How to edit a two-person video podcast
Last updated 2026-11-02
To edit a two-person video podcast, line up both angles, choose a layout for each section (cut between speakers, split screen or picture-in-picture), trim silences and filler words, add captions and name titles, put music under the intro and outro, and export 16:9. Then cut vertical clips for Shorts, Reels and TikTok. Woven Video, a Mac editor, does the cutting and clipping by chat; you line up the angles by hand.
Start with what you recorded
How you build the layout depends on what files you have. Check this before you open an editor, because a combined recording limits what you can do later.
If you record remotely on Zoom, the settings decide what you get. Zoom's cloud recording can save the active speaker, the gallery view and the shared screen as separate videos, and can save a separate audio file for each participant, up to 200 speakers, with phone callers merged into one file. Zoom's computer recordings can include a separate audio track for each participant, but they do not record the active speaker, gallery view and shared screen separately. Neither page promises each person's own video file, so a gallery recording is one picture with both people in it.
| Recording | What you have | How to build the layout |
|---|---|---|
| Two cameras in one room | Two videos, each framed on one person, plus the sound from each camera or from a separate recorder | Stack the two angles, line them up, then cut between them, split the screen or use a small picture |
| Remote, each person on their own track | A video and audio file per person | The same as two cameras, except the audio is already separate and clean |
| Remote, one combined grid | One video with both people in it | Crop the same video twice to make two panels, or cut to a full-frame crop of whoever is talking |
Fix the sound before the picture
Fix the sound first: a soft picture is easier to live with than bad sound. Settle the audio plan before you cut: one microphone per person is the best case, and the mic you trust becomes the sound of the whole episode.
If both cameras also recorded sound, mute the camera audio you do not use. Two copies of one voice, offset by a fraction of a second, make an echo. Muting also keeps the captions clean: Woven's captions listen to the speech in every video and audio clip, and leave out a source turned down to 10% or less when a louder one is speaking.
Woven does not remove background noise, so fix a noisy room or a hum at the source and re-record if you can.
Line up the angles
Two angles of one conversation only work if the same word lands on the same frame in both. Woven has no automatic multicam sync, so you do this by hand, and it takes a minute.
The reliable way is a clap. Before the first question, one person claps where both cameras can see it. In the editor, put each clip on its own track, find the clap in each, and slide one clip until the clap lands on the same frame in both. Play across it and check that the picture and sound agree. If the recordings came as separate audio files, the clap shows as a spike in the waveform, which makes the match quicker.
Check again near the end of a long episode. If one angle has drifted, find a sharp sound near the middle, such as a laugh or a knock on the table, split both clips there and line up each half on its own.
Choose a layout for each section
You do not need one layout for the whole episode. Pick the layout that suits each stretch, and change it where the conversation changes, not on every line.
When you cut between speakers, cut on the first word of the new speaker, or a beat before it. Do not cut away for every "yeah" or "right". Stay on the person who is talking, and use a reaction shot only when the listener's face adds something.
| Layout | Use it when | What it costs you |
|---|---|---|
| Cut between speakers | The conversation has a clear back and forth, or one person tells a longer story | Every cut is an edit to place, and a wrong one is easy to see |
| Split screen, side by side | Two people trade short lines and you want both faces on screen | Each face is smaller, and on a vertical frame the panels get narrow |
| Picture-in-picture | One person talks for a while and the other only reacts | The small picture hides part of the main one, and it can crowd the captions |
Cut silences and filler words
A conversation has pauses, restarts and filler words, and most of them are worth cutting. A few are not: a pause before a punchline, or a breath after a hard question, is part of how it sounds. Leave a short breath where you cut, so speech does not run into the next sentence.
Do one pass for silences and filler words, then play every cut, not only the first few. When two angles are stacked, make sure the cut lands in both, and that the angles still match the mouth movements afterward. Cutting the same moment out of both takes care. Cutting only one leaves the two out of step.
Tighten the start. Open on the first interesting line, not on "welcome back to the show" and the sponsor read.
Add captions and names
Captions keep the episode readable for anyone watching with the sound off. Read the transcript for guest names, brand names and specialist terms, because those are what tools get wrong.
The transcript has no speaker labels, so captions do not say who is talking. In a two-person show the layout usually makes that clear, and a name title near the start fixes it for the rest. Add the host's and guest's names in the first seconds, and add a lower third when a new voice joins.
Where two people talk at once, the quieter words can be dropped from the captions, so check those lines by ear.
Intro, outro and music
Keep the opening short. A cold open that plays the best line from the episode, then a title card of a few seconds, gets to the conversation fast. Close with an outro that says where to find the next episode.
Put music under the intro and the outro and leave the conversation bare. A music bed left under speech competes with it. If music has to run under the first words, set it well below the voices. In Woven you name the windows yourself, because nothing listens for the voice: a duck silences the music completely for the window you name, with a fade each side, and a swell raises it for a window, for example in the gap before the first question.
Use music you made, bought the right to use or licensed. A song you only have a copy of may not be allowed in a video you post.
Export the episode, then clip it
Export the full episode in 16:9 first. Play the exported file through once, with sound, before you upload it.
