Post-Production – Refine Sound Bites (Chromebook Mini-Documentary)

Your completed mini-documentary will feature what the people you interviewed said tied-together with your own narration. It is similar towriting a report that combines your words with quotes. The main difference is your sound bites will make up the majority of your mini-documentary.

The sound bites you created from your interview recordings need to be organized and refined. If you are doing a family history story, the process will be slightly different because you may have only interviewed one or two people.

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Combine Answers

Open your Chromebook File folder.

Navigate to your your project recordings folder.

If you created your soundbites for all of your interviews correctly, you should see them in order of which question was answered. In this example, four people answered most of the questions.

Resize your Files window so it approximately fits in the bottom right quarter of the screen.

Open the Chrome browser and navigate to the twistedwave.com/online website.

Resize this window so it approximately fits in the bottom left quarter of the screen and the Drop a file box is visible.

Return to your recordings folder. In this example four people answered question #1 for a story about how education has changed since distance learning began. Select the first sound bite that starts with number 1 and drag it onto the Drop a File box.

Move and resize the editing window so that it approximately fills the top half of the screen.

Return to your recordings folder and drag the next answer to question #1 onto the Drop a File box.

Click on the waveform and use the [ctrl+A] keys to select all of it. Use the [ctrl+C] keys to copy the selected waveform.

Return to the edit window for the first answer you opened. Click anywhere on the waveform.

Click the [Search + right-arrow] keys to move to the end of the waveform.

Press the [ctrl+V] keys to paste the second waveform. You now have two answers to your first interview question back-to-back.

Return to the bottom edit window and close it by clicking on the X.

Return to your recordings folder and repeat the process of opening the next answer to question #1 and adding it to the top edit window at the end of the last waveform pasted. In this example, four answers have been placed back-to-back.

When you are done pasting all answers for your first interview question, make sure you are in the edit window for the combined answers. Open the File menu and click on Download.

Make sure there is no checkmark next to Export selected audio. The File format should be MP3 Audio. Change the Title to answer1 then click the Download button.

Navigate to your project recordings folder. Make sure the Save As name is correct and includes the .mp3 extension. When everything is correct click the Save button.

Repeat the process above to assemble all answers for each question into a single file. In this example, there were six questions answered so there are now six files starting with Answer:

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Create a Conversation

After you have combined the responses to each of your interview questions, make sure you have the main TwistedAudio window open, but no editing windows. Return to your project recordings folder. Select the answers1.mp3 file and drag it onto the Drop a File box.

Click on the Maximize square to fill the screen with the edit window.

Click on the waveform then use the [Search + left-arrow] keys to move to the start of the waveform.

Press the spacebar to start playing the sound bites. As you listen to the different things being said, imagine that everyone who answered your question was in a room at the same time.

How can you re-arrange the answers to sound like it was a real conversation? To select part of the sound bites to re-arrange you may click and drag to select a section. An alternative is to click just before the part you want to select and press the [i] key. A marker will appear indicating the Set Selection Start point.

Move to the end of the selection and press the [o] key. The selection will be highlighted.

If it is difficult to set the start or end point, click the Zoom In icon to get a closer view. In the Overview Window at the top, the zoomed-in area is highlighted in a salmon color. You may drag this area to move the Waveform Window to show a different section of the recording.

Use the Zoom Out icon to see more of the recording in the waveform window.

Use [Ctrl+C] to copy the selection. [Ctrl+X] to cut it. Move to the new location and use [Ctrl+V] to paste it.

Experiment with different arrangements. If more than one person says the same thing, decide which person said it best, then cut the similar sound bites. Sometimes part of one person’s sound bite fits well with part of another person’s sound bite.

You goal is to choose the best parts of the sound bites to tell your story in the most logical order.

The best sound bites are people explaining how something has affected them, what they think about something, or how something happened. If their answer just contains facts, write down what they said. You can use it later for your narration to help tell the story. This is particularly useful for a family history story.

If you find a sound bite does not quite fit with the others, make a note of it before you cut it out. You may want to use it later on in your story, or use the information when you write your narration.

When you are done refining the sound bites for your first question, open the File menu and choose Download.

Make sure there is no checkmark next to Export selected audio. The File format should be MP3 Audio. Change the Title to answer1-edited then click the Download button.

Navigate to your project recordings folder. Make sure the Save As name is correct and includes the .mp3 extension. When everything is correct click the Save button.

Repeat the process above to refine soundbites for each of your interview questions. Here is an example of a recordings folder after all interview sound bites have been refined:

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Sound Bites Refinement Example #1

Here is a transcript of an Answer1.mp3 file before it has been edited.

Anita Job – I rely more on email and google classroom because they give me a notification whenever a teacher emails or post an assignment or announcement.

Mr Yacco – Since my courses focus on hands-on experiences for my students, I have done my best to adapt assignments so that they may be completed using a Chromebook. It has been very challenging.

Otto Graf – My classes no longer meet every day and it has taken awhile for me to get used to only meeting twice a week with my teachers.

Sue Render – I do not have access to any other computers so I have to use my Chromebook for all assignments.

Here is a transcript of the Answer1-edited.mp3 file of the same sound bites. All of the original sound bites were kept and just placed in a different order that does a better job of telling this part of the mini-documentary story.

Otto Graf – My classes no longer meet every day and it has taken awhile for me to get used to only meeting twice a week with my teachers.

Anita Job – I rely more on email and google classroom because they give me a notification whenever a teacher emails or post an assignment or announcement.

Sue Render – I do not have access to any other computers so I have to use my Chromebook for all assignments.

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Sound Bites Refinement Example #2

Here is a transcript of an Answer2.mp3 file before it has been edited.

Anita Job – In the meetings there is a lot of communication between the teacher and students, so it is not much different from having discussions in the classroom.

Mr Yacco – Because the school realizes students have different living experiences since shelter-in-place has started, students are not required to participate in virtual class meetings. I miss having all students in class at the same time.

Otto Graf – Right now I don’t have to always meet with my teacher. When we were in school I had to worry about being late to class.

Sue Render – It’s strange not seeing all of the other students. Most of those who do show up to online meetings have their cameras off so I don’t know how they are doing.

Here is a transcript of the Answer2-edited.mp3 file of the same sound bites. One of the original sound bites was removed and a note was made to use it elsewhere in the story. The remaining sound bites were arranged in a different order that does a better job of telling this part of the mini-documentary story.

Otto Graf – Right now I don’t have to always meet with my teacher. When we were in school I had to worry about being late to class.

Sue Render – It’s strange not seeing all of the other students. Most of those who do show up to online meetings have their cameras off so I don’t know how they are doing.

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