Cuescribe

Workflow · Podcasters

Free tools for podcasters

You can clean, tighten, transcribe and promote an episode without uploading it anywhere: every tool below runs in your browser, has no minute cap and adds no watermark. A typical pass takes the raw recording through noise and click cleanup, filler and retake removal, a loudness check at -16 LUFS, a transcript for show notes and chapters, then a few captioned clips for social.

The workflow, step by step

  1. 1

    Clean the sound

    Steady noise (fans, hum, traffic) first, then the mouth clicks post-production people call their number one problem.

    Background noise removerFan hum, traffic and room noise out of your voice. No upload.Mouth click remover NewLip smacks and mouth clicks found and repaired. A/B, WAV, video.
  2. 2

    Tighten the edit

    Cut ums, false starts (keeping your last take) and long pauses. Take the EDL into your editor or download the tightened audio.

    Filler word removerUm, uh, false starts and repeats cut; keeps your last take.Silence removerCut dead air; get the tightened video, an EDL or a WAV.
  3. 3

    Level it for the apps

    Apple Podcasts and most apps play at about -16 LUFS; check yours and normalise without clipping.

    Loudness checkerLUFS and true peak vs YouTube, podcast and broadcast targets.
  4. 4

    Words for show notes

    Transcribe on your device, then pull chapters with timestamps for the description.

    Transcribe a fileMP4, MOV, MP3, WAV, M4A to text and captions, without uploading.YouTube chaptersChapter timestamps at natural pauses, checked against YouTube rules.
  5. 5

    Promote it

    Real video does better than waveforms on TikTok now, so cut captioned clips from the video version; keep audiograms for audio-only shows on YouTube.

    Clip from transcriptClick sentences, export that clip as MP4 with its subtitles.Audiogram makerPodcast clip → waveform video with captions. No watermark.Auto-reframe to vertical16:9 → 9:16 with a crop that follows the face.
Free Chrome extension

Cuescribe for Chrome

A transcript side panel on every YouTube and TikTok video, a library of everything you transcribe, and one click to open any of it in these tools.

Get the extension
Pro · early access

Pro keeps this free

Every tool stays free. Pro (early access, $9/month) adds batch delivery for client work and the extension's Pro features; longer files and multi-file projects are in development. Early subscribers keep their price and choose what gets built next.

What Pro includes

Questions

What loudness should a podcast be?

Around -16 LUFS integrated with true peaks under -1 dBTP is the common target for Apple Podcasts and most podcast apps; -14 LUFS for YouTube and Spotify video. The loudness checker measures yours and normalises it.

Can I edit a podcast for free without Descript?

Yes for the common jobs: filler and retake removal, noise and click cleanup, transcripts, chapters and clips all run free here. Descript is still the better choice if you want one multitrack editor where you edit everything by editing text.

Do audiograms still work on TikTok?

Podcasters on Reddit report that audiograms reach far fewer people than they used to; real video clips do better. Audiograms still make sense for publishing an audio-only show on YouTube.

Also for: YouTubers · Video editors · Small business. Comparing apps? Descript, OpusClip, Headliner, Loom.