Is it possible to use a lower-quality recording as a proxy, then apply cuts to another file?

Question

Quick bit of context: I edit a weekly podcast, which is recorded over Zoom. I get guests to record themselves using their phone's voice memo app, and take a recording of the Zoom audio as backup. Sometimes they can't/don't send over their voice memo until the very last minute, leaving me working to a very tight deadline.

I'm wondering whether in cases like this it would be possible for me to edit the lower quality Zoom audio in the multitrack editor so that the work is done, then if/when the higher quality voice memo audio comes through, have audition essentially replace the Zoom audio with the voice memo audio, with all the edits? Similar to how you can work with a watermarked image in After Effects, then drag and drop to replace this with the full version, while keeping all edited attributes the same.

Any idea if this is possible?

SteveG_AudioMasters_ · Answer

It is technically possible to do this in Multitrack, but it's a bit of a kludge. You edit your zoom recording, and you make sure that the replacement recording starts at exactly the same point. And then you do some file re-naming. You rename the zoom recording file to be something different (doesn't matter what), and then rename the new recording with exactly the same name that your zoom recording had. When you re-open the session, the edits will all be in place.

Would I rely on it? No, but it should work - as long as the files are identical in terms of content and timing. And if it's a cheap recorder they used, then it may well be the clock timing that causes that not to be the case - which means that your edits may well be astray.

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