AI Playground: Descript

[00:00:05] Cheryl Boehm: Hello and welcome to another episode of Leader Generation brought to you by Mod Op. I’m your host for today, Cheryl Boehm. A lot of marketers say they’re curious about AI, but they’re really not sure where to start. And that’s one of the main reasons that Mod Op created the AI Playground. It allows us to safely explore the latest AI technology without taking a lot of risk.

[00:00:30] Cheryl Boehm: But we don’t just Experiment with AI for fun. We really want to test out real-world scenarios, track the results and make sure we can turn whatever ideas we have into solutions that are going to make a difference for our clients.

[00:00:46] Cheryl Boehm: Today, you’re going to hear from Patty Parobek and myself about an audio and video video. Editing app called Descript. We’ll share our experiences testing it out and also provide our honest reviews. Hope you enjoy it.

[00:01:02] Patty Parobek: I’m Patty Parobek. I’m Mod Op’s, the VP of AI Transformation, and I will be giving my review on Descript AI. Descript, I found in my search for finding a video-editing tool that is going to help me easily edit videos because I don’t have a video-editing background. I’m a marketing strategist, and I’m a change-management professional, and that doesn’t come with a lot of video skill sets.

[00:01:35] Patty Parobek: I heard about Descript through the Marketing AI Institute. They raved about it for editing their podcast videos and podcasts. Because it also and it’s audio and I immediately tried it as part of the Playground. The specific challenge I was addressing again, it’s just video editing and finding easier ways to do that.

[00:01:58] Patty Parobek: What I found about Descript. It’s my absolute favorite feature, and it’s the main feature of the application. When you upload a video, it immediately transcribes the video and then puts the full transcription in the left rail to be edited when you edit the document, you actually edit the text. It edits the video in real time.

[00:02:24] Patty Parobek: So if I have a script or a transcription loaded on the left, I can see my video on the right-hand side of the screen. I can just take the 1st sentence of a video and maybe remove some words, maybe correct my language a bit by taking out the word ‘like,’ or the word ‘um,’ and when I do that, it’ll automatically adjust the video and then I can watch that snippet and hear how it’s different and see how it’s different. So you don’t need any video editing advanced skills. You just have to know basically how to edit a Word document, and that I do that. I do very well. So similar apps that I’ve tested for video editing, and again, I’m not a professional in that world really just apps that I that you generally have loaded on your iPhone for free or general one that you’ve heard on your desktop traditional video editing tools, but not AI video applications. This is the first AI video editing service that I’ve tried. The other, maybe more closely to AI-related application that I’ve tried is Copilot’s new video editing feature inside of Stream.

[00:03:52] Patty Parobek: So if you’re in the Microsoft suite, you go to Stream to view your videos from Teams meetings, they have a feature that you can go into your video. And make some edits on language, stitch things together, remove pieces, kind of, and it looks a lot like iMovie, to be honest, and I haven’t found as much value in the AI features of that yet.

[00:04:18] Patty Parobek: Definitely not anything as simple and straightforward as editing a text document to edit your video. So I’ve found Descript to be. So much easier and the way that I’m incorporating Descript into my workflows is really anytime I’m creating a training video. Anytime that I have a video to share it, let’s say, with a client.

[00:04:41] Patty Parobek: If I’m recording myself going through something or presenting, I will just take a small amount of time. We’re talking about 10 minutes to upload the video and then maybe all at once removes all the filler words and shorten word gaps. Edit for clarity, you can even change words in the script because you have the ability to create an AI clone of your own voice.

[00:05:12] Patty Parobek: And if I wanted to change the word, you know, ‘compliance’ to ‘risk,’ it knows my voice well enough where I would be able to do that. Now. That’s one of the more advanced features of the platform, but it doesn’t take long to do in. If you want to change your script, it would be a benefit for sure on a scale of 1 to 5.

[00:05:38] Patty Parobek: If I’m recommending this tool for broader use, it’s at least a 4 out of 5. If you are like me, you don’t have. A ton of video editing skill, maybe you’re in a new role or an expansion of your role where all of a sudden you’re editing a lot of videos. This is definitely a perfect 1 to start with. So enjoy.

