# NotebookLM Audio Overview Prompts — 4 Podcast-Style Templates > The Audio Overview customizations the community keeps sharing: the 3-minute brief, the thorough exploration, the debate episode and the critique episode. _Markdown version of https://gemini-notebook-hub.online/prompts/audio — for AI and LLM crawlers. Content is identical to the web page._ --- Shape the podcast before you generate it: host roles, episode formats, lengths, languages and interview-style episodes. ## Give the hosts opposing jobs - Goes in: Audio Overview prompt The single biggest upgrade to the default podcast: one host explains, the other is paid to disagree. Adversarial roles produce actual discussion instead of the "so true" rhythm — and the Challenger tends to find the real weaknesses in your material. ``` Host A is 'The Expert' who explains the material. Host B is 'The Challenger' who pushes back: question the methodology, point out gaps in logic, play devil's advocate. Do not agree just to be agreeable. ``` [Permalink](https://gemini-notebook-hub.online/prompts/audio/expert-vs-challenger.md) ## The two-voice quiz episode - Goes in: Audio Overview prompt A 15–20 minute professor-and-student quiz show from your sources: the student deliberately gets 3 of 10 wrong, corrections come with exact quotes, and the episode ends with a score and the most instructive mistakes. Shared by [Pasquale Pillitteri](https://pasqualepillitteri.it/en/news/1506/notebooklm-prompts-senior-researcher-workflow) ``` Generate a Deep Dive in two-voice quiz format with a duration of 15-20 minutes, based exclusively on the uploaded sources. Structure: - Host A is the "professor": knows the material thoroughly and asks the questions. - Host B is the "student": prepares answers but deliberately gets 3 out of 10 answers wrong. - When the student is wrong, the professor gently corrects with the correct answer AND with the exact quotation from the source. - When the student answers well, the professor digs deeper with a follow-up question. Question composition: - 4 multiple-choice questions (3 options each). - 4 true/false questions with mandatory justification of the answer. - 2 open-ended final synthesis questions. - Progressive difficulty: from factual recall to conceptual connection. Opening format: the two hosts introduce themselves, state the topic, indicate the total number of questions. Closing format: final score for the student (e.g. 7/10), recap of the 3 most instructive errors, a reflection question left for the listener. Tone: friendly, fast pace, never patronizing. Language: English. ``` [Permalink](https://gemini-notebook-hub.online/prompts/audio/two-voice-quiz-episode.md) ## Define the listener, not the topic - Goes in: Audio Overview prompt "Make it simple" produces condescension; a concrete listener produces calibration. Swap in whoever you need: a CEO with four minutes, a skeptical engineer, a hiring committee. ``` The listener is a first-year student who has never seen this material and is nervous about it. No jargon without an immediate plain-language explanation. Assume good intelligence and zero background. ``` [Permalink](https://gemini-notebook-hub.online/prompts/audio/listener-persona.md) ## The teach-a-newcomer episode - Goes in: Audio Overview prompt Hosts explain everything as if teaching a smart 12-year-old — an analogy for every complex term, abstract ideas grounded in physical examples, and the emphasis on why it matters over what it is. Shared by [Mahnoor Faisal (MakeUseOf)](https://www.makeuseof.com/notebooklm-audio-overviews-better-custom-prompt/) ``` Explain the core concepts in this source as if you are teaching a smart 12-year-old. Use analogies for every complex term. If there is a concept that is abstract, ground it in a real-world physical example. Focus on why this matters, not just what it is. ``` [Permalink](https://gemini-notebook-hub.online/prompts/audio/teach-a-newcomer-episode.md) ## Script a narrative arc - Goes in: Audio Overview prompt Without an arc the hosts wander through your sources in file order. With one, the episode has a beginning, a reveal and a takeaway — the difference between information and a story, at the cost of one sentence. ``` Start with the problem: [X]. Build toward [Y] as the surprising answer. End with what the listener should do differently tomorrow. ``` [Permalink](https://gemini-notebook-hub.online/prompts/audio/narrative-arc.md) ## The hour-long version - Goes in: Audio Overview prompt Combine with the Longer length setting: banning summarization changes the hosts' objective, and hour-long episodes from a dense document become normal. Commuters live on this one. ``` Do not summarize. Go through every section in detail, discussing every concept, example and number in the sources. The listener has time and wants depth over brevity. ``` [Permalink](https://gemini-notebook-hub.online/prompts/audio/hour-long-version.md) ## The five-minute cap - Goes in: Audio Overview prompt The inverse hack, more dependable than the Shorter setting alone. Also works per-topic: one minute maximum on history, the rest on the current debate. ``` Be concise and stay within five minutes total. Spend no more than one minute on background. If forced to