour and a half to edit out all the dead air and some of the more annoying ums and stuff. I use to edit them all out but that took me like 3 hours and I just don't have time for that. Sometimes it depends on who my guest host happens to be for that week.
It is really time consuming to edit an audio recording. Plus you still need to enhance it to make it sound professional. If anyone of you here needs help in doing this rigorous work, I can be of help. I am an audio editor and I love listening to podcasts 'cos I learn a lot from it. Please visit my page if you need an assistance with your recording: http://lowcostaudioediting.weebly.com/whats-a-min.html Thanks very much. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Jaded Tristin
