# Tighten Episode

> Tighten a podcast or interview in one node. It transcribes the recording, cuts silence and filler, renders the episode and can add captions and music.

Source: https://nodaro.ai/docs/nodes/video/tighten-episode

The **Tighten Episode** node cleans up a podcast or interview recording in one step. It transcribes the recording, removes silences, filler words and false starts, and renders the tightened episode. It can also add captions and a music bed.

Inside, the node runs the same steps that you can wire by hand: [Transcribe](https://nodaro.ai/docs/nodes/audio/transcribe) with speaker labels and word timings, [Silence Detect](https://nodaro.ai/docs/nodes/audio/silence-detect), [Edit Plan](https://nodaro.ai/docs/nodes/video/edit-plan) in **Tighten** mode and [Apply EDL](https://nodaro.ai/docs/nodes/video/apply-edl). When you turn them on, it adds [Add Captions](https://nodaro.ai/docs/nodes/video/add-captions) and a music bed with [Mix Audio](https://nodaro.ai/docs/nodes/audio/mix-audio) and [Merge Video & Audio](https://nodaro.ai/docs/nodes/video/merge-video-audio). Each step runs as its own job, so a long episode, a cancel or a failure behaves as it does in a hand-built workflow.

Tighten Episode runs its planning step on Nodaro Cloud, and its render too when you choose a framing. On a self-hosted install, [connect the install to Nodaro Cloud](https://nodaro.ai/docs/self-hosting/cloud-connect), under **Integrations › nodaro.ai** or with an API key. Without a connection, the node is not offered and a run is refused before anything starts.

## When to use it
- Clean up a raw interview or podcast recording before you publish it.
- Make an audio-only podcast episode from a video recording.
- Make a vertical, speaker-framed cut of a two-person video podcast.
- Add a music bed under the whole episode.

Use the individual nodes, such as Edit Plan, Apply EDL, [Camera Switch](https://nodaro.ai/docs/nodes/video/camera-switch) and [Speaker View](https://nodaro.ai/docs/nodes/video/speaker-view), when you need more control. That includes several cameras, a hand-edited plan, short clips or chapters.

## Quick start
### Add the node

Press Tab on the canvas and choose **Video › Podcast › Tighten Episode**.

### Connect the recording

Wire the episode into the **Recording** input, for example from an [Upload Video](https://nodaro.ai/docs/nodes/video/upload-video) node. The recording can be up to 3 hours long, and it must have sound.

### Choose the finish

Choose the **Episode** type, the **Framing**, and whether to add **Captions**. To add music, wire an audio file into the **Music** input.

### Run it

Click **Run** on the node. The node returns the tightened episode and the edit plan it was cut from.

Workflow: Tighten Episode cuts a recorded episode, adds captions and a music bed, and passes the finished episode on.

- Upload Video → Tighten Episode (recording)
- Upload Audio → Tighten Episode (music)
- Tighten Episode → Social Media Format (episode)

The template marketplace has two ready workflows. **Tighten Episode** is the hand-built chain of Transcribe, Silence Detect, Edit Plan and Apply EDL, ready to fill. **Tighten Episode in One Node** is this node, with **Review before render** on and word-highlight captions.

## Inputs
| Input | Accepts | What it does |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Recording** | Video or audio | The episode recording, up to 3 hours. It must have sound. An audio recording makes an audio episode. Required. |
| **Music** | Audio | A music bed. It dips under the voice while someone speaks, and it ends when the episode ends. Optional. |

A recording that is longer than 3 hours, a recording with no sound, or a music file that cannot be read as audio is refused before anything is charged.

## Outputs
| Output | What it carries |
| --- | --- |
| **Episode** | The tightened episode. On an audio episode, the output is **Episode audio**. |
| **Edit (EDL)** | The edit plan the episode was cut from, with your review edits applied. Wire it into another render, for example a second Apply EDL node in another format. |

## Settings
| Setting | What it does |
| --- | --- |
| **Episode** | **Video** (the default) or **Audio only**. An audio recording always makes an audio episode, and the setting is then locked to **Audio only**. |
| **Framing** | Video episodes only. **None — the camera as recorded** (the default), or a shape (`16:9`, `9:16`, `1:1` or `4:5`) and a **Layout**. See [Framing](#framing). |
| **Captions** | Video episodes only. On by default, with a **Caption style**. The default style is word highlight. |
| **Review before render** | Off by default. When on, the run stops at a quick preview that you can review and edit. See [Review before render](#review-before-render). |
| **Editing quality** | **Economy**, **Standard** (the default) or **Premium**. The tier of the Edit Plan step, which sets the quality and the price of the plan. |
| **Instructions** | A short steer for the plan, up to 4,000 characters. For example, `keep the cold open, cut the sponsor read`. |
| **Style guide** | Longer editorial guidance for the plan, up to 4,000 characters. |
| **Music under speech** | From 0 to 100, default 75. How far the music dips while someone speaks. Shown when a music bed is connected. |

