Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Sound Engineering Principles, Lesson 1

"Sound engineering principles" could be a reference to my civil engineering background, but here I'm actually talking about "sound engineering", that is, working with audio recordings.  In Lesson 1 here, check out an example of audio editing, and what a difference it makes in a recording of an interview.
What is Audio Editing?
Let's face it, a lot of people say a lot of stuff that you're not interested in.  Let me re-phrase that.  If you're taking the time to listen to a recording of someone speaking, you want to hear the most natural-sounding, yet clear and concise version possible, of what they have to say.  So if someone naturally tends to say "um" and "ah" frequently, how do you get a recording of that person's voice to sound clear and concise?  Audio editing, of course.  Load a digital recording into an audio editing program and cut out the parts that you don't want to hear.

Click on the (very light gray) link below to listen to a short example from a life history interview that I recorded.  Prior to editing, you'll hear how the speaker often says "um".  When I edited the recording, I removed a lot of that.  Notice how that makes the segment much easier to listen to.

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