Sound Advice: Editing Narration

Eons ago (that's about five years or so in computer years) audio engineers recorded and edited narration on tape. It was tedious, caused eyestrain and often required the engineers to twist their bodies into unnatural positions over and over to make the repetitious edits. Worse, the edits were permanent. If you made a mistake, your only recourse was to re-record the narration from scratch. Fortunately, times have changed for the better. Computer-based audio editing has completely transformed the process. Edits are done, undone and redone with just a few clicks of a mouse, and now, the only potential injury is a sore wrist.

With all this newfound power and flexibility, video producers can easily try multiple variations of a given take, or rearrange the script after the voiceover talent has gone for the evening. In this article, we'll teach you how to make the most of the digital audio tools at your disposal.

File Management
Much like video editing, your audio editing session begins with hardware and software choices. Fortunately, any computer you use to edit video has more than enough power to perform your audio tasks. In fact, virtually any off-the-shelf computer sold today contains more than enough resources to complete your creation. There are several options for recording software - many even free - but a good editing package offers a clean interface and useful editing tools. You'll spend quite a bit of time with this software, so make sure it fits the way you want…

Start Your Free Trial Membership to View This article

Why Become a Member?

As a Videomaker Plus member, you'll enjoy:

Exclusive access to 1,000s of articles, tips, and videos
Unlimited access to Videomaker Tips & Tricks video series
Special contests and monthly drawings
Members only eLetters
Early online access to the current issue of Videomaker Magazine
Members only discounts on Videomaker merchandise and more
Priority status at Videomaker events
The Expert Hotline: direct email access to our editors. Get answers to questions about any video subject

Hal Robertson | August 2003

Related Content

Making Music Videos When most new filmmakers think of making a Music Video, images of beautiful dancers, exotic locations and slick musicians come to mind.

Introduction to Digital Video Editing: The Guide to Getting Started With Computer Video (DVD) You'll learn important information about digital video editing software. You'll learn the tools you need to get started in digital video editing including…

Sound Success (DVD) Learn about the many types of microphones and how to use them wisely. Key insights for recording indoor and outdoor audio. Editing techniques to sweeten your…

Advanced Editing -- Guide to Advanced Computer Video Editing (DVD) The editors and experts at Videomaker have created this DVD to introduce you to the video editing software, and the techniques you need to know to edit like a…

Audio Compression There are many compression formats are available to the video producer. Some use lossy compression like MP3 and others are “lossless.” The trick is…

Composition 201 It's time to learn the advanced techniques in Composition! In this second part, we'll go beyond the basics and take a look at some more advanced techniques…

Fix It in Post Four of the most dangerous words in the video production lexicon are "fix it in post." Easy for a director or cinematographer to say, but who is going to feel…

Video Glossary of Terms Confused by the alphabet soup of video production terminology? Videomaker's extensive Glossary of Terms provides definitions for hundreds of commonly and not…

Making Animals Talk for Video and TV You've seen them so often that they seem perfectly natural. But they're not. Animals just don't talk. Except, of course, in the movies. And TV. And commercials.…

Radio and Dialog Editing This edoc teaches you how to do a radio edit. By focusing your cuts and the assembly of your timeline on the dialog places the content of the story as the…

Sound Advice: Editing Narration

Start Your Free Trial Membership to View This article

Why Become a Member?

As a Videomaker Plus member, you'll enjoy:

Create Your Account

Video Forums

Video News Blog

Become a Videomaker Plus Member

Related Content

Sponsors