Three ways to get episodes edited
The options differ in who carries the risk, not only in who does the work.
- In-house: someone on your team edits, usually alongside another job.
- A freelancer: one specialist you hire directly, per episode or by the month.
- A production service: a team that takes your recording and returns a finished episode to a written spec.
When in-house works
In-house works when a person on your team already edits well, has hours reserved for it each week and enjoys the work. It fails quietly: the first busy week the episode slips, and a show that slips for a month rarely recovers.
When a freelancer is enough
A good freelancer is often the right answer for a show with one voice, a stable format and a person on your side who will review each episode. The risk is concentration: one person’s illness, holiday or departure stops the show, and a new editor will hear your show differently.
When a service fits
A service fits when the show matters to the company, several people record and consistency matters more than the quickest route for each episode. You pay for a process: a second pair of ears, a written spec and a calendar that does not depend on one person’s week.
You give up the closeness of working with one editor you know. Whether that matters depends on how much of the show’s character lives in the edit.
A short checklist
Answer these for your own show before you choose.
- How many hours does one episode take today, including your review?
- Who covers the work when that person is away?
- Would two people editing in turn make the show sound different?
- Do you need delivery dates you can promise to guests and the rest of the team?
- What does a missed episode do to the show?
What stays with you in every case
Whoever edits, the decisions about topics, guests and promotion stay with your team. To see what a service covers in full, read what radio.app does and does not do. For the editing itself, see our podcast editing service.