Over on Twitter, Macho Man Adam Drake asked:
So I recorded a screencast showing how I add chapter markers to podcasts I edit for clients.
Tools Used to Add Chapter Markers to Podcasts:
I edit podcasts in Logic Pro X (available in the Mac App Store). It’s not the cheapest piece of software but I bought it years ago when I first started recording podcasts and haven’t had to pay anything since. Kind of nice compared to the Adobe method.
Inside of Logic Pro X I add Markers wherever I feel is appropriate. Each podcast is different – for some it makes sense to have a new marker every time the topic changes and for others it’s more like a book aka a new chapter.
Then I bounce/export from Logic Pro X to a single WAV file. It helps if you keep the same name for this file each time and only change the episode number part.
Then I drag that WAV file into a program called Forecast – made for free by Marco Arment, creator of Overcast, a popular podcast player for iOS. Forecast automagically picks up the markers that Logic Pro X embedded in the WAV file while it also compresses the WAV file to MP3.
It all happens so quickly because Marco Arment programmed it to be crazy fast so he can spend more time fiddling with his coffee and headphones.
While you’re in Forecast you can add links and/or images to chapters as well so that they look extra fancy inside a podcast player and listeners can tap right on it to visit a webpage or sponsor mentioned in the show.
Then you just have to upload it to your favourite podcast host – I like Transistor.fm personally – and bob’s your uncle… you’re done!
Bonus Marks for Chapter Jumps on the Web
If you really want to impress the humans in your life, you can copy the Marker list from Logic Pro X, paste them into this CodePen Pen, click Run, and BOOM – you’ve got a nice Markdown list of the chapter time jumps to throw on your podcast’s website.
Not all websites support fancy things like TimeJump but hopefully they will eventually.
The video embedded above covers this all in more detail – or you can watch it on YouTube here.
If you’ve got questions or it’s not working for you, leave a comment below or – even better – join a community of podcasters who are trying to figure this stuff out together over at Castaways.Club.
Want More Tutorials Like This?
There’s a couple ways:
Leave a comment below if you’ve got a suggestion for the next video tutorial I should make!