Then make the short versions. Each clip should start on the first word that carries the point and end where the point lands. A vertical frame is about a third as wide as a wide two-person shot, so it shows one person at a time, or two panels stacked. See the podcast clips guide for lengths and the hook.
Treat clips as separate edits of the same files. Make each in its own reel so the full episode stays untouched.
Edit a video podcast in Woven
Ask in chat and the agent works on a real timeline that you can fine-tune by hand. It reads the episode's transcript to cut silences and filler words and to find the strongest moments, and it looks at the frames to reframe landscape video to vertical. You line up the angles yourself, then review its cuts. Captions are burned into the exported MP4, and the transcript has no speaker labels, so add name titles. Woven imports MP4, MOV and M4V video; if your recording is WebM or MKV, convert it to MP4 first. It does not record, so make the recording elsewhere and import it.
Ask in chat
- Put the guest's camera on lane 2 and mute its audio. We're using the host camera's sound for both of us.
- Show the host's camera while the host talks and the guest's while the guest talks, switching at 0:42, 1:10 and 1:31.
- Transcribe this episode, cut silences longer than a second and remove the ums and uhs, then list everything you cut.
- Add captions, and a name title for each of us in the first ten seconds: Sam Rivera and Priya Nair.
- Put music under the first 20 seconds and the last 30 seconds only, with a fade in and out.
- Find the five strongest moments in this episode and cut each into a vertical clip with captions, each in a new reel.
Or do it by hand
- 1Set the canvas. Open Format in the toolbar and choose Horizontal 1920x1080 for the full episode.
- 2Bring in the angles. Drag both videos in from Finder, or choose Add, then Video. Give the second angle its own lane, because clips on one lane play back to back and two people on screen at once need separate lanes. Lower lanes sit behind higher ones, so the top lane is what you see.
- 3Line up the clap. Scrub to the clap in each clip, then drag the second clip along the timeline until the two claps line up. With both clips' sound still on, play across the clap: a double clap means they are apart, one clean clap means they match. Then select the clip whose audio you do not need and press M to mute it.
- 4Cut between speakers. Select the clip on the top lane, put the playhead where the speaker changes and press ⌘B to split, then split again at the next change. Delete the pieces where the lower angle should show. A gap on the top lane shows the lane beneath it, so the two angles swap without a transition.
- 5Or split the screen. Select a clip and set its size and position, or use Dimensions in the Crop tab. On the Mask tab choose Line for a straight split edge, and add a border in the Style tab. For picture-in-picture, shrink the second clip and drag it to a corner.
- 6Cut the dead air. Ask the agent to cut silences and filler words, then play the cuts. By hand, press ⌘B where a pause starts and again where it ends, select the piece and press Delete. Delete leaves a gap, so drag the later clips left to close it. On a stacked episode, make the same cut in both angles and move the later clips on both lanes by the same amount. That is slow by hand, so for a long episode ask the agent and play the result.
- 7Caption and name. Choose Add, then Generate captions, and pick a look under Caption style on the Style tab. Fix a misheard name in chat or on the caption. Choose Add, then Text for each name, or build a lower third from text and a shape grouped with ⌘G.
- 8Add the music. Choose Add, then Audio and pick your track. It goes on the Audio track. Trim it to the intro, then repeat for the outro. Set the Volume low, and ask in chat for fades or for ducks at the times you name.
- 9Export. Click Export and choose 1080p or 1440p for an H.264 MP4. Upload it yourself. For clips, ask the agent for vertical cuts of the strongest moments, and set the Format to Vertical 1080x1920 if you build one by hand.
Common questions
Line up the camera angles, choose a layout for each section, cut silences and filler words, add captions and name titles, put music under the intro and outro, and export 16:9. Then cut the strongest moments into vertical clips.
Clap once where both cameras can see it. Find the clap in each clip and slide one clip until it lands on the same frame in both. Check again near the end of a long episode in case one angle drifted.
Cutting between speakers suits a clear back and forth. A side-by-side split screen suits quick exchanges. Picture-in-picture suits one long speaker with a listener. Most episodes mix them by section.
Yes. Ask the agent to cut silences and filler words and it works from the transcript's word timings. Play every cut afterward, and check that two stacked angles still match.
No. Woven's transcript has no speaker labels, so captions show the words without names. Add a name title near the start, and a lower third when a new voice joins.
Yes. Ask Woven to find the strongest moments and it cuts each into a vertical clip with captions, reframed to keep the speaker in frame. Review each start and end before you post.
It depends on the tool. Zoom's cloud recording can save the active speaker, gallery view and shared screen as separate videos, and a separate audio file per participant, and its computer recordings can save a separate audio track per participant. Check your recording settings before the session.
Stack two angles, cut between them or split the screen, cut dead air, caption, mix music under the intro, and export a full episode and short clips. Woven Video does these on a Mac, but it does not record, so import your files.
An H.264 MP4, at 1080p or 1440p. Captions are burned in. Woven does not export caption files or post to platforms, so you upload the file yourself.
Sources
- Changing basic and advanced cloud recording settings - Zoom Support, checked November 2, 2026
- Starting a computer recording - Zoom Support, checked November 2, 2026
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