04.03 Individual Podcast Edit Assignment

Assignment Deliverables

1. An individually edited podcast listening copy
   • Label the file YYYY-MM-DD Lastname Firstname Podcast.mp3
   • Export as a stereo MP3 at 192 kbps or higher
2. Your individual Premiere Pro project file
   • Label the file YYYY-MM-DD Lastname Firstname Podcast Edit.prproj

Also preserve a 48 kHz, 24-bit WAV master for your own archive. Unless instructed otherwise, submit the smaller MP3 and Premiere Pro project file to Canvas.

Assignment Overview

Your group recorded the conversation together, but each student must make a separate edit. Begin with the same shared stereo recording and create your own Premiere Pro project, transcript-based rough cut, timeline refinements, and final export. You may discuss technical problems and share the original RØDECaster files, but you may not submit another student’s completed timeline or exported edit.

Editing is an interpretive process. Two students can work from the same conversation and produce different successful episodes by selecting different moments, changing the order of ideas, or emphasizing a different part of the driving question. Your edit should remain truthful to what each person meant. Do not rearrange words or statements in a way that creates a claim the speaker did not make.

Editing Requirements

Create a focused podcast approximately 3–5 minutes long. The finished episode should introduce the topic and driving question, develop the conversation through purposeful selections, and reach an intentional ending. Remove material that is repetitive, technically interrupted, or unrelated, but preserve enough pauses, breaths, reactions, and room tone for the conversation to sound human.

Use Premiere Pro’s transcript to make the rough cut, then refine the audio directly in the timeline. Enable Show Audio Time Units when you need to trim between video frames at the sample or millisecond level. Listen across every edit and correct clipped words, abrupt changes in room tone, or unnatural overlaps.

Balance the voices so every speaker is intelligible. Music and sound effects are optional and should be used only when they contribute to the structure. Any outside media must be licensed for your use and credited when required.

Individual Workflow

1. Copy the shared stereo mix into your own organized project folder.
2. Create your own Premiere Pro project and preserve an untouched full-recording sequence.
3. Transcribe the recording and create a separate rough-cut sequence.
4. Edit the conversation for meaning, structure, and pacing.
5. Refine the audio edit points using the waveform and Audio Time Units.
6. Balance the dialogue and add optional music or sound only when appropriate.
7. Export and listen to the complete MP3 outside Premiere Pro.
8. Submit your individual MP3 and Premiere Pro project file.

Optional Publication

You are not required to publish the podcast, and publication does not affect the grade. Do not post the episode publicly unless every identifiable participant has explicitly agreed to public release and all music, images, and sound effects are cleared for online use.

If everyone agrees, you may upload a video version to YouTube as public or unlisted, or use Spotify for Creators to begin a freely hosted public podcast. YouTube requires a video episode, so an audio-only edit must be combined with a still image or other visual and exported as an MP4. Spotify for Creators is better suited to an ongoing podcast series than a single class exercise.

Grading Rubric