We’ve all heard those podcast episodes, the ones with weird audio jumps, awkwardly long tangents, or background noises so distracting you just skip ahead. It’s 2025, and editing matters more than ever. A polished edit, especially for a narrative video, doesn’t just make your content quality better… It keeps your audience engaged.

According to Cue Podcasts, it can take up to 3-5 minutes per minute of recorded audio to edit. That means your 30-minute episode could take up to 2.5 hours to cut properly. If you’re outsourcing? Expect to pay anywhere from $30 to $200 per hour of audio.

Most creators and video editors? They start by learning the ropes themselves. That’s why this guide exists. To give you a strong foundation for editing podcasts and interviews, whether you’re using Adobe Premiere Pro or a plugin like Cutback, our AI co-editor that speeds up rough cut and multicam editing.

Let’s dive in.

Choosing the Right Tools for Editing Interviews and Podcasts

Selecting the right software for podcast editing or interview editing can be tricky. As a podcast editor or a video editor specializing in interviews, your tools should make editing easier, not harder. Here’s what you should consider:

Free vs Paid Audio Editing Software for Podcasts

Considering the best podcast recording software is only the beginning of the decisions you need to make as a video content creator. Choosing the right software can fast-track your path to professional-level podcast production.

• On a budget? Audacity and GarageBand are solid free options. They’re simple, reliable, and perfect for early episodes.

Free vs Paid Interview & Podcast Editing Software For Beginners

• Want to level up? DaVinci Resolve gives you pro-grade features in its free version, especially if you’re doing video podcasts.

• Ready to invest? Adobe Audition offers powerful, time-saving tools like waveform editing, audio enhancement, and transcript-based editing.

Editing Software Options: Best Video Editing Software for Interviews

For video podcasts or YouTube interviews:

• Adobe Premiere Pro: Still the gold standard, especially with plugin support like Cutback.

• DaVinci Resolve Studio: Great for visual quality and color grading.

• PowerDirector: Known for AI tools like speech enhancement and wind removal.

AI Podcast And Interview Editing vs Manual Editing

AI podcast and interview editing tools have a lot of advantages, including offering an escape from the time-consuming nature of timeline editing and, in most cases, a more intuitive interface for editing. Not only can they automate processes like multicam editing, but they can also automatically improve things like audio quality by taking care of the nitty gritty details that you don’t want to have to think about, like EQ, reverb, or audio gain.

AI is amazing for time-saving, but admittedly, it can’t do everything. Think of it like this:

• Let AI handle the grunt work (filler words, silences, repetitive cuts).

• You handle the finesse: pacing, tone, emotional beats.

That’s where tools like Cutback shine—giving you smart starting points that you can refine.

Premiere Pro Plugins That Make Life Easier

• Cutback: Equipped with multiple tools like auto transcription for text-based editing, auto multicam editing, silence removal, filler word removal, and more, for AI-powered efficiency.

• AutoPod: Automatically switches cameras based on who’s speaking. One of the key multitrack editing benefits.

• AudioDenoise: Offers background noise removal for better audio mixing.

• Levelmatic: Balances volume differences between hosts/guests through audio normalization, volume normalization, and other audio effects that impact audio levels.

With tools like these, you’ve got a high-powered editing workflow built for efficiency.

The Secret to a Good Edit: Setting Up Your Project for Success As An Interview Or Podcast Editor

Organizing Your Audio and Video Files

Start with clean folders. Create one folder per podcast episode. Make sure to segment the content within those folders. For example, make subfolders for:

• Raw footage

• Audio Recordings

• Final exports

• Other source material, e.g., B-roll, sound effects, etc.

Then, name these files clearly and with the same sincerity that you’d dedicate to writing show notes for your podcast. Trust us. Clear naming = less chaos later.

Intuitive Multicam Editing After Importing and Syncing Tracks

No matter which interview or podcast editor app you’re using, the more intuitive its multicam editing tools, the better.

Once your camera angles are synced, whether manually or automatically, lock your tracks to avoid jarring pacing issues (often prominent in separate track editing). From there, lean into multitrack editing by combining your angles into a single multicam sequence for seamless switching and cutting.

If you're using an AI-powered editor like Cutback, much of this is handled for you. Syncing, chunking, and even non-destructive editing happen behind the scenes—freeing you up to focus on storytelling, not timelines.

Why Transcripts Help With Interview & Podcast Editing

Transcripts aren’t just for accessibility. Transcription produces your editing blueprint. Search for keywords, flag highlights, and edit with precision.

For instance, Cutback’s built-in transcript editing makes this even faster by allowing you to utilize text-based editing (with cool sentence splitting and merging features), along with other features like an AI summary and YouTube chapter generation.

Mapping Out Chapters

As we mentioned, Cutback has an automatic YouTube chapter generator that utilizes the AI-generated chapters from your project’s transcription to highlight the most important points/topics in your video. Traditionally, though, after editing your interview or podcast, you’d have to map out the chapters yourself.

Why does this matter? Chapters let your audience skip to what matters. Use them to:

• Boost engagement by letting the audience skip to the parts most relevant to them in your social media clips.

• Make long content more digestible by giving visual markers of where in the video the viewer is.

Not only will this boost your engagement and retention metrics on your podcast or interview posting platform of choice, but it will help with SEO too.

Core Editing Techniques for a Professional Finish

Here are some interview and podcast editing techniques that you don’t want to overlook when polishing your final edit.

Trim for Clarity

Get to the point. Keep the natural rhythm, but remove:

• Repetition

• Off-topic tangents

• Long-winded moments

Remove Filler Words and Silences

Tools like Descript or Cutback can do this automatically. You’ll sound cleaner, more confident, and easier to follow.

Find Social Soundbites

Personal insights, quotable moments, and laugh-out-loud lines? Those are your viral clips. Mark them early.

Add Captions/Subtitles

Captions = engagement + accessibility. Plus, they boost SEO.

Cutback helps generate and style them quickly inside Premiere Pro.

Add Music, Intros, and Outros

Your intro sets the tone. Your outro drives action. Music ties it all together.

Just don’t overdo it. Subtle wins.

Advance Tips for Polished Production

Edit for Flow

Cut at natural breaks, not mid-sentence. Watch expressions when using video. Keep it smooth.

Multitrack Editing & Voice Isolation

Each speaker on their own track = total control. Isolate voices to fix noisy recordings.

Keyframes & Automation

Automate volume fades, background music ducking, and effect transitions. Premiere makes this seamless.

Noise Reduction & Vocal Enhancement

Remove hums and hisses. Enhance clarity. Cutback + Premiere plugins do this well without overprocessing.

Visual Overlays & B-Roll

For video: Use overlays and B-roll to maintain interest. It’s not just about audio anymore.

SEO Tips

Use your transcript for:

• Keyword-rich titles

• Accurate video descriptions

• Timestamps for YouTube

More metadata = more discoverability.

Editing interviews and podcasts doesn’t have to be a time sink.

With AI tools like Cutback, you can handle the heavy lifting—trimming silences, finding soundbites, generating captions—and still stay in control of the creative.

Whether you’re editing inside Premiere Pro or just getting started, these techniques will help you level up faster.

Ready to speed up your podcast editing workflow?

For more in-depth knowledge about the ins and outs of video editing, check out our latest posts on the Cutback blog or our YouTube channel. You can also join Cutback’s Discord community of like-minded video editors.