Descript

The content creation wave isn't stopping. Whether you're doing it for yourself (hello, future Hollywood star) or using it to launch your business, the number of people we've seen talking into their phones and fancy podcast mics has skyrocketed, and that's not stopping anytime soon.

But once you hit "stop" on your recording? Time to edit, and that's not a small feat.

Most tools are extremely complex. For lots of editing, especially to clean up your podcasts, Descript is the tool that balances simplicity with power.

Fast, and easy to use

If you're reading this post, you are likely not a professional video/audio person, which means Descript is built for you:

• Clean and simple interface
• Engaging subtitles
• Templates built for social

While Adobe tools had us confused about all the possible dials you could turn and play with, Descript got us up and running in just a couple of minutes for a basic audio edit.

Two magical features

Descript allows for text-based audio editing. It transcribes your audio and shows a transcript. And instead of editing your audio tracks directly, you edit the transcript, and Descript makes the matching changes in the audio.

For most people, the "wow" factor with Descript comes in two moments:

1. Remove filler words
2. Overdub

In just one click, you can take out filler words like "um" and "uh", which might just save you a few hours of work.

Overdub is Descript voice cloning. Once you've given enough audio of your voice, Descript knows how to replicate your voice. Then, instead of having to re-record any audio due to a mistake, all you have to do is type in the correct Descript will then create the new audio. It's pretty magical.

Here's a demo from the Descript team for an example.

Give it a shot

From our research, everyone - even the professionals! - loves Descript. They're funded by OpenAI, it's a great product and it only sets you back $12-24/month.

That makes this an easy top recommendation.