Zencastr Editing is a paid feature that enhances and combines your separate recorded audio and video files into a polished, mixed file. The Remove Filler Words Smart Filter is an AI-powered tool within the Editor that automatically detects and removes common English-language filler words such as "um," "uh," and "ah," improving the clarity of your recording and saving you valuable editing time.
In this article:
What Is Remove Filler Words And Why Use It?
Remove Filler Words is a Smart Filter designed to detect and remove English-language filler words from your recording, saving you significant editing time. This filter cuts these words directly from your audio and video mixes while aiming to maintain the natural flow of the conversation. If a filler word occurs when multiple participants are speaking, the filter mutes only the audio of the speaker using the filler word, preserving the voices of other participants to maintain context.
Users on all paid plans can use the filter to automatically remove basic filler words including “um,” “uh,” and “ah.” For those on the Grow plan and higher, the filter can also remove additional disruptions, including false starts, repeated words, and other common filler phrases.
Using this filter enhances the clarity of your recording and reduces verbal distractions in your content, saving you the time of making these edits manually in external software. By removing filler words automatically, your content becomes more focused and polished, making it easier for your audience to engage with it.
Before You Edit
Editing can be run for up to 6 participants at a time.
Editing can be started after the host stops the recording and participants’ files are uploaded.
The Remove Filler Words filter is available for recordings in English.
1. Opening the Preview and Editor
To open the Editor:
From a Recording page, click the Preview button.
ORFrom your Dashboard, on the Sessions tab, under the ‘My Sessions’ list, click the name of the session.
Locate the recording you want to edit and click the Preview button next to its name.
On the Preview page, click the Edit button in the top right corner.
2. Displaying Filler Words in the Transcript
To display the filler words in the transcript:
In the Editor, click the Content & Clips tab at the top.
In the ribbon above the transcript, hover over Show Filler Words and toggle it on.
Result: Recognized filler words will appear in the transcript as orange text, making them easy to identify. Scroll through the transcript to see all marked words.
3. Configuring Remove Filler Words
To configure the filter to remove filler words:
In the ribbon above the transcript, make sure Show Filler Words is toggled on so that the detected filler words are visible.
Select one of these two options:
Remove Just Ums & Ahs: Choose this to remove the basic filler words of “um,” “uh,” and “ah.”
Remove All Advanced Filler Words: Choose this to remove the basic filler words plus repeated words, false starts, and other common phrases.
Note: This option is available on the Grow plan and higher.
Result: The selected filler words will appear in the transcript as strikethrough text, indicating they will be cut during postproduction (or muted if 2+ participants are speaking at the same time). Scroll through the transcript to review all instances that will be removed.
4. Running the Postproduction
To run the postproduction:
On the Editor, click the Apply button to commit your selections.
On the Preview Page, click the Next button at the top right.
Note: If you aren’t hosting a podcast on Zencastr, skip filling out the Episode Info on the right section as it is for publishing an episode to a podcast.On the Review and Confirm insert, review the summary of what you are getting and the credits cost.
Click Run Now to start the postproduction.
Result: The postproduction will begin to run, and the necessary amount of credits will be deducted from your credits balance when the postproduction completes.
5. Getting and Downloading Postproduction Files
Once the postproduction is running, you can either close the Preview Page or stay on it. The postproduction will run in the background and you will receive an email when it completes.
Downloading Files From the Preview
If you stayed on the page while the postproduction ran, click the Download button in the top right corner of the Preview Page to download postproduction files.
Result: All your postproduction files will be zipped and downloaded to your computer.
Downloading Files From the Sessions Tab
To download postproduction files from the Sessions Tab:
From your Dashboard, on the Sessions tab, under the ‘My Sessions’ list, click the name of the session.
Click the Postproductions tab.
Click the 3-dot menu next to the name of the postproduction.
Select Download from the dropdown.
Result: All your postproduction files will be zipped and downloaded to your computer.
Downloading Files From the Recording Page
To download postproduction files from the Sessions Tab:
From your Dashboard, on the Sessions tab, under the ‘My Sessions’ list, click the name of the session.
Click the Join Session button at top.
On the Recording Page, locate and click the recording name that you ran the postproduction on.
On the Podcast Mixes track click the Download Audio Podcast and Download Video Podcast buttons.
Result: The individual files will download to your computer.
Note: The postproduction transcript is downloadable from the Preview Page or the Postproductions list on the Sessions tab, but can’t be downloaded from the Recording Page.
Related Questions
Where can I learn more about editing my recording/running my postproduction?
To use editing to run a postproduction for a recording done in the ‘Record Audio, No Video’ or ‘Record Audio, Show Video’ modes, see this guide. To run a postproduction for a recording done in the ‘Record Audio and Video’ mode, see this guide.
How long does it take for the postproduction to finish?
Postproductions normally finish in under an hour. The exact time can vary depending on the recording length and the number of participants selected.