Filler word removal

Transcript-based editors detect the common ones and let you strip them in a single pass, and most editing software now offers some version of it. The work left over is judgement. Removing every hesitation produces delivery that sounds unnervingly fast and slightly inhuman, and back-to-back cuts leave audible clicks where the room tone jumps. Keeping a few breaths in, and keeping the pauses that mark a change of thought, is what makes the result sound like a person talking. Automatic passes also flag words that carried meaning, so review the list before accepting the lot.