Edit, Edit, Edit

Remember Aunt Millie from 3 Ways To Record Your Story Or Interview? Well, let’s assume you went ahead and recorded her talking about her adventures in Bolivia. Now what?

Now, editing! Because:

• There are many long pauses and 152 uhms in your recording.

• There are moments when Auntie Millie tripped over her tongue trying to say what she meant.

• FedEx rang the doorbell in the middle of your conversation.

• You set up too close to the ancient refrigerator, which started to rattle during Aunt Millie’s description of her first magic mushroom experience.

• She rambled on too long about her harrowing bus ride through the Andes Mountains.

Editing is an essential part of your creative process. And the more you do it, the more your listeners will thank you (and keep listening). With editing software you can remove uninteresting or irritating bits. You can move content around to tell a better story. For example, if Aunt Millie suddenly remembers something important to add to what she was saying 15 minutes ago, no problem. You can copy that new part of her story and then insert it where it belongs.

But you can think about all that after you decide what editing software to use. If you want to experiment before spending money on professional software — such as Adobe Audition, Avid ProTools, or PreSonus Studio One — you can download Audacity or WavePad for free. There’s lots of online help available to get you started.

As you make editing decisions, think about your audience. Pretend someone who doesn’t know Aunt Millie is listening. Will they play the entire recording, or get bored and turn it off? If you intend to share Aunt Millie’s stories with family members and friends, you should recruit an objective listener to give you feedback before you send the recording off to others. That person might have some great suggestions to help make your masterpiece even better.

Once you’ve learned the basic editing functions of your software, you can start to play around by adding music, sound effects, and your own narration. That’s when the fun really begins!