5.5 – Edit NotebookLM Podcasts: Descript Lesson

Lesson Overview

This lesson focuses on editing and cleaning up podcasts generated in NotebookLM by using Descript, a tool designed for simple, intuitive content editing. Traditional audio editing can be intimidating and time-consuming, especially if you don’t have experience with complex audio software. Descript makes it possible to edit audio just by editing text, converting your audio or video into a written transcript. This means you can cut sections, correct mistakes, or clean up dialogue without touching audio timelines or waveforms.

Descript also uses AI to speed up common podcast improvements, like removing filler words (“um,” “like”) or even retakes that result from repeated lines. For those who want to make content accessible to a global audience, Descript can translate transcripts into several languages at the same time—ideal for team documentation or publishing in different regions.

Whether you’re working on podcasts for a business, a classroom, or a personal project, learning how to use Descript with NotebookLM will help you save time and publish higher-quality content. If you’ve tried traditional audio editors and found them challenging, this approach can be a major relief.

Who This Is For

If you need to publish, repurpose, or translate podcasts created with AI tools, this lesson will show you how to get results quickly—even without audio editing skills.

• Marketers preparing polished company podcasts or content for customers
• Educators sharing lessons or course materials in audio format
• Content creators refining AI-generated podcasts for their channels
• Team members delivering internal updates or interviews
• Anyone wanting to make their podcasts available in multiple languages

Where This Fits in a Workflow

You’ll use these skills right after generating an audio file from NotebookLM. Once you have a podcast episode ready, you can import it directly into Descript for fast editing. Use Descript at the point where you want to trim sections, clean up mistakes, or get your transcript ready for publishing.

Example 1: You want to prepare a podcast episode for release. After importing your NotebookLM audio, you use Descript to remove awkward pauses and filler words, export the polished episode, and upload it to your hosting platform.

Example 2: Your company needs transcripts of podcasts in German, French, or Hindi. You run the NotebookLM audio through Descript, translate the transcript, and export the files to your international marketing team.

This approach fits neatly between content creation and publishing or distribution—it helps you finalize your podcast for any audience.

Technical & Workflow Benefits

Traditionally, editing audio required navigating timelines, cutting clips manually, and dealing with specialized software. This process could be slow, especially for making minor changes like removing repeated phrases or cutting “ums” from speech. With Descript, you can edit audio as if you’re correcting a Word document—delete a sentence in the text, and that section disappears from the audio.

This efficiency saves hours, especially when working with longer podcasts or if you produce content consistently. In one use case, a content creator can remove dozens of filler words from a 20-minute podcast with just a few clicks, avoiding tedious manual edits. For another, a business can offer translated podcast documentation to its customers worldwide without hiring translators or using multiple tools.

You get consistent results and reduce the chances of missing issues you might overlook with manual editing. Descript’s workflow makes high-quality podcast editing available to more people, without steep learning curves.

Practice Exercise

Try editing and translating a sample NotebookLM podcast file in Descript.

1. Download a podcast audio file from the “Audio Overview” in your NotebookLM.
2. Import the file into Descript and allow the transcript to generate.
3. Experiment with:

• Deleting a few introductory lines or sections you don’t want.
• Using the filler word removal tool to clean the dialogue.
• Translating the transcript into at least two other languages.

Compare the exported audio and new transcripts with your originals. What changes made the biggest difference? Did the translated transcripts capture the main points clearly?

Course Context Recap

This lesson builds your skills for taking AI-generated podcasts from raw output to polished, ready-to-share episodes. Previously, you learned how to create and export podcasts from NotebookLM. Up next, you’ll discover how to customize your podcast’s voice with Eleven Labs, bringing even more personality and clarity to your audio content.

Continue to the full course to learn each step of the modern AI podcast workflow, from creation to advanced voice edits and translation. Each lesson will help you get more out of Google NotebookLM and connected tools.