Contents
Quick Summary
- Features: Podcast creation tools, including audio recording, revoicing, transcription, audio editing, and hosting. (4/5)
- Pricing: Basic use is free, but monthly subscriptions for full use can get expensive in the long run. (3.5/5)
- Ease of Use: Very easy and intuitive to use, especially if you have experience with other audio editing or podcasting software. (4.5/5)
- Support: Good support pages with helpful information to assist with the content creation process and fast responses from the Podcastle team. (4/5)
Podcastle is an approachable and affordable podcast creation software platform. It is easy to use, making it beginner-friendly while offering higher-level tools to assist anyone with more complex content creation goals.
The adaptive AI tech used through the platform makes things super intuitive, allowing users to create podcasts quickly with little experience or background. This also provides excellent control to edit and tweak any of your projects within the software.
More advanced tools require a paid monthly subscription, which is really only worth it if you plan on creating steady podcasts and want the ease of use and streamlined approach Podcastle offers.
Pros: Easy to use, intuitive design, and beginner-friendly while offering higher-level capabilities.
Cons: Full access through a monthly subscription is pretty expensive, and the AI-infused creation approach might be too much for experienced podcasters.
Why Trust Me for This Review
My name is Donovan, and I have years of experience working with audio recording and editing as a musician and producer. I’ve recorded many podcasts for others and my own projects, and I am familiar with many tools to make this happen.
With a new wave of AI tools quickly appearing in the industry, I wanted to try out Podcastle to see how it stacked up. I explored the platform extensively to see what it could do and how I might be able to apply that to my work.
Through my experience with other similar tools and my initial explorations with Podcastle, I was able to write a detailed review of my thoughts to help others decide if this podcasting tool is worthwhile.
Detailed Review of Podcastle
Podcastle is an AI-enhanced recording tool created to help beginner and experienced podcasters record, edit, and create content related to their podcasts. It’s an easy-to-use yet still highly capable platform with solid potential.
Let’s look at some of the key features within Podcastle to give you an idea of what it can do and why you might want to use it.
Audio Recording
Creating any podcast begins with recording your audio. A podcast is much simpler to record than a music project (in most cases), but it’s still a critical aspect of the final product. Podcastle has a simple-to-use audio recording interface that anyone should be able to figure out.
When you start a new recording project, you can choose between recording audio only or audio and video. With a few clicks and settings, your recording project is set up automatically, and you can begin creating your podcast.
Just hit the red record button to get started and let the show begin. This is a very beginner-friendly approach that makes recording accessible with just your laptop, but as an engineer and musician, I wish there were a few more tweakable settings from the start.
That small critique aside, recording your podcast with Podcastle is simple and straightforward. And this streamlined approach definitely has a place whether you are an active podcaster or just looking to create audio or video content for another type of project.
My Personal Take: Recording is effortless to set up and use, making it very accessible for beginners. I wish there were more hands-on settings to work with as an experienced audio engineer, but Podcastle is still very functional.
Audio Editing
Once you have your audio recorded, the next step is always editing. Podcastle gives you easy access to the waveform of what you just recorded, and you have the option to click on the edit function from the main recording window.
The audio editing window is intuitive, especially if you have experience with other audio editors. You get a basic look at the waveform, and clipping, sliding, or replacing aspects of the track is easy with your mouse or trackpad.
You can also drag and drop new tracks or audio files into the project, making this another beginner-friendly aspect of the platform. There is a range of buttons to explore and help and support features to instruct you on anything you are unfamiliar with.
Again, this is essentially an audio recording 101 type of setup. You don’t get access to in-depth parameters of the waveform and might want to send your tracks to a different DAW for further and more hands-on editing. But it works well and gets the job done.
My Personal Take: The audio editor in Podcast is super simple, but it gets the job done. Experienced engineers and creators will want more tools, but it has everything you need to edit basic audio tracks.
AI Enhancements
Now it’s time to look at the AI enhancements of Podcastle, which is where the platform starts to stand out from other basic podcasting tools. You get a number of AI tools that can help you record, edit, and produce solid podcasts in several ways.
Podcastle allows you to create an AI version of your voice or use AI-generated voices for your content. Choosing the AI version of your voice option can help you save time and quickly create a podcast from written text without actually recording it.
I also like the Audiobook Recording Studio because it basically sets up a recording session for you where you can just plug and play. It takes much of the groundwork out of production, which has obvious benefits for beginners.
You also get access to many AI video editing tools. I liked this feature a lot because, as a producer and engineer, I’m much more versed in audio than video editing. It can help you piece a project together even if you don’t have all the skills.
My Personal Take: The AI aspect of Podcastle makes it shine, and this plays a huge part in how user-friendly it is. Even though this somewhat dumbs down the skill set required to create a podcast, it makes things much more accessible.
Transcription
Transcription is another excellent feature of Podcastle that helps the platform shine. You can use it to perform many transcription functions, and it can work with various formats to speed up and polish the entire podcast creation process.
Podcastle can work with various audio or video files for transcriptions. You simply upload your files, and the platform will transcribe them into text. They can also be transcribed into your AI-generated voice or another AI voice.
The many transcription tools you get access to include MP3 to text, audio to text, voice to text, audio translation, podcast transcription, and filler word detection features. Even if you don’t create podcasts, these features alone make the free basic version worth it.
The transcription features work really well but aren’t without errors. Like any other transcription tool or AI tool, you’ll want to double-check everything to ensure it’s free from mistakes and typos.
My Personal Take: Transcription tools are very effective and work with a number of different audio and video formats. You get effective transcriptions, but the AI is not flawless.
Final Verdict
Podcastle is recommended for anyone looking to get started with basic podcast production. It provides all the tools and features you need, plus lots of AI-powered assistance to help you create a polished podcast without extensive audio engineering skills.
The basic version of Podcastle should suffice for most beginners, but full-time podcasters and content creators will need to pay a monthly subscription fee to access more features.