Hi everyone! ♡
As expected, this audio is taking as much editing time as i expected it to, and i am definitely in need of a mini break… ^^; So to stretch my fingers, i’m going to give you a brief rundown of my editing process! It’s a LONG and thorough process, but it’s also pretty simple too~ I’ll do my best to explain myself in a digestible format, and hopefully reading this won’t be too boring! ^^
First and foremost, editing is the longest, and by far the LEAST fun part of audio making for me… >.< If there was a way to pay someone else to do this part of the process for me, i honestly probably would, but i’m so extreeeeemly particular about my audio’s production, and i’m so picky about very strange things, i truly wonder if i could ever trust someone else to take over for me… ^^; i guess until that fateful day, i will happily do it myself! It’s necessary pain! I’ll power through if it means you get a nice sounding audio! ^^
I do occasionally wonder if my audio-editing process is weird though… i must confess, i don’t interact with very many audio roleplay creators to compare processes…i know i should, but because of my strange schedule, i tend to end up unintentionally isolated from other creators due to not being available very often…that’s entirely my fault, but i suppose it can’t be helped… ^^; i’m also just terribly shy…but!! My main point is, i’m not sure how most other audio creators handle their editing in comparison to my own…i’ve heard from some who have a slightly similar setup to me, but i’ve also spoken with creators who literally do no editing, just record, and slap it on Youtube…gosh i wish that were me… i long for that level of accuracy…pleaseee ^^;;;
But basically, i do my editing in passes. There are several things that i edit in my audios, and if i try to do all of the editing all at once, i tend to get frazzled and i miss a lot, so i work in a pass-based format. Basically, i go through the audio from start to end working on editing one specific thing only, then when i’m done with that, i go through the audio again working on a different specific thing from start to end…and keep doing that for each editing pass. For me, i find this is the most efficient way to make sure nothing gets missed! I’ve had lots of different editing processes over the years, but this current one seems to work the best for me! ^^ Buuut…with these multiple passes, it also means i can’t stand the sound of my own voice by the end of editing… ^^; So much listening and re-listening…oh dear…~
Anyhoo! For clarity’s sake, here are the actual, specific editing passes i do for my audios:
-Clip selection pass: In this pass, i go through all of my recorded takes, and select which lines to use. Depending on the length of the audio, this can take a few hours, especially if i want to mix and match different takes for the final version.
-Spacing pass: This is the pass where i fix the spacing between the lines. While i always try my best to observe the proper amount of pause while reading my lines, i often have either too much or too little space between lines. So i go in and manually adjust the spacing in between lines to make sure everything flows smoothly like a normal conversation would.
-Unwanted/Artifact removal pass: THIS. The bane of my existence. This is the pass that is the most tedious and often takes the longest. This is the editing pass where i remove any and all unwanted sounds in the original recording. Nowadays, i almost always record in a recording space (bless you Patrons!!), which removes the need to edit out any outside noise picked up in the recording, like car horns and dogs barking…which CAN and WILL be picked up by my very sensitive mic…! ^^; But that’s actually not the main thing that makes this pass so infuriating!
It’s ME!! Most of the unnecessary noises are made by me!! Sniffs, breaths that are too loud, accidentally blowing into the mic, my body making weird noises, rustling of my clothes, and the WORST…my mouth is very noisy(?), and even when i speak lines normally, i tend to have lots of unnecessary mouth sounds (these are easily identifiable in my earlier audios before i knew better, as well as in my streams, sadly ^^;). I know most people aren’t bothered by it and/or don’t even notice it, but over the years, i have gotten messages about mouth sounds being hard to listen to for some people…so for those people, i added this pass of editing! ;v; But that often means scrubbing through every word of every line, and manually editing out unnecessary clicks and smacks and all that stuff…but not to worry! I’ve gotten quite good at it over the years! But it still takes time… Will most people notice these changes? Absolutely not, but for the people who it matters to, i want to make sure i’m giving them the best version of the audio possible! And it truly does sound cleaner and more polished afterwards…so i can’t even complain that much, hehe~ ^^ I genuinely don’t mind too much, but this is by far the longest pass. Easily 20+ hours, but can go up to 50+ for audios that are over an hour long ^^;;;
-Plosives, fricatives, and kisses adjustment pass: This pass probably takes the second-most amount of time~ This is where i mainly adjust the levels/loudness of plosives and fricatives. These are particularly strong sounds made by consonants when you speak - for me, my troublemakers are the following: the plosives p, b, t, d and the fricatives f, v, and especially s. These sounds when spoken can come off a little harsh in sound level compared to the rest of the spoken words, and unfortunately i have a bad habit of over-enunciating (pronouncing things too sharply), so basically i go through the audios and i adjust any time the above sounds are made. Not all, but i usually have to fix about 75% of the plosives and fricatives i say. There are programs that can do this as a batch process, and i’ve tested them out, but after trial and error, they sadly don’t seem to work as effectively as i need them to, and even muffle the entire recording… ^^; Darn! So i make these adjustments by hand, one by one! Similarly, recorded kisses tend to have the same problem of popping the audio level too high, so i adjust the kisses’ audio levels in this part as well. This pass usually takes at least 10-ish hours for the average audio, and 20+ for long ones. For the current audio, i did this pass over one full Saturday from early morning to very late evening, so i CAN complete this pass in a day if i try very hard! It’s not so bad! ^^
-Proximity Amplify Pass: In this pass, i adjust the volume of character’s lines based on how close or far away the character is to you (the listener) in the scene. Sometimes this can be accomplished by recording closer or farther away from the mic, but that can also affect the recording quality in strange ways, so this is almost always done in post (after recording). This is also when i bring up the volume of lines that are recorded quietly on purpose, so mainly whispered lines.
