In part 1 of this series, I explained the two main types of edits that I typically use when producing audio. In this installment I present details about using a Clean Edit on a continuous stream of audio such as a sentence.

Back in the days of audiotape (with apologies to those still using it), editing was done by marking the location of the out and in cuts using a grease pencil on the “outside” of the tape, laying the tape on a cutting block, slicing the tape using a sharp razor and taping the two desired pieces together. To achieve the most seamless edits, the cuts were done at a 45-degree angle. In this way, any imperfection would be masked by the fact that the cut rolled over the playback heads of the tape machine rather than hitting the heads at the same time with a straight cut.

With audiotape, we used our ears to find the best place to make the edit. In the digital world, we can use our ears or our eyes (or both) to find the best place to make the cut.

All digital audio editing software displays a graphical representation of the audio waveform. As with audiotape, we must be similarly careful to not “hit the tape head too hard”. To achieve this I follow three basic steps.

1) Identify the window in which to make the cut

The window is the area of the audio in which a cut can be reasonably made. That window could be as large as several seconds of silence, or as tight as a fraction of a second between two words in a sentence. As long as there is enough space for the scissor tool to make the cut, you’re in good shape. Unlike audiotape, the cut will always be straight. I will talk about how I pick my window in a future installment of this series.

2) Make the cut at the appropriate place of the waveform

The safest place in which to make a cut is when the waveform crosses the zero line. Because audio occurs in a wavelength, it will always cross zero on both the way up and the way down. If waveform is not visible in your window then you can make the cut anywhere because there is no signal. That is, the waveform is flat on zero. Otherwise, find the place in your window where the waveform intersects with zero and make the cut at that spot.

A GOTCHA! If you make one cut at zero as the waveform is going up, make the other cut at zero as the waveform is going down. In this way, when you mate the two sections you wish to keep, the waveform is fluid. This is particularly important when you are making the cut inside a sentence and especially if you are making the cut in the middle of a word.

3) Line up the two ends to complete the edit

Once you’ve made the cuts, remove the section you no longer need and bring together the two pieces you wish to keep. Make sure you don’t leave any space between the two pieces or you will notice the audio dropout.

In part three, I will explain how I do my Blended Edits.