SUGGESTED WORKFLOW FOR EDITING YOUR AUDIO PIECE

SUGGESTED WORKFLOW FOR EDITING YOUR AUDIO PIECE

1. Look over your transcript, and create a new document with your favorite moments. Organize these moments into a logical flow.


2. If you started your transcript timecode at "hour zero" i.e. 00:00:00;00, create a "stringout" sequence of your entire interview, placing your audio file or all of the audio files back to back on a timeline. Following your document, find each sound byte you would like to use, and then copy and paste those sections onto a separate "selects" sequence. If your timecode does not start at hour zero, you will have to create in and out point in the source monitor and pull your bytes down to the timeline from there.

3. Duplicate your "Selects" sequence and re-name the new sequence "Draft #1." Use this "Draft #1" sequence to organize and trim your selected clips together to make coherent sections (with a beginning, middle and end).

4. Every time you open up premiere, duplicate this "Draft #1" sequence and give it the next sequential number, i.e. "Draft #2" and then "Draft #3" that way you are saving your edits as you go, and can always return to a previous version of your edit if you do not like what you did. This is not a hard and fast rule, but generally it is a good idea to edit out most of the "um's" and repetitive lines, making sure that the interviewee still sounds like they are talking naturally.

5. Once the content and structure of your interview is locked, begin to add in the room-tone, other ambient sounds, music, and SFX. Once those additional elements are placed, make sure all of the sounds fade in and out to your liking.

6. Check your audio levels (voice should be peaking around -20dB, other sounds should peak around -24 to -30 dB but this is not a hard and fast rule - make sure you can hear the voice above all other sounds, and if something is too overpowering, make sure to lower the volume levels).

6. Listen back and adjust as necessary. Think about rhythm and pacing for your listener (Is it a good listen? Is there too much information? Can you hear the voice? Do you have enough pauses? Are there parts that can be cut further for redundancy? These are all questions you should think about and ask yourself).

HAVE FUN!

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