Most people can’t tell you what’s wrong with a badly mixed podcast; they just stop listening. A voice that’s suddenly louder than the one before it, a room that rings after every sentence, music that buries the guest… none of it is dramatic on its own, and all of it adds up to a show that’s work to listen to. Mixing and mastering is the step that takes that work away.
I’ve been recording, producing and mixing podcasts for about a decade, most recently 13 episodes of Sound Policy, the podcast from FM (formerly FM Global), and this is what working together looks like.
WHAT YOU SEND
Your finished cut of the episode as separate tracks, one per microphone, with the music and any sound effects, your editor’s rough mix, and notes on anything that’s bothering you.
THE AUDIO EDIT
This is where things get fixed before anything gets mixed. Bleed from one microphone into another comes out, and anything that needs surgery gets it: background noise, hum, clicks, a room that rings. I use the iZotope RX tools for this work.
THE MIX
In film and television, the final mix where dialogue, music and effects come together is called the re-recording mix, and a podcast needs the same job done. Every voice comes out clear and even, and the music sits under the conversation instead of fighting it.
WHAT YOU GET BACK
A finished master with balanced tone, maximized volume, and K-scaled output for the specific streaming platforms it’s headed to, like Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube. It’s ready to upload or to drop back into a video edit, with revisions if something needs a nudge. On Sound Policy, that meant a finished master back to the editor and on to FM for approval every two weeks; you can hear the results in Mixing & Mastering the Sound Policy Podcast.
If your podcast needs mixing and mastering, I’d love to give it a listen: creative@andrewfreeborn.com