In music production, audio editing is the most basic process. Whether you’re a video maker, rising YouTube sensation, or game developer, you need to know how to edit the audio for your video to truly stand out in the over-saturated market. Also, you wouldn’t want to be slapped with copyright infringement if you’ve used a copyrighted tune for your video or game.
Audio Editing: What Is It?
The manipulation of recorded audio files in a film soundtrack, musical arrangement, or broadcast is referred to as audio editing.
The primary tasks in audio editing are as follows –
- Cleaning up imperfections and noise
- Altering the position of clips on the timeline
- Manipulating audio by slicing individual clips
- Refining the musical performance by choosing different takes
Regardless of whether you are a beginner or a seasoned sound mixer, these tips are for you.
Be Careful About Volume
When you are editing any audio or video clip, you’ll want to focus on the volume levels that you’re selecting. If you’ve ever attended a music concert of your favorite artist and left the concert feeling disappointed because you couldn’t properly hear certain parts, you’ll know why volume is crucial. If the sound engineers make a mistake, it can result in the vocalist being drowned by the lead guitarists or drums.
Similarly, these issues can happen when you’re editing audio and video clips. Ensure that the volume of your audio perfectly matches the specific section that you are working on. If your editing fades between just music and speaking, it might be helpful to break your audio into sections. This will allow you to fade and choose different audio levels for specific sections.
Convert WAV to MP3
There’s no doubt that the WAV audio file offers superior audio quality. The preservation and accuracy capabilities of this format remain superior to MP3 files. However, MP3 files have still not lost their importance. The primary reason why a lot of people still prefer MP3 files is because it is much more manageable and needs much less storage space. So, it’ll be better if you convert your WAV files into MP3 files.
You can convert WAV to MP3 on Mac using Wondershare Uniconvertor which is a WAV to MP3 converted for Mac. You can also convert using iTunes.
Furthermore, you can convert WAV to MP3 on Windows by using Windows media player, the built-in option.
Use Filters
When you are editing, you would want to ensure that you step away from what you’re doing so that you can confirm that you’re using all the right effects and filters.
Sure, autotune can be a blessing. But, it can also be a curse. If you’ve used too much autotune, it’ll be easily understood by your audience. So, you are recommended to pause and check whether the effects that you’re using are making sense. You can experiment with different filters, but make sure not to use too many that end up ruining the song.
Alter The Tempo
To add an interesting twist to your composition, you can think of changing the tempo. Instead of simply looking for a 30-second audio clip to fill the last segment of your video, you can try dwelling on your work with a creative angle. Listen to what you’ve edited so far and decide if it is a good time to stretch the tempo to better fit the mood.
When you alter the tempo, you open your audio to a new world of possibility when it comes to audio editing. The changes that you’ve made at a normal tempo might sound different when they’re sped up. So, go ahead and experiment.
Blend, Blend, Blend
You would want that your audio clip gives listeners a soothing experience. After all, this is the entire purpose of editing audio. You cannot present an audio clip that has sudden changes in volume or tune. Then, it’ll not be an enjoyable listening experience.
This means that when you’re editing, you have to wash songs together in a way that listeners don’t notice the sudden song change. You have to find ways to blend songs seamlessly so that they sound like they belong together. For this, you have to choose the right songs and you can use fading as a tool to introduce a new song as one ends. You have to find the correct tempo, beats, tones, or keys to blend songs.
So, these are a few of the audio editing tips that you should keep in mind to boost your career as a sound producer or engineer. It will also help you in creating YouTube videos with a killer soundtrack that might make you an overnight sensation.