Make your audio editing precise

find the zero point

Audio editing is a simple process when you've figured out the best way to avoid that click sound you get when you edit incorrectly. 

Have you ever had that moment when you think your sample has been cut correctly but every time you listen back to the region it has an annoying pop in the beginning?

That's incorrect editing. Luckily, it's easy to edit audio correctly by following one simple rule:

Find the zero point.

What's the zero point? It's the point of the waveform where it touches the horizontal axis.

Like a typical sine wave you can see the waveform start at the zero point, then going up, returning to the zero point before going underneath and finally returning again. See the waveform here below? It's easy to see when that sine wave reaches the zero point on the horizontal axis, but when we're working with complicated audio waveforms, it gets a bit trickier to see.

But luckily, using your audio software, this is easy to find. We just zoom in. Here is a normal waveform.  Say we want to make a sample or loop out of this waveform.

In order for us to avoid that annoying clipping sound, we must zoom in and find that zero point. Look at the region below. I've zoomed in completely and cut the region where the waveform sits on the zero point. By doing this you should avoid any unwanted pops or clicks from your editing process.

Be a surgeon, be precise. Find the zero point and avoid any unprofessional clicks in your audio.

For an all-around invaluable resource on great editing, check out Understanding Editing.

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