Editing audio is a bit like doing a jigsaw puzzle with sound. It’s lots of fun and doesn ’t need get complicated. The most important thing to remember is that making mistakes is part of the process and it’s in the editing stage that you can help fix some, most or all of these, whatever works for you!
Here are our top 5 tips for editing audio:
Rehearse (a little): it’s a good idea to read through and practise what you’re going to record a few times. It helps make you familiar with the words and structure. You can always record rehearsals too (more on that in tip 2)
Keep recording: don’t be afraid to keep going if you stumble over something, leave a gap and start the sentence again. If in doubt stop and start again earlier in a new recording - having multiple takes to choose from is always great, but make sure you….
Organise your files: the more files you record the more important it is to name them and put them in folders together. It’s also a good idea to have a notepad and to write down your favourite parts and the timestamps of where you might have made mistakes as you record
Don’t try and make it perfect: hesitation, breaths and even small corrections make a recording natural. It’s great to leave these in to provide character to don’t be tempted to overdo the edit.
Listen, then take a break, then listen again: if you’re editing a long piece then it’s a great idea to do it in sections. I also find it helpful to take a break once I’ve finished a section or whole piece and then come back to it a few hours later. The space from it can help you spot things to tweak or change