Podcast editing in Dubai: what happens to your footage, what it costs, and how long it takes
You have recorded the conversation. Now it needs to become an episode people finish and clips people share. What a podcast editor fixes, what they cannot, what you get per episode, and what it costs in Dubai.
You have the recording. The episode is still to be made.
A lot of podcasts in Dubai are now recorded by the host's own team, in an office, a rented room or a studio booked by the hour. That part has become easy. What has not become easy is turning two hours of conversation into an episode people finish, and a handful of clips people share. That is the editor's job, and it is a bigger job than most people expect when they hit stop. J-Cut started in 2019 as an editing and post-production studio, so this is the part of the process we know best. This article is for anyone holding raw podcast footage and wondering what happens next: what usually needs fixing, what an editor can and cannot rescue, what you should expect to receive per episode, how long it takes, and what it costs. If you have not recorded yet, read our guide to what to settle before you book a podcast shoot first, because several of the problems below are decided before anyone presses record.
What usually arrives, and what can be done about it
When clients send us footage they recorded themselves, the same three problems come up again and again. The first is audio: poor sound, or a room with echo, because the space looked good on camera and nobody listened to it. The second is lighting and framing: faces in shadow, a bright window behind a guest, or one person cut off at the edge of the frame. The third is camera placement, and it is the one people do not know they have got wrong. Some of this can be improved in the edit. Audio can be cleaned up and levelled, and colour and exposure can be corrected, within limits. A sound that was never recorded properly cannot be fully rebuilt, and a face that was never lit can only be lifted so far before it looks processed. Camera placement is different again. It is fixed the moment you start recording, and no amount of editing moves a camera after the fact. That is why it gets a section of its own.
The camera rule most self-recorded podcasts break
There is a rule for where cameras go in a conversation, and when it is broken the edit stops feeling smooth. The one we see broken most often is eyelines. When the edit cuts from the host to the guest, each person should look as though they are talking to the other. If the cameras are placed without thinking about it, the host appears to look off to one side and the guest appears to look the same way, so when you cut between them they seem to be talking past each other rather than to each other. Viewers cannot always say what is wrong, but they feel it, and it makes a good conversation look awkward. An editor can choose shots to soften it, but cannot correct it. If you are recording yourself, set the cameras so each person's eyeline points towards where the other person will appear on screen, and check a test recording before the real one. Ten minutes of checking saves an episode that never quite cuts together.
What you get for each episode
Every episode we edit starts with one full episode, with subtitles if you need them. Shorts are added when requested: short vertical clips cut from the episode and built to work on their own in a feed. Then there is motion graphics, which we think is the most important part of a podcast after the edit itself. It comes at two levels. The simpler level is text animation, such as names, titles and key lines appearing on screen. The more advanced level is animated motion graphics that relate to what the episode is about, so the visuals follow the topic rather than just labelling the speakers. On top of that there is an optional add-on: an animated intro and outro made specially for the episode, which gives a series its own identity and makes it recognisable from the first seconds. Finding the hook, building an intro that earns the next hour, and deciding where graphics lift a conversation are creative calls, which is why two editors given the same footage deliver very different episodes. See our motion graphics work for the range.
Shorts as teasers: how BNB in Dubai used them
One series we are proud of is BNB in Dubai, an Airbnb podcast hosted by Redeet Negate, one of the big names in short-term rentals in Dubai. We edited multiple episodes, and for each one we cut three shorts designed to work as teasers for the main episode, which the client published on YouTube. The thinking is simple. A full episode is a big ask for someone who has never heard of the show. A short is not. Each teaser does one job: give a stranger a reason to go and watch the full conversation. That changes how the shorts are chosen. The aim is not the three funniest moments, but the three moments that leave a question open, so the natural next step is the full episode. If you are planning shorts, decide at the start whether they are teasers for the episode or standalone content for social, because the editor selects differently for each. The same thinking runs through all our social video work.
What podcast editing costs in Dubai, and how long it takes
Editing a client-recorded episode with us costs between AED 4,000 and AED 15,000 per episode. Where an episode lands in that range depends on three things: how many hours of recording there are, how many speakers there are, and whether you need only the full episode or shorts as well. Motion graphics level and the animated intro and outro add-on also move the number, so we quote each series against what it actually needs rather than a fixed package. Turnaround is three to five days from receiving the raw footage to the finished episode. Three rounds of revisions are included per episode, which in practice is enough to get from first cut to approved without the process dragging on. When the work is delivered, you receive the final files, and the raw footage and project files are available on request, so you are never locked out of your own material.
Before you send your footage: a short checklist
Five things make an edit faster and better, and all of them are decided before the footage reaches an editor. One, listen to the room before you record, not just look at it, and deal with echo first. Two, light the faces, and keep bright windows out of the background. Three, check the eyelines on a test recording so the host and guest look at each other when you cut between them. Four, decide whether you want shorts, how many, and whether they are teasers for the episode or standalone social content. Five, decide the level of motion graphics and whether the series should have its own animated intro and outro. Send us those five answers with your footage and your quote comes back specific rather than vague. If you would rather we handle the recording too, our podcast production covers the whole day. Otherwise, send your footage or your questions through the contact page and we will tell you what we can do with it.