choose, keep the findings and cut the context. ``` [Permalink](https://gemini-notebook-hub.online/prompts/audio/five-minute-cap.md) ## The exam-prep episode - Goes in: Audio Overview prompt Constraint plus format plus payoff: the hosts quiz each other on your chapters and close with the questions most likely to appear. Listen on the bus, drill at the desk. ``` The listener sits this exam tomorrow. Cover only chapters 3 and 4. Quiz each other on the key definitions, walk through one worked example each, and end with the five questions most likely to appear. ``` [Permalink](https://gemini-notebook-hub.online/prompts/audio/exam-prep-episode.md) ## Hold a language - Goes in: Audio Overview prompt Audio Overviews support 80+ languages, but hosts drift back to English when the sources are English. The explicit "only" instruction holds the line; language learners generate the same episode at two difficulty levels. ``` This episode is ONLY in Portuguese. Do not switch to English at any point, including for technical terms; explain them in Portuguese instead. ``` [Permalink](https://gemini-notebook-hub.online/prompts/audio/hold-a-language.md) ## The zero-drift English episode - Goes in: Audio Overview prompt The reverse case — sources in another language, episode strictly in English: proper nouns and necessary quotes exempted, foreign terms translated on first mention, natural cadence rules and a timed three-part structure. Shared by [Pasquale Pillitteri](https://pasqualepillitteri.it/en/news/1506/notebooklm-prompts-senior-researcher-workflow) ``` This is the first international special episode of Deep Dive produced entirely in English. Binding instructions for the two hosts: 1. ONLY English for the entire duration of the episode, from the first to the last word. 2. Other languages are not allowed, except for proper nouns (Apple, Google, NotebookLM), technical terms universally used in English (software, podcast, design) and verbatim quotes that are strictly necessary. 3. If you encounter a foreign technical term, translate it or explain it briefly the first time it appears, then keep the English version. 4. Maintain a natural English cadence: pauses, correct stress on multisyllabic words, clear diction. 5. Target length: 22-28 minutes. Deep Dive structure: - Opening (1 min): greeting, topic introduction, preview of the 3 most surprising points. - Development (18-22 min): thematic exploration with exact quotations from the sources. - Closing (3-5 min): the 3 practical consequences for the listener, a final open question. Tone: two expert colleagues in conversation, mid-to-high register, occasional witty remarks, zero marketing speak. ``` [Permalink](https://gemini-notebook-hub.online/prompts/audio/english-only-episode.md) ## Prime it for interruptions - Goes in: Audio Overview prompt Interactive mode lets you question the hosts mid-episode; unprimed, they give a polite non-answer and return to script. Primed, it turns into a tutorial. English only for now. ``` I will interrupt with questions using interactive mode. Treat them as genuine curiosity: go deeper on what I ask, not broader. If I push back on a claim, engage with my objection rather than smoothing it over. ``` [Permalink](https://gemini-notebook-hub.online/prompts/audio/interruptions-priming.md) ## The 3-minute brief - Goes in: Audio Overview prompt The single most repeated Audio Overview fix: kill the warm-up minute, go straight at one topic. Shared by [the r/notebooklm community (via AI Tool Discovery's roundup)](https://www.aitooldiscovery.com/guides/notebooklm-prompts) ``` Generate a 3-minute brief Audio Overview focusing only on [specific topic]. Skip the introduction and go straight to the main points. Prioritize practical examples over theory. ``` [Permalink](https://gemini-notebook-hub.online/prompts/audio/three-minute-brief.md) ## The debate episode - Goes in: Audio Overview prompt Makes the hosts argue both sides of a position from the sources instead of narrating consensus. Shared by [the r/notebooklm community (via AI Tool Discovery's roundup)](https://www.aitooldiscovery.com/guides/notebooklm-prompts) ``` Present both the strongest arguments for and against [position] from the sources. ``` [Permalink](https://gemini-notebook-hub.online/prompts/audio/debate-format.md) ## The thorough exploration - Goes in: Audio Overview prompt The opposite lever: a long-form episode that must include counterarguments, not just agreement. Shared by [the r/notebooklm community (via AI Tool Discovery's roundup)](https://www.aitooldiscovery.com/guides/notebooklm-prompts) ``` Create a thorough exploration of [topic]. Include examples, counterarguments, and implications. ``` [Permalink](https://gemini-notebook-hub.online/prompts/audio/deep-exploration.md) ## The critique episode - Goes in: Audio Overview prompt An episode that reviews the material's methodology and arguments instead of repeating them. Shared by [the r/notebooklm community (via AI Tool Discovery's roundup)](https://www.aitooldiscovery.com/guides/notebooklm-prompts) ``` Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the methodology and arguments in these sources. ``` [Permalink](https://gemini-notebook-hub.online/prompts/audio/critique-episode.md)