Interview with a Podcast Producer: How Descript Streamlined Our Process

We spoke with Arielle Chen, head of production at Storyline Media, about how their team integrated Descript into a fast-paced production pipeline. Arielle shared practical insights on workflow changes, the cultural shift to text-based editing, and the measurable impact on time-to-publish.

Introducing Arielle Chen

Arielle has produced investigative and narrative podcasts for over eight years. Her team handles three weekly shows with a combined audience of over 1.2 million downloads per month.

“Descript didn’t just change how we edit — it changed how we think about episodes.”

Why They Tried Descript

Two years ago, Storyline Media faced scaling issues. The old workflow required a single editor to do transcription, comping, and revisions. Arielle describes the old process as a bottleneck: “If the editor was out, nothing moved.” Their goals were clear: reduce dependency on single points of failure, enable faster reviews, and get better visibility into edits.

Implementation Strategy

Arielle and her team started with a pilot: one weekly show, one month. They created a template project with folders, transcript naming conventions, and a QA checklist. The pilot focused on maintaining audio quality while evaluating the gains in turnaround time.

What Changed

The results were visible quickly. Transcription-based edits let non-engineers remove filler words and suggest rearrangements. Editors focused on creative choices and mixing rather than tedious splice edits. Collaboration features allowed producers to leave timestamped comments, speeding reviews and approvals.

Quantitative Impact

Arielle shared numbers: average time-to-publish dropped from 72 hours to 28 hours for episodes in the pilot. Revision cycles decreased by 40 percent because stakeholders could review and comment directly on the text transcript. This improvement translated to more timely episodes and increased responsiveness to news or trends.

Challenges They Faced

Not everything was easy. The team initially overused Overdub for longer corrections and found artifacts in expressive interview moments. They also needed to refine naming conventions and folder hygiene to avoid confusion across many projects. Arielle emphasizes training: “You need time to teach people how to listen differently.”

Culture Shift

Moving to text-first editing required a cultural adjustment. Editors started thinking like writers first and audio engineers second. This shift meant more focus on narrative flow and fewer micro-level audio tweaks. For Storyline, that produced clearer episodes and fewer pedantic disputes about splice points.

Advice for Teams Considering Descript

• Start small: Pilot a single show or episode type.
• Document templates: Standardize naming and markers.
• Train users: Teach producers how to evaluate audio edits, not just text changes.
• Keep original stems: Preserve raw files for re-mixing if needed later.

Favorite Feature

Arielle’s favorite is the comment-to-action loop: producers can leave time-coded notes that editors translate into final edits. That closed-loop reduces back-and-forth emails and keeps context attached to the edit.

Final Thoughts

Storyline Media’s experience shows that adopting Descript is as much about process and people as it is about technology. The tool unlocked speed and distributed ownership of edits, but real gains came from clear templates, training, and governance. As Arielle put it: “Descript gave us back time. Time we use to tell better stories.”