### Framing

With **Framing** set to a shape, the node renders the episode with [Speaker View](https://nodaro.ai/docs/nodes/video/speaker-view) instead of Apply EDL. When two to six speakers share the camera and the shape is not `16:9`, each speaker on screen gets an automatic box. Otherwise, the camera is shown full frame. The node does not track faces. The **Layout** list offers only the layouts that Speaker View draws at the chosen shape.

## Review before render

With **Review before render** on, a run stops at a preview of the cut. The render is a Preview, at the lower preview rate, and the captions and the music bed are not added yet.

1. Open the review and check the cut. You can hear any cut, restore what the plan removed and cut what it kept. See [Reviewing a cut](https://nodaro.ai/docs/nodes/video/edit-plan#reviewing-a-cut).
2. Click **Render final** on the node. The node renders the episode at full quality with your edit, then adds the captions and the music bed, once.

- **Render final uses the settings of the preview.** To change a setting, run the node again.
- **You can render final again.** After a **Render final** has finished, edit the cut again and click **Render final**. The render and the steps after it run and are charged again, with no fee. Rendering the same edit a second time is refused, and only one **Render final** runs at a time.
- **In a published app,** the node shows its preview on the app's page with a **Render final** button, as an Apply EDL render does. Once a final is made, another **Render final** of the same run is refused. See [Render final in an app](https://nodaro.ai/docs/concepts/apps#render-final-in-an-app).
- **The nodes after it run on the preview.** On Nodaro Cloud, the node stops at its preview, but the nodes connected after it run on the preview and are charged. They run again on the final episode at **Render final**.
- **Someone has to review.** A run with nobody to review it cannot pass the node. That includes a run started from the API, the SDK, the MCP `run_workflow` tool or a trigger, and a run inside a component. The nodes before Tighten Episode run and are charged. The node then fails with `preview_review_required`, with nothing charged for it. Turn **Review before render** off for those runs.
- **Not once per list item.** A node with **Review before render** on that is fed by a List is refused before any of its runs starts, with nothing charged. The message reads: "Review before render isn't available when the node runs once per list item — turn it off to run the list."

The MCP tools `tighten_episode` and `continue_use_case` are reviewed by the AI assistant that calls them, so they can use **Review before render**.

## If a run fails

The steps that finished stay finished. Their results, such as the transcript and the edit, are kept, and they are not charged again. Press **Continue** on the node: only the step that failed and the steps after it run again.

A node fed by a List runs once per item. It has no **Continue** or **Render final** button, so run it again instead.

## Credits
Tighten Episode charges each step at its own rate, the same as the node it stands for, plus a small per-run fee. The node shows the full estimate, fee included, before you run.

| Step | Price |
| --- | --- |
| Transcribe, on ElevenLabs STT | 25 credits per run |
| Silence Detect | 11 credits per run |
| Edit Plan, **Tighten** mode | Per started minute of the recording, at the rate of the **Editing quality**. A 60-minute episode on **Standard** costs 264 credits. |
| Apply EDL | 11 credits per started minute of the rendered episode. A Preview costs 2 credits per started minute. |
| Speaker View, with a framing | Replaces Apply EDL. From 11 to 14 credits per minute, by layout. See [Speaker View](https://nodaro.ai/docs/nodes/video/speaker-view#credits). |
| Add Captions, when on | 33–55 credits, by caption style |
| Music bed, when connected | Mix Audio 22 credits, plus Merge Video & Audio 22 credits on a video episode |

- **The per-run fee** is charged once per run. A **Render final** after a review is not charged the fee again. A failed run's fee is refunded, and **Continue** holds it again.
- **A List runs each item as its own run,** with its own fee.
- **You are charged for the rendered episode's own minutes,** not for the estimate.

### The estimate before you run

The estimate prices the render at the full length of the recording. The tightened cut is shorter, so the render is charged less than the estimate shows. A recording with no known length is estimated at the 180-minute ceiling. With a framing, Speaker View is estimated at its higher rate until the edit is known. A cut with at most two speakers on screen and no zoom is charged the lower rate.

