On Friday I talked about audio editing and why I do it.
If you haven’t read that article yet, be sure to check it out and leave a comment. I’d really like to hear your thoughts!
As promised, today I want to share with you an audio example of editing at work.
Audio editing is obviously not some huge mystery. For the most part, it’s just about fixing timing issues.
As I said Friday, it’s not about creating a good performance, but simply enhancing a good one.
The example you’re about to hear is from my upcoming album.
I played all the guitars in this song, except for the lead guitar, and my brother-in-law played bass. We’re both (if I may say so myself) good musicians and recorded good performances.
However, I felt the song still needed some tightening up. Enter editing.
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Here’s a clip of the original performances.
You’ll notice that as all the guitars/bass come in, especially on those first three hits of the chorus, everything sounds fine, but there’s just a bit of looseness there. Everything is hitting at a slightly different time. I could have left it, and it would have been fine.
However, after spending a little time editing, I was able to come up with this. (Note: I only edited the guitars and bass. The drums are exactly the same.)
Notice how everything sounds so much tighter. I just made small little edits here and there on each track, but the sum total of all those edits is a noticeable increase in tightness.
It’s not a super over-the-top change, but it also doesn’t harm the performance at all. You get the idea we were going for, but it’s just a little tighter now. Editing really isn’t a super complex tax. It simply requires patience and practice, and the payoff can be huge.
There are times when editing is necessary, and there are times when it’s not. Today I’ll give you three reasons why you should edit your tracks, and I’ll follow up with three reasons why you shouldn’t edit your tracks next week.
Sound good? Okay, let’s jump in!
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