Different audio drama productions approach dialogue editing in their own way. I thought I’d talk about how I like to do it, as I consider the editing part of the storytelling process. This comes, again, from my film school background. You’ll see time and time again, big name directors working with the same editor on all of their films. There is a trust built there. Where the editor knows the director so well, that they instinctually know what the director will want. When you hear of “director’s cut” it’s not that the director would’ve done the editing differently than the editor produced. It’s that the studio heads weighed in on what they wanted. A good editor is always in the director’s corner.
In TV, the editor answers more to the writers than to the director. Series television the executive producer is always the head writer who, in most cases, is also the creator. The director contributes, of course, but the writers are the ones who have the final say. Since I am a trained television writer, this is the world I come from. And, truthfully, I believe that audio dramas are very much the same as television when it comes to production.
In an audio-only format, editing takes place in the editor’s DAW (Digital Audio Workstation). There are many different DAWs out there. We happen to use Logic Pro X because Jeremy was a musician before I started my audio drama, so we already owned it. (Actually one of the reasons the show became financially feasible since we didn’t have to spend money on a DAW or a good microphone!) I won’t get into the technical side of editing, but for a basic overview, each actor’s recordings occupy their own “track.” Then we use other tracks for music and sound effects (which could, ultimately, take up several tracks each). Once the recordings are all placed in the tracks, the editing can begin!
Why I say editing is part of the storytelling is that I ask my cast to give me 2-3 takes of each line. Since we don’t record together as a cast, this allows me to pick the delivery of a line that best suits the other actor’s delivery in the scene. Sometimes the difference in the delivery is very slight. But that still lets me pick the best one for the scene. Then there is what I have dubbed “Frankenlines.” When I take part of one take of a line, and part of another take of the same line and fit them together. I have literally done this for every single cast member at one time or another (myself included) when I found those two deliveries sewn together make for the best performance.
Some other tricks to the editing are, I cut out a lot of breaths and mouth clicks. Now, I don’t believe in taking out all breaths. Certainly when there is action and the character should be breathing heavily, I want that natural sounding delivery. But actors (again, myself included) often take a deep breath in before they deliver a line. And that doesn’t sound natural. It emphasizes that the lines were recorded individually. So I will cut them. In addition, every actor, one time or another will give me some sound from the their mouth (even belches, ew) so I definitely clean those up! The key is remembering the audience is having this pumped directly into their ears through headphones. Any unpleasant sound would make listening to the show unpleasant.
Another form of “editing is storytelling” comes down to the pacing. All actors leave large spaces in-between sentences, or sometimes just randomly in the middle of the take. This is where editing is really an art form. I listen and figure out the natural pacing of delivery and trim out the fat, so to speak. Likewise, I use the rhythm of the scene to determine how close together the characters speaking should be. An old acting cliche is “acting is reacting.” To accomplish that in an audio drama where everyone records separately, I literally imagine, okay, she had to hear what he just said and process it, now she’s responding. I feel what that time to respond should be naturally. I will often repeat a sequence several times, making sure the pacing works. And after I am done with a full scene, I play it again so that I know that all put together, the pacing is right.
And speaking of pacing, there are different ways that editors or sound designers incorporate the sound effects. I prefer to include them along with the dialogue editing. To me, the SFX directly impact the dialogue. I want to time out the phone ringing so it’s not at its loudest peak when someone is saying something. I don’t want a door knock, gun shot or any sound that is important to be heard by the listener for the plot, lost behind a character speaking. So I build the sound design in with the dialogue as if a SFX was another character in the scene.
Many creators hand off their editing to someone who specifically performs that part of the post production. For myself, I may have taken on the role of editor as another way to keep expenses down, but when anyone asks me, “What would you do if you had a good sized budget for your audio drama?” Editing is still something I want to do myself. As the writer, I know I’m getting exactly what I want when I edit my show.
-Chrisi (aka Madison)