-De-noise pass: In this pass, i run a simple noise filter over the entire audio, hopefully bringing down the ambient noise of the recording space (the white noise). I do leave a little bit in depending on the audio, but it makes it easier to add new background noise and sound effects later on if i’m starting with a mostly clean slate.
-Background/Ambient sounds pass: This is the pass where i add in whatever ambient background noise i want for the audio’s specific scenes (wind, birds, plants, rain, crickets, echos etc). This can actually be a pretty delicate process, as i often adjust the background’s volume throughout the scene depending on the character’s speaking volume. I do my best to make this unnoticeable though, so hopefully it just sounds pleasant and un-distracting to the ear~ ^v^
-Sound Effects Pass: Most sound effects are added after the ambience pass so that their volume doesn’t need to be re-adjusted after the fact. I actually have a pretty large library of sound effects from my previous job, but because my audios are so wacky, i often have to record original sound effects as well (callback to my water buckets for hot springs and merman Venti audios lolol). This is also where i add in the effect for clothing rustles… not all audio roleplays have this (in fact, i seem to be in the minority from what i’ve heard), but i like having clothing sounds in audios to know when and how characters are moving. I have a small collection of clothing rustle sound effects that i recorded myself, and each one is placed manually one by one~ (those kissing scenes sure are a handful, phew! Lots of…uh. …rustling…) ^^;
-Headphone check: I take psychic damage doing this, but because i’m never sure how people are listening to my audios, once everything else is finished, i listen through the audio from start to finish three times; once with cheap wired headphones, once with wireless earbuds, and once with over-ear headphones. Audio can sound VERY different depending on your listening hardware, so i listen through on each type to make sure it sounds good for each. I make adjustments according to how each one sounds, and sometimes i bring up or down certain sound effects or lines so that everyone has the best listening experience possible~
-Audio Description: Technically not part of the “editing” portion, but i thought i’d mention it here~ The description is almost always written while i’m waiting for the audio to export~ Rather than stare at the export window’s loading bar, i just aimlessly ramble about my specific thoughts about the audio…but i suppose you’re all used to that by now~ ^^
And that’s everything! My whole editing process! I hope this explains a little more clearly on why i take so long with editing audios… ^^;;; I think i’ve mentioned it before, but i actually time myself when i’m working on editing audios to keep track of my progress, and my baseline average is 1 minute of completed audio takes about 1 hour of editing (so on average, a 30 minute audio takes about 30 hours of editing…) But for more complicated audios, it can take longer! Much longer… ^^;;;
Also! If you ever wondered why i seem to completely vanish offline while i’m editing an audio…uh…i’m prone to distractions, so i actually turn off my internet router until i reach certain thresholds in editing…i usually come up for air every 20-ish hours of editing completed, which is usually when i post updates and check messages! ^^; i literally live under a rock while i’m editing, the world could be at war, and i would never know! Never worry, i’m ok! I’m just trying my best to be disciplined ^^;
It’s strange though…editing always slurps the confidence out of me… ^^; Whenever i first start working on an audio, i always have so much confidence that it’s a fun idea…but by the time i’m done with editing (after listening and editing across so many passes) i almost always feel like the completed audio is horrible…! ;v; That it sucks and that i’ve made people wait needlessly for something mid at best, and un-listenable at worst!! >.<;;; I’m actually at that part of editing right now where i'm starting to feel that way a little bit... i honestly have no idea if this audio is even good anymore…!! ;v; i hope i'm not making you nice listeners wait weeks for something that isn't even worth it...!! >.<;;; But in times like that, i have to try to believe in my past self…past-Luna thought this was a good idea, so if i can’t believe in me, i have to at least believe in her!! ^^; And plus, you all are always so kind to me, so i’m sure even if the audio is bad, you won’t beat me up behind the school (probably) xDHehe but joking aside, thanks for reading through all of this! I hope it wasn't too dry~ My break is over, and it’s time for me to go back to the editing trenches…i’m reaching the part of editing where i can barely see the light at the end of the tunnel, and even if i’m tired, i’m determined to keep pushing forward! ^^ Wish me luck! I’ll do my best to make this something nice~
-Luna ♡