Timeline editor

Arrange and mix an episode's audio on a timeline.

The timeline puts every audio clip in an Episode on its own track, for timing and mixing; to change the words, use the script editor. It is one of the editing tools in AI Podcasts.

Open the timeline

Click Open Timeline on the right of the playback bar, below the script editor. It is disabled until the Episode has audio. Drag the panel’s top edge to resize it; dragging below its smallest height collapses it.

Each Host and each music slot has its own track. The zoom slider appears in the playback bar while the timeline is open.

Move and trim segments

Drag a segment to move it; it snaps to other segments’ edges and the playhead. A Host’s segment stops at another segment on the same track, but segments on different Hosts’ tracks can overlap by any amount for crosstalk. To overlap every pair of takes at once, use speaker spacing.

To trim, hover a segment’s edge until the handle appears, then drag inward, down to one second.

Cut, copy, duplicate and delete

Right-click a segment, or select it and use a shortcut:

A generated narration segment can’t be cut, copied or duplicated, because each script block has exactly one take. Its menu offers only Regenerate Audio, Edit Audio and Delete; see Regenerate a line.

Deleting a narration segment marks its script block stale. Regenerate it before you render, download or publish.

Volume and fades

Right-click a segment and choose Edit Audio to set its Volume in decibels and its Fade In and Fade Out, up to 10 seconds. A short segment or a long fade on the other end lowers that limit, and the dialog shows the current maximum. You can also drag a segment’s fade handles.

Each track header has a volume control that keeps the balance between its clips, and a Mute button.

Speaker spacing

Click the Audio settings gear beside Add Music (on a compact toolbar, Settings → Audio Settings) to open Speaker spacing. It sets the gap between every pair of consecutive speakers, from a one-second overlap (-1) to a one-second gap (+1) in 0.05-second steps. The default is 0, back to back.

A take can’t overlap past half the length of the shorter take in the pair, so takes never swap places. Spacing moves only speech: intros and outros stay put, and background music follows its length setting.

Adding your own audio from the timeline

Drag an audio file, such as a recorded intro or an interview snippet, from your desktop onto the timeline. It drops onto a new track named after the file. To publish a whole recording instead, see Upload your own episode.

Missing files

If a music or uploaded file is removed from your media library, its segment shows a File missing badge. Playback skips it, but rendering, downloading and publishing fail and name the file. Replace the file to clear the badge.

Playback controls

Press Space to play or pause, except while typing in a text field. Playback keeps working during a render; see Editing while an episode renders.