Create Podcast Show Notes in Minutes with Castmagic

Use Castmagic to turn a raw podcast episode into show notes, timestamps, key quotes, and social captions—all in one upload.

Prerequisites

• Castmagic account (free trial or paid plan)
• A recorded podcast episode (MP3, MP4, or transcript)

Step 1: Upload your episode

In Castmagic, click New Upload. You can upload:

• An audio file (MP3, M4A, WAV)
• A video file (MP4)
• A YouTube or Spotify URL
• A raw transcript (TXT or DOCX)

Castmagic transcribes the audio automatically if you upload a media file. For a 60-minute episode, transcription takes 3-5 minutes.

Step 2: Review the transcript (quickly)

Once transcribed, skim the transcript for obvious errors—especially guest names, brand names, and technical terms. Don't edit for perfection. You're checking for errors that would cause bad outputs downstream (if Castmagic misheard a guest's name, all outputs will use the wrong name).

Mark speaker labels: "Speaker 1" and "Speaker 2." Rename them to you and your guest's first names. This makes all outputs read correctly.

Step 3: Select your output templates

Click Generate Content and select the templates you want:

• Show Notes – 300-600 word narrative summary of the episode
• Timestamps – Chapter markers with time codes and topic labels
• Key Quotes – 5-10 verbatim quotes pulled from the best moments
• Social Captions – Platform-specific posts (Instagram, LinkedIn, X, TikTok)
• Newsletter Section – 200-400 word email-ready recap
• Blog Post – Long-form article version (usually 800-1,200 words)
• Titles – 10 alternative episode title options

For a standard episode, select Show Notes + Timestamps + Key Quotes + Social Captions + Newsletter. These five cover most use cases.

Step 4: Generate and review

Click Generate. All selected outputs process simultaneously. Review time for all five outputs: 10-15 minutes.

What to check:

• Show Notes: Does it capture the actual topics discussed? Is anything misattributed?
• Timestamps: Are the time codes accurate? (Castmagic is usually within 5-10 seconds.)
• Key Quotes: Are these the best lines, or did the AI pick filler? Swap out any weak picks.
• Social Captions: Personalize 1-2 lines per caption so they match your voice, not generic AI copy.
• Newsletter: Read for accuracy. AI summaries sometimes compress arguments in misleading ways.

Step 5: Export and use

Each output has a copy button. Copy to your clipboard and paste directly into:

• Show Notes → Your podcast hosting platform (Spotify for Podcasters, Transistor, Buzzsprout)
• Timestamps → YouTube description (Chapter format: 0:00 – Title)
• Key Quotes → Notion or Airtable quote library for graphics
• Social Captions → Buffer, Later, or Metricool scheduler
• Newsletter → Your email platform (Beehiiv, Mailchimp, Substack)

Batch Processing Multiple Episodes

If you have a back-catalog of episodes with no show notes, Castmagic can process multiple uploads. Queue 10 episodes, come back in an hour, and do a single review pass. Retro-publishing show notes for old episodes is worth doing—it improves podcast SEO significantly.

Pro Tip: Save Custom Templates

In Castmagic's settings, you can create custom output templates with specific instructions. Example: a custom show notes template that always includes your podcast's standard intro paragraph, guest bio format, and a resources section. This cuts per-episode editing to under 5 minutes.