Demonstration: Editing an Audio File. Podcasting for E-Learning
Today’s post is a demonstration outlining how to edit an audio file using the Audacity open-source non-linear sound editor.
Click on the play button on the YouTube video to view the demo at 240×320 size (which will give you an overview of the editing techniques I’m using), or click here to view the demo (1024×768, broadband connection recommended) to see the editing techniques in detail. The demo is about six minutes in duration, and requires Flash Player version 7 or better.
Now some context: in my previous post in this series about Podcasting for E-Learning, I described the pre-edit stage of post-production.
In that post I discussed audio has been recorded, the master file was saved and imported into your audio editor. Next I described how the sound file was to be “cleaned up” by ensuring the file was:
- Topped & tailed
- Normalized
- NRed
- EQed
- Saved as an “_edit” version.
At this point you are ready to edit the audio content. 
Broadly speaking, this means applying edits to remove “umms,” and “ahhs,” coughs, bad (or repeated) takes, clicks, pops, and bangs – there will be many!
Today’s demonstration is a section of the master file from my E-Learning Curve Podcast episode Flash and Captivate. In this section of the narrative, I’m discussing the Flash format and its uses. In the demo I undertake the follow activities:
- Open the ‘_edit’ file
- Play back the narrative to understand what edits need to be made (the clip is about 15 seconds in duration)
- Make a note of the edits to be made (see bullets below)
- Use various Audacity controls including the Rewind and Play buttons, Selection, Envelope and Zoom Tools, and the Crossfade Out effect to make edits in the file
- Play back the complete narrative with edits implemented (about 13 seconds in duration)
- Save the edited file
The master file includes the following elements to be modified or elided:
- One repeated phrase
- Two audible inhaled breaths
- A series of small audible oral clicks
- One large audible oral click
- Noise at the end of the clip
More…
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September 18 2009 04:00 pm | e-learning
