Use cases · Podcasts
How to make a rough cut of a video podcast from its transcript
The short answer
FirstCut turns a long podcast recording into a first cut without scrubbing through the timeline. Your browser extracts the audio, FirstCut transcribes it, and from a short brief — target length, format, rhythm — it picks and orders the strongest moments of the conversation into a sequence you export to Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve or Final Cut Pro. The video file never leaves your computer.
Step by step
1. Drop in the recording
Add the episode's video file (up to 2 hours per file). Only the audio is extracted and uploaded; you'll see one progress bar per file until the transcript is ready.
2. Write a brief
Say how long the cut should be and what it's for — a full episode tightened down, a 10-minute highlight, a clip for social. Length defaults to about a third of the footage.
3. Refine by conversation
Watch the cut play back from your local file, reorder clips, mark moments to keep or avoid, and ask for changes in plain language. Clean up repeats and tighten pauses with the Pace dial.
4. Export to your editor
Download FCPXML, FCP7-XML, EDL or OTIO and finish in the NLE you already use, with the cut pointing at your original media.
Why FirstCut for this
- Built for talk: it works from what people say, so a two-camera conversation is exactly the footage it's good at.
- Filler words and long silences are catalogued as cut-outs you can apply or release, not deleted permanently.
- Nothing to install and no GPU — it runs in the browser on any OS.
Questions
Can FirstCut edit a multi-camera podcast?
FirstCut builds the story edit, not the angle switching. Import the recording with the clean dialogue audio; the exported timeline references that file with real timecodes, and you sync the other camera angles to it and switch between them in your NLE.
Does FirstCut upload my video?
No. Your browser extracts only the audio track and uploads that for transcription — about 115 MB for two hours of typical AAC audio. The video stays on your disk, and the cut plays back from your local files.
Which editors can I finish the cut in?
FirstCut exports FCPXML, FCP7-XML, CMX3600 EDL and OTIO, which open in Final Cut Pro, Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve and Avid Media Composer. The timeline points back at your original media with real in and out timecodes.
Try it on your own footage
FirstCut is free to try with no install and no credit card. Start a rough cut → · See pricing or other use cases.
Updated 2026-09-14