How do you (or do you) handle umms and uhs in video?

Video podcasters,

How do you (or do you) handle umms and uhs in video? Audio is so much easier to remove them without it being noticed. I came from video editing (self-taught) and learned audio editing later, but trying to switch between them is hard. Any advice?

I have a three different shots all synced up, but the filler language comes in so quickly that the camera angle changes too fast. Do you edit audio differently than you edit video?

Michael Berg posted to Podcast Editing on

7 comments
  • PN profile image

    about 5 months ago

    I don’t typically cut out those things. If I do cut something out (usually it’s something we said that we decide not to include) I’ll just use a quick light transition. I could use 3 cameras and get all the angles but I’m just not willing to take it that far with the video yet. But if you cut out a lot of footage, I would suggest multiple cameras so that you could cut between guests when you are taking out those parts.

  • RP profile image

    about 5 months ago

    Video just can’t be edited the way audio is for the average speaker. There would be too many cuts, even with b-roll and multiple angles. Ideally, you’d have at least 3 shots, the host, the guest and wide shot featuring the host and guest (assuming this isn’t remote).

    • TC

      about 5 months ago

      Quite so - all you can really do is remove the most egregious examples and live with it. You can cut between cameras, and you can use graphic or animation inserts to hide cuts, cut to the interviewer, sometimes you might be lucky and a cut for a quick err or umm won't be noticeable if the subject is still enough...

  • IM profile image

    about 5 months ago

    For me it is stop recording and upload. It is a podcast and I expect them to be themselves. Speak as you would do on a daily bases. The conversation is more important to me than the mannerism that many listeners wouldn’t even take note of while listening. I try to get the best audio quality during the recording/streaming to save me post processing time. Unless the guest is really boring with uhm ehm, the show is free flow conversation

  • JC

    about 5 months ago

    I don't handle them at all. When I edit the audio, I take out loud lip smacking, tooth sucking, and the like, because I put out an audio version too, but filler sounds don't bother me. Then again, my content is amazing. 😃

  • TG

    about 5 months ago

    Editing audio is like cutting butter: it's easy to make the cuts appear seamless. Editing video is like cutting steak: it takes a lot more effort to hide the cuts.

  • JJ

    about 5 months ago

    Overlay pictures or video clips of guest in action and then edit out whatever stuff you want. This helps avoid the visual jump cut. Kind of hitting vlog style. It’s what I did for a long time.