Technical reasons why an audio recording cannot be edited

[AuYeung]

I was listening to a podcast the other day that was a discussion between two guys. The guest suddenly had an issue with his headphones and told the host to hold down the fort while he looked for his spare set. The host was obviously not prepared for a situation like this and started singing a song he was making up on the spot. TBH I felt bad for the host because it was a little cringey to listen him try to sing.

This had me wondering: why wouldn't you edit out that part? I know the host may not have had the time or (heaven forbid) he thought he did a good job dealing with the dead air. I mean is there a technical reason why someone wouldn't be able to edit an audio recording?

I've used the voice recorder on an iPhone to edit out parts of recordings and I'm talking about bits in the middle. I have to believe that the guy doing the podcast was using software considerably more sophisticated than the iPhone app. So would there be something technical that would prevent somebody from trimming a recording?

[beefytwinkie]

As you said, if you can use an iPhone to edit, surely someone who is doing a podcast would be able to edit their recordings as well. I am certainly not an audio technician but even I can drop an audio recording into Sound Forge and make edits with just a few clicks of the mouse.

My guess would be:

1. He liked it
2. Didn't have time. Maybe there was a deadline he was going to miss if he spent a few moments editing the recording.
3. He wanted to preserve the podcast as originally recorded, good or bad.

[AuYeung]

Originally Posted by beefytwinkie

My guess would be:

1. He liked it
2. Didn't have time. Maybe there was a deadline he was going to miss if he spent a few moments editing the recording.
3. He wanted to preserve the podcast as originally recorded, good or bad.

I'm thinking that it has to be something other than a technical limitation keeping that podcaster from editing out that awkward part. It was actually pretty painful to listen to so I really hope he wasn't keeping it in because of reason #1.

I know a lot of folks who go with reason#3. A lot of times I wish they would take out or at least trim down the unnecessary bit, like them laughing endlessly at their own jokes. But I think reason #2 is why a lot of podcasters don't do that.

Not being terribly technical myself I just thought I'd throw out the question in case I was missing something.

[Hitman Horton]

Originally Posted by AuYeung

I was listening to a podcast the other day that was a discussion between two guys. The guest suddenly had an issue with his headphones and told the host to hold down the fort while he looked for his spare set. The host was obviously not prepared for a situation like this and started singing a song he was making up on the spot. TBH I felt bad for the host because it was a little cringey to listen him try to sing.

This had me wondering: why wouldn't you edit out that part? I know the host may not have had the time or (heaven forbid) he thought he did a good job dealing with the dead air. I mean is there a technical reason why someone wouldn't be able to edit an audio recording?

I've used the voice recorder on an iPhone to edit out parts of recordings and I'm talking about bits in the middle. I have to believe that the guy doing the podcast was using software considerably more sophisticated than the iPhone app. So would there be something technical that would prevent somebody from trimming a recording?

I know what a podcast is but I haven't listened to any. Having said that, do podcasts always run for the same amount of time? If they do, it's entirely possible that if the show was edited, it would run short and they'd need to find something else to fill the time. In that case, just keep it as is. If you aren't listening live, people can skip to the next part.

[AuYeung]

Originally Posted by Hitman Horton

I know what a podcast is but I haven't listened to any. Having said that, do podcasts always run for the same amount of time? If they do, it's entirely possible that if the show was edited, it would run short and they'd need to find something else to fill the time. In that case, just keep it as is. If you aren't listening live, people can skip to the next part.

No, podcasts can vary in length. I've seen some shows run 45 minutes one week followed by an episode that's just over 30 minutes. Your theory about the runtime makes sense but that doesn't appear to be the case in this instance.

Most podcast apps allow users to skip 10, 15, or 30 seconds ahead but I didn't have that option at the time. IIRC I was playing the episode from the podcaster's web site which didn't have the skip feature.

The musical interlude probably lasted less than a minute. It only felt like an eternity.

[Hitman Horton]

Originally Posted by AuYeung

No, podcasts can vary in length. I've seen some shows run 45 minutes one week followed by an episode that's just over 30 minutes. Your theory about the runtime makes sense but that doesn't appear to be the case in this instance.

Most podcast apps allow users to skip 10, 15, or 30 seconds ahead but I didn't have that option at the time. IIRC I was playing the episode from the podcaster's web site which didn't have the skip feature.

The musical interlude probably lasted less than a minute. It only felt like an eternity.

I can relate. At the wedding of one of my wife's friends, somebody sang "Butterfly Kisses" as his gift to the bride. I'd have returned it. It was a LOOOONG song.

[Anthony P]

don'5t know if it fits in "did not have time" but don't some of the live stream?

[AuYeung]

Originally Posted by Anthony P

don'5t know if it fits in "did not have time" but don't some of the live stream?

Fair point. I honestly can't remember if this particular podcaster live streams his shows or not. That could've been the case and he just didn't go back to edit the episode for one reason or another.