BASIC AUDIO EDITING

Introduction
Editing audio digitally offers a multitude of possibilities for manipulating sound. From getting rid
of unwanted noises to sonically re-shaping a recording beyond any recognizable form to the
original, editing can be a very powerful tool. If you tune into a radio show, or play a music CD,
what you hear will have been extensively edited. Beginning to edit audio files can be a daunting
task and it is worth taking a little time to get familiar with the basics. Editing is a skill and
improves with practice. Tasks that seem to take a long time will quickly speed up once you
regularly work with digital audio.

When you import audio files into your editing software they can be cut and separated into
regions and moved around within an arrangement. When you are happy with the arrangement
of all the regions, have finished editing and done all the necessary mixing, you will then be
ready to render the arrangement into a final audio file.

Common editing tools

Name(s) Common
Icons Function Comments

1. Selects and
moves regions

Select tool, 2. Selects as area

Cursor or within a region

Sliders at the
edge of the
Zoom in and out of window often
the current or perform
Zoom in/out selected view zooming

Cut, Split, Splits a region at the Useful for

Scissor position of the cut 'topping and

tailing'
Glue, Joins regions
together to form a
Join new region

Crossfades between
two regions and/or
Fade (and/or) applies a fade in/out
Crossfade to a region

Redraw the
waveform at sample
points. n.b. this can
remove vitakl
information from a
file and should only
be used in re- Useful when

Draw mastering removing

clicks or pops

Gives control of the

volume on a track, a
Envelope way of automation

In play mode plays

the selected track
Solo and mutes all others

In play mode mutes

Mute or the selected track

Topping and Tailing

A very useful technique is ‘topping and tailing' audio files. This is the process of removing
silence or noise before and after the desired audio section within a file or region. These silences
are commonly from the pauses made at the start and end of recording.
Diagram 1 (a) below shows an audio file that is topped and tailed. The blue wave in (a)
precedes and ends with silence.

1 (b) shows the waveform isolated with both the silences removed.

a)

b)

Diagram 1 - 1b is the resultant region after the silence at the beginning and end of the region
shown in 1a has been removed.

Topping and tailing is done by cutting the audio region at two points to separate the top and tail.
The two new regions that are created as a result of the cuts are then deleted.

Cutting audio files at random positions can lead to unwanted audible clicks.

There are audible clicks where I have made cuts to my audio regions. Why is this?

To avoid pops and clicks when cutting audio regions always make cuts at zero crossings.

A zero crossing is where the wave is neither above (positive value) or below (negative value)
the horizontal zero line, but where it crosses this line.

Diagram 2 below shows a waveform zoomed close up. The straight horizontal line is the zero
line (which represents volume) and the dark grey area starts and finishes when the wave
crosses this line - it is actually at volume zero; the ideal place for making cuts. Cuts made when
the wave is not on the zero line can create pops and clicks as the volume at that exact point is
not zero.
Diagram 2 - The dark grey region highlights an area of the wave which begins and ends on
zero amplitude, Y=0.

Another way to eliminate clicks at the beginning or end of audio files is to use fades.

Removal of unwanted noises from audio files

Imagine the following scenario. You are editing a spoken word recording where every now and
then the microphone has picked up the sound of someone else coughing, which you wish to
remove. This occurs:

A. During gaps between speech,

B. At the same time as speech occurs

Using the cut tool to isolate and remove regions of unwanted audio (as we've seen above) will,
on the whole, rectify the problem raised during A.

Rectifying B, on the other hand, is more of a complex issue to resolve. This is because multiple
sounds occurring at the same time are very hard to separate, and therefore any changes made
to one sound will affect all other sounds that occur at the same time. In this example attempting
to remove coughing during speech will result in speech being removed as well as the coughing.
This highlights the importance of achieving clear recordings with minimal noise and
interruptions. Achieving this will help eliminate problems such as this during the editing process.
Removing clicks and pops from recordings

Pops and clicks can come from a range of sources, but they are relatively straightforward to
remove, even when they occur during audio you want to keep as they have very short lengths.
The three key principles to follow are:

1. Isolate the pop/click. Zoom in close and identify the beginning and the end of the offending
sound.

2. Cut either side of the pop/click region. Remember to cut at zero crossings.

3. Delete the region of the pop/click and re-align the regions either side.

4. Listen to the result. If you can still hear the pop click then you have not isolated the correct
area. If the result sound unnatural you may have to experiment with the realignment of the
regions and apply fades.

a)

b)
c)

Diagram 3 - 3a shows a waveform with an audible ‘click' to be removed. Diagram 3b shows the
‘click' zoomed in closely and indicates a region in dark grey which has been highlighted to begin
and end at zero amplitude crossings. The wave in 3c shows us the original waveform once the
region highlighted in 3b has been deleted.
You may find there are other types of undesirable noise in your audio files that you wish to
remove. Noise such as a hum from mains power, an electrical device, background noise from
the street or environment, or digital interference, which you may not have noticed during
recording, may be audible upon playback. These unwanted noises can be reduced using a filter
or an EQ plug-in, which reduce the volume of a specific frequency or range of frequencies.

I have cut my audio files. How do I join two regions together and make it sound natural?

Creating a composite audio file that fools the listener into thinking they are listening to a
continuous single file can be quite tricky. Here are some aspects to consider when you are
joining audio files together.

 Create zero-crossings. As previously mentioned, cutting regions at zero crossing will start
the new file from silence instead of at a point within the sound.

 Use cross-fading. When overlapping regions or placing one directly after the other, a useful
method is to apply a cross-fade across the two. A cross-fade fade-outs the volume of one
region at the same time as fading in another. The effect of this sounds less harsh on the
ears than one file stopping and another starting.

 Leave a natural gap in-between regions. Listen to the files in position and adjust according
to what is sounds like, not what it looks like on the screen. Musical files need to keep to the
 tempo or feel of the piece and care should be taken when aligning regions of spoken word,
allowing gaps where a breath might take place for example.

 Adjust the volumes of regions. It may be necessary to adjust the volume of one region to
match that of another. Although this can be done by visual comparison, it is imperative to
listen to any adjustments you make and base further decisions on the audible results.
Automation is a useful tool for this (see our guide to mixing for more info on what automation
is).
Why should I use fades?

Fading sounds in and out is useful for restoring a natural effect to the otherwise harsh sounds
of sounds stopping and starting abruptly. A fade-in is where volume rises from silence, a and
fade-out is the opposite, the volume decreases to silence. The time taken for either a fade-in or
fade-out can be set to suit audio region.

Fade-ins and fade-outs can be useful at the beginning and end of tracks and are often used in
music to slowly introduce the listener to a song or to gradually end a song without the music
actually finishing. Adding music and sound effects to spoken word projects can often benefit
from being faded in or out so as not to distract the listener from what is being said.

Diagram 4 below shows how two regions have been blended together using a cross-fade
technique. A cross-fade fades out the sound of one audio region whilst a second region is faded
in. The effect of the two fading at the same time produces a natural sounding effect.

a)
b)

Diagram 4 - 4a displays two regions next to each other in an audio editor. 4b shows the same
two regions once a cross-fade has been applied. The white lines indicate the volume levels. It
can be seen that as one volume rises second falls, relative to the first ones rise.