[00:06:03] Cheryl Boehm: Hi, my name is Cheryl Boehm and I’m the Director of Copywriting here at Mod Op. The app that I tested in Mod Op’s AI Playground is Descript. Descript is an online audio and video editing tool that uses AI to automate a lot of the tasks. So you don’t have to be an expert audio video editor in order to use it.

[00:06:30] Cheryl Boehm: The reason I decided to test Descript was to save me time and energy producing the weekly Leader Generation podcast. . I was looking for a tool that was going to help me simplify the audio and video editing process, as well as create transcriptions, create video clips for social media, write the Description, title, all of those different things that I use multiple tools for. I was hoping to find one tool that could do all of those different things all in one place.

[00:07:09] Cheryl Boehm: Pros of using Descript are the Underlord. First of all, just love the name. But what Underlord is, is a sidebar. And it automates a lot of different tasks with the click of a button.

[00:07:23] Cheryl Boehm: So, for example, if you have the transcription and video of a podcast recording, for example, you can click a button to create clips or draft a title, summarize the entire podcast for you, create a YouTube Description, draft social posts. There’s so many different functions you can that are just a button click, which really streamlines things.

[00:07:56] Cheryl Boehm: And after you take those different actions, then you can review the different clips and drafts and titles and, and whatnot that it creates for you and make any changes or edits that you want to.

[00:08:09] Cheryl Boehm: Cons of using Descript. Also the Underlord. So some of the functions, I feel like aren’t quite fine tuned enough.

[00:08:20] Cheryl Boehm: So, for example, if you use the function to remove filler words like uh, um, that type of thing. Or remove retakes, like if you make a mistake and you start over and try again. Or have very long gaps between words. See what I did there. You can click a button and it’ll just remove those things. However, I found that it makes the audio and the video sound really choppy and unnatural, so I don’t think the functionality is quite there yet.

[00:08:57] Cheryl Boehm: How does Descript compare to using other tools? I haven’t used another AI tool to, help out with video and audio editing. I have used other tools like, transcription services and, recording tools and multiple different tools to do lots of functions. And one of the things I love most is that Descript does all of those things in one place.

[00:09:29] Cheryl Boehm: So now I’m using one tool instead of four It is also cheaper, I have found, or more cost effective, I should say, because rather than paying for subscriptions for multiple different tools, I’m able to do all those functions in one subscription plan, and I found that it has saved a little bit of money.

[00:09:50] Cheryl Boehm: I do find I still prefer ChatGTP, for some of the functions such as drafting titles and descriptions and even social posts. Part of it, I think, is familiarity. I’ve been using ChatGTP for years. I’m hoping, though, that Descript improves over time. And I know they just released a GPT add-on so that you can connect Descript to ChatGTP and I’ve tried it and I’m pretty happy with that.

[00:10:25] Cheryl Boehm: So , it’s definitely continuing to improve and , I’m all for that. The rating I would give Descript on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being low, 5 being high, I would give it 4 stars. I think because there still is some room for improvement on some of its functionality, is why I’m only giving it a 4 rather than a 5.

[00:10:53] Cheryl Boehm: And overall, I think Descript is a great tool for automating audio and video editing, especially if you don’t have a lot of experience in that area and you, haven’t spent a lot of time doing it. Most people can, with a few tutorials, just jump right in. But it’s not for everyone. I feel like you need a really clear purpose, like being part of a podcast production or content creation to really get the most out of this tool.

[00:11:25] Cheryl Boehm: It’s not gonna be just for everyone on the marketing team. It definitely has a niche purpose. So, that is my, review of Descript and I, I hope that helps as you continue on your AI journey.

Cheryl Boehm: Thanks for listening to this week’s episode. We really hope you enjoyed the latest learnings from our AI Playground. If you have any ideas for different apps that you want us to review, just email us at podcast at Mod Op. com. That’s M O D O P dot com. Plus visit Mod Op. com slash podcast to listen to more episodes of Leader Generation. And hear some more reviews on apps that we’ve tested here at the AI playground. Until next time, have a great week.