How do you edit the stuttering in your audio?

Report · Feb 18, 2022

I don't have much affinity with Audition, nor audio in general besides basic effects and SFX since i'm more of a video editor. But I'm picking up editing audio with podcasts in particular. Now I had already a few encounters where people would Tsk every other sentence or don't come out their words properly and that was really dreadful to edit since you have to slice off enough that you don't hear it cut. But now I got a guest that stutters on a lot of T's, N's and the "ch" tone.

How you edit the audio? Do you let the stutter just occur or are there quick and good methods to edit out the stutter (as much as possible)?

For now I tend to cut up longer stutters to shorter and shorter stutters mid-sentence I just let play out due to hard cuts.

Report · Feb 18, 2022

Don't cut them all out - it makes people sound a bit unnatural. Now, I don't say this very often, but quite frankly you don't know you've been born! Back in the 'good' old days when everything was on tape you had to cut these out by hand - physically splicing the tape, each splice taking a significant amount of time which rapidly mounted up on some jobs. Whipping though the parts of an interview and cutting them out manually (listening to the flow) is an absolute breeze now, and when you get used to it, takes no time at all. You've probably realised this already, but the least noticeable cuts are made at the very start of the words you want to keep - trim back from there.

Report · Feb 18, 2022

Thanks for your advice! I'll just edit out the longer stutters since they tend to be quite hard to understand what the guest is really trying to say. I sped up my workflow by changing a few hotkeys but do you have any more tips for speeding up the editing process?

The hotkeys I use now the most are; Zoom in + out, Time selection tool and Ripple Delete. Are there any other tools you would advice to learn to use? For the main cleanup I just use delete silence and from there on out I start listening to the flow and cut up what's unneeded.

Report · Feb 18, 2022

If you have a workflow that works, then use it. The most important thing to do, especially with editing interviews, is practice - that's how you get quicker at it. After a while you get used to 'rehearsing' edits in your head as you preview the material, and that generally makes the whole process a lot smoother. Personally I wouldn't bother with deleting long silences first, either. You have to bear in mind that editing, as a process, isn't about cutting things out - it's about selecting the pieces that you want to use. Once you get into that mindset properly, editing becomes a lot easier, and the results smoother. Large spaces disappear on the way to that, without having to use a separate process.

Report · Feb 18, 2022

Alright, I guess I just have to flip the switch and just use the same mindset when editing video. Thank you for your advice, once again 🙂