Adobe announced an AI-powered toolset for podcasts
Some of you may have been familiar with Adobe’s project Shasta, which allowed podcasters to edit their recordings based on the transcript. In other words, Adobe’s speech-to-text technology, mostly used in Premiere Pro, was able to deliver an accurate transcript of a podcast episode, and all the expressions you delete from the text would simultaneously be deleted in the audio as well. Fascinating, right?
Why was that important?
Well, if you’ve ever tried to edit an audio file, you know how exhausting it is to listen to it over and over again, trying to be precise while trimming the exact words you want to leave out from the final result.
The process of editing, even if it doesn’t include creative sound design, could last for three times the length of an episode. That is, if you’re skilled at editing and enjoy the process; otherwise, it could last even longer, resulting in you either giving up or hiring an additional pair of hands to take care of it.
Simply put, it’s not as neat and optimized as it could be.
And that was the premise for creating Project Shasta:
- Thanks to automatic transcription, you’re already saving so much time (and nerves), and you also have the possibility to include it on your blog, for example;
- Not only that – if you have plain text in front of you, it’s very clear which words are unnecessary, so you can easily delete them and make the transcript sound more natural and well-articulated;
- The best part is, when you delete a certain word from the transcript, it will automatically delete it from the audio file as well. It works like magic and is perfect for those who are not so skilled at editing or want to save a significant amount of time.
And yes, this includes all of the annoying “umms” you didn’t even know you used as much.
Anyhow, Adobe clearly saw what a great impact this project has had, and decided to move it to another level, rebranding it as “Adobe Podcast”.
At the moment, you can only sign up to be on the waitlist for the beta version. Still, not everything is lost: Adobe has released two amazing online tools that tackle the most common (and most obvious) issues while creating a podcast episode – background noise and mic setup.
Enhance Speech
Pros: It has an absolutely jaw-dropping effect. Even if in the original file you can hear the traffic, machine noise or inaudible speech, this tool will enhance the clarity of your voice and sharpen its frequencies, while removing the background noise completely. Most importantly, it won’t make you sound like a robot as some Adobe Audition tools do. It does all the work with just one click so it’s safe to say that most podcasts that use a simple interview or commentary form could rely only on this one tool for editing.
Screenshot: Adobe
Cons: Although it’s free to download and very simple to use, you cannot finetune it. You can either turn it on or turn it off. What’s more, even though it works really well with short recordings, it definitely isn’t flawless when it comes to bigger files (over 20 minutes) and tends to break every now and then. Lastly, keep in mind that the quality of the final result will be hugely defined by the microphone you used in the original recording. The one I used to test this tool wasn’t professional, so the “enhanced” version actually sounded worse than the unedited one.
Mic Check
Nowadays, it’s necessary for platforms that handle video meetings, team calls and webinars to include a mic check. It usually happens before the call, but can also be done on demand at any time.
So, why would you need a dedicated tool for that?
Well, most of the commonly used tools (Zoom, Skype, Teams, etc.) can only offer you a simple mic checkup that gives you feedback about the volume. Usually, this information doesn’t necessarily mean that your sound is great, nor does it give you advice on how to improve it.
And that’s where Adobe’s tool comes in handy – you’re required to say out loud a specific sentence written on the screen and, based on that input, Mic Check ranks your distance to the microphone, gain, background noise, and echo, all of which are parameters that are actually saying a lot about the quality of sound.
Moreover, it’s all presented in separate rows and analyzed separately so, if something’s not right, you’ll see exactly what you need to improve and how close you are to the ideal setting. Not only that, but it will explain to you what “gain” means, for example, and how to achieve the perfect tuning depending on the equipment you use, as well as your OS.
However, don’t expect it to magically turn your lousy microphone into a professional one, but it will definitely bring out the best in it.
Screenshot: Adobe
Finally, both of these tools will be integrated into Adobe Podcast once it sees the light of day so there will be no need to do it separately.
From what we’ve seen so far, the beta version will also include the “Project Templates” option, making it extremely beginner-friendly and will probably result in even more people deciding to give podcasts a go. What a time to be alive!
The best AI tools for podcasts
Okay, so while we wait for Adobe Podcast to be released, is there something else we could try?
Most definitely.
Podcasts are getting even more popular and accessible so it’s no wonder there’s a huge interest to innovate in this field.
Teams all around the world have come up with ways to automate the process of recording, editing and publishing podcasts. Yours is only to try them out and figure out which one is the most suitable for your needs.
These are some of the most recommended alternatives for novice and skilled podcasters:
Podcastle
Useful if you’re recording multiple people at the same time, since it records them on separate tracks. Apart from that, it saves the calls on the cloud so, even if your connection is poor or stops working, it won’t interrupt the interview. You can choose if you wish to edit the file in the browser or download it to edit on your preferred platform. Lastly, it includes useful resources to expand your knowledge on starting your podcast.
Podcastle includes the following features:
- Background noise removal
- Filler word detection
- Audio to text
- Podcast recording
- MP3 to text
- Format converter
Podcast Marketing
If, however, you’re not struggling with the recording itself but with the marketing side of it, this could be a useful solution. This tool will transcribe your podcast and use the transcription to offer you show notes, descriptions, titles, social media posts, quote cards, and more, depending on the channel you use. You can even come up with a name for your podcast if you’re out of ideas.
Screenshot: Fliki
Fliki
Among podcast enthusiasts, there are those who have great ideas and are able to write a compelling storyline, they may even have a great skill for editing, but they’re still missing one thing – the voice. Some of us are just insecure about their voice or would prefer not to be hosts in their podcasts.
Not everything is lost, thanks to Fliki – you can now use AI voices as hosts.
And don’t worry, they don’t sound generic at all. You can choose from a variety of options which voice sounds the best for the content you’ve created and the brand you’ve built. Actually, the only problem is choosing among the 900+ options.
But the ride doesn’t end here; Fliki offers support for podcasters in other forms as well. It can help you to publish your episodes on all chosen platforms, create a landing page, track your analytics, and more.
