Descript with Andrew Mason

Descript is a software product for editing podcasts and video.

Descript is a deceptively powerful tool, and its software architecture includes novel usage of transcription APIs, text-to-speech, speech-to-text, and other domain-specific machine learning applications. Some of the most popular podcasts and YouTube channels use Descript as their editing tool because it provides a set of features that are not found in other editing tools such as Adobe Premiere or a digital audio workstation.

Descript is an example of the downstream impact of machine learning tools becoming more accessible. Even though the company only has a small team of machine learning engineers, these engineers are extremely productive due to the combination of APIs, cloud computing, and frameworks like TensorFlow.

Descript was founded by Andrew Mason, who also founded Groupon and Detour, and Andrew joins the show to describe the technology behind Descript and the story of how it was built. It is a remarkable story of creative entrepreneurship, with numerous takeaways for both engineers and business founders.

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Transcript

Transcript provided by We Edit Podcasts. Software Engineering Daily listeners can go to weeditpodcasts.com/sed to get 20% off the first two months of audio editing and transcription services. Thanks to We Edit Podcasts for partnering with SE Daily. Please click here to view this show’s transcript.