How Edit Plan counts the minutes is explained on [Edit Plan](https://nodaro.ai/docs/nodes/video/edit-plan#credits).

## Tips
- **Review important episodes.** Turn on **Review before render**, check the cut, edit it, then click **Render final**.
- **Reuse the edit.** Wire the **Edit (EDL)** output into a second Apply EDL node to render the same cut in another format.
- **Steer the plan.** Use **Instructions** for what the plan should keep or remove, for example `keep the cold open`.
- **Draft on Economy.** Use **Economy** for a quick first pass, and a higher **Editing quality** for the episode you publish.

## Troubleshooting
| Problem | What to do |
| --- | --- |
| The run is refused before it starts | Check that the recording is at most 3 hours long and has sound, and that the music file is audio. |
| The node fails with `preview_review_required` | The run had nobody to review the preview. Turn **Review before render** off for runs from the API, the SDK, a trigger or a component. |
| A List refuses to run the node | Turn **Review before render** off. It is not available when the node runs once per list item. |
| One step failed | Press **Continue** on the node. The finished steps keep their results and are not charged again. |
| **Render final** is refused | The same edit was already rendered, or a **Render final** is already running. Change the cut first, or wait for the current render. |
| The node is missing on a self-hosted install | Connect the install to Nodaro Cloud. See [Connect to Nodaro Cloud](https://nodaro.ai/docs/self-hosting/cloud-connect). |

## From the API
`POST /v1/tighten-episode` starts a run and answers `202` with `jobId` and `executionId`. The body takes `mediaUrls` (one recording URL), and optionally `musicUrl`, `output`, `framing`, `captions`, `captionStyle`, `reviewBeforeRender`, `planTier`, `instructions`, `styleGuide` and `musicDuckAmount`. Poll the job with `GET /v1/jobs/:id/status`.

- The job's `output_data` carries the episode (`videoUrl`, or `audioUrl` for an audio episode), the edit (`json`), the transcript and `quality` (`proxy` for a preview, `final` otherwise). A failed run keeps what completed and names the failed step in `failedStep`.
- An `Idempotency-Key` header makes a retry of the same request answer with the same `jobId` and `"deduped": true`, and start nothing.
- `POST /v1/tighten-episode/estimate` takes the same body and answers `{ data: { totalCredits, stepsCredits, feeCredits, durationSec } }`, without starting anything.
- `POST /v1/tighten-episode/continue` with `{ jobId, mode }` continues a run. `"mode": "from-failed"` runs what a failed run did not complete. `"mode": "render-final"` renders a review run's final, with an optional `editedEdl`. A Render final of a run that was not a preview answers `render_final_not_preview`, and one of an edit already rendered answers `render_final_already_rendered`.

The SDK (`client.edit.tightenEpisode`, `client.edit.estimateTightenEpisode`, `client.edit.continueUseCase`), the CLI (`nodaro edit tighten-episode`, `nodaro edit continue-use-case`) and the MCP `tighten_episode` tool call the same routes. See [Run a single node](https://nodaro.ai/docs/developers/api/nodes), [Editing in the SDK](https://nodaro.ai/docs/developers/sdk/editing) and the [MCP analysis and EDL tools](https://nodaro.ai/docs/mcp/tools/analysis-and-edl).

## Frequently asked questions

### What does Tighten Episode do?

It takes one podcast or interview recording and returns the tightened episode. Inside, it transcribes the recording, finds the silences, plans a Tighten edit, renders it, and can add captions and a music bed.

### How much does Tighten Episode cost?

Each step is charged at its own rate, the same as the node it stands for, plus a small per-run fee. The node shows the full estimate before you run. You are charged for the minutes of the rendered episode, which are fewer than the estimate assumes.

### Can I check the cut before the final render?

Yes. Turn on Review before render. The run stops at a quick preview of the cut, which you can review and edit. Render final then renders the full-quality episode with your edit, and adds the captions and the music bed.

### What happens when one step fails?

The steps that finished keep their results and are not charged again. Press Continue on the node, and only the failed step and the steps after it run again.

### Can Tighten Episode make an audio-only podcast?

Yes. Set Episode to Audio only. An audio recording always makes an audio episode.

### When should I use Edit Plan and Apply EDL instead?

Use the individual nodes when you need more control, for example several cameras, a hand-edited plan, short clips or chapters. Tighten Episode handles one recording and one tightened cut.