I edited a weekly sexual politics podcast called Kink On Tap for about 35 episodes in 2010. Here’s a rundown of what I’d do for them.

This is an unedited sequence – it’s ~25 seconds long:

This is the same sequence after editing and noise removal:

You can tell by the fact that it’s 5 seconds (20%) shorter that it’s been edited, but in case it’s not obvious how, notice the differences in this snippet (the first is the edited version, and the second is the original piece):

You can also compare these (again, the first is the edited version, the second is the raw audio):

What’s been done here is, first, I’ve removed the ambient white noise of the microphones. Then I rooted out any stutters, um’s and uh’s, pops, or audible mouse-clicks. (In the case of “this- this- this show,” I’ve spliced the S of the first “this” into the SH of the word “show.”) Finally, I shortened any pauses that feel just slightly too long. It’s important to make sure the final version still feels as natural and conversational as the original, which is why some some stutters make it into the final edit; I only remove anything that breaks the flow of the conversation.

Editing couldn’t correct Meitar’s pronunciation of “initiative,” however.