Nudging/overlapping multiple clips?

[valentinad79704654]

Hey all,

I am a podcast editor who often has to delete multiple (and sometimes hundreds) of occurences of "ums." 

Is there a quick way to do any of the following?

1. Nudge all selected clips together, so it erases the time/space in between them where I have removed bits of audio?
2. A hotkey for nudging a selected clip to bump up against the previous clip? I can only nudge things by very small amounts and sometimes I need to traverse large gaps.
3. Nudge and slightly overlap all selected clips (similar to above but the addition of overlapping them slightly to automate a transition?
4. A function similar to number 2 that combines clips with an overlapping transition that automatically detects where audio begins and ends (so the automatic overlap is more accurate for smooth transitions between clips?

I realize this will still require a degree of manual editing but it would save me a whole lot of time and energy!

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

It's actually a pain to do this in Multitrack - much easier in Waveform view where you simply select the um and hit the delete key. This joins the gaps up using the overlap set in Preferences, and also you can preview the result by using the 'Skip Selection' button on the far RHS of the transport controls. You just highlight it, and when you press Play it will go back a short period, play the track and simply skip the highlighted bit.

Normally we'd recommend editing in Multitrack, but this is one occasion when we wouldn't, as its so much easier to do in Waveform.

[valentinad79704654]

Thanks. Would that make sense if multiple tracks needs to stay lined up at certain points (i.e., a podcast with multiple guests occasionally interjecting/talking at the same time)? 

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

Probably not. I originally did a longer answer to your question this morning, but the forum managed to destroy it, and I had to go out, so I've only just got the chance to redo it.

Anyway, that answer recognised that the multiple tracks thing might be an issue, and what it comes down to is that you may have to think slightly differently about how you assemble the material. But in the straightforward case of a load of people on different tracks all interrupting each other, you can easily remove chunks across the tracks using Ripple Delete with the correct option. It sometimes looks a bit weird whilst you're doing it, but when you click the mouse away, it seems to work reasonably well and can take time out of all of the tracks, so the synchronisation remains intact.

But if you just have one person who ums to the point where it's irritating then almost invariably you have to decide what bits of them you want to use, and de-um that before inserting the material into Multitrack. That way you don't have to de-umm a load of stuff you aren't going to use, and it makes the final assembly a lot quicker.

After a while, you get so fed up with doing all this (should be unnecessary) editing that you end up training your guests how to behave, and also learning yourself how to deal with them.What generally happens in broadcast discussions is that everything is regulated by the host, and the host indicates when people should speak. If people want to interject, they should use hand signals to indicate this, but still not speak until the host asks them to. If the host wants two guests to have a discussion, or ask each other questions, then this should be agreed in advance. All this tends to keep things on a more even keel, and invariably sounds better to the listener.