Is word clipping something to be pointed out in PL?

JorWat · Post by **JorWat** » February 5th, 2017, 3:59 am

I've recently PLed a recording that had several words that had either had the end of the word cut off, or the start of the word due to poor editing. Is this something I should have pointed out?

Nothing in the 'For what types of error should I be listening?' section of the Prooflistening Template and FAQ seems to be about it, but then again neither does anything in the 'For what type of thing should I NOT be listening?' section.

I feel it affects the listening experience similarly to a long silence, a pause, a repeats, or a serious stumble.

Post by **annise** » February 5th, 2017, 4:14 am

Without a sample it's not possible to answer , I'm assuming you are not using clipping in the usual sound sense - when the sound waves hit the "ceiling" and are deformed
Normal procedure if a PL is doubtful is to ask the BC or the MC to listen and see what they think.

Anne

JorWat · Post by **JorWat** » February 5th, 2017, 5:40 am

annise wrote:Without a sample it's not possible to answer , I'm assuming you are not using clipping in the usual sound sense - when the sound waves hit the "ceiling" and are deformed
Normal procedure if a PL is doubtful is to ask the BC or the MC to listen and see what they think.

Anne

'Clipping' was a poor choice of word. I mean where the start or the end of a word is missing due to a misplaced cut.

I did ask the BC for the book, and got this response:

Hi jordan, i cant unfortunately listen to the section now to see what you mean, but ill trust your judgement on this. [...] Editing gets better with practice but it also gets frustrating if you have to spend too much time on it

Post by **annise** » February 5th, 2017, 6:19 am

If the BC trusts your judgement , then use it . I guess what the BC is saying is that first goes at editing are sometimes difficult. I don't know the reader and I don't think the open forum is the place to ask others to comment on another members recording
But maybe a postive suggestion saying that they re reading the phrase , rather than trying to fix a word would give better results might be a good way to go .

Anne

Post by **TriciaG** » February 5th, 2017, 6:34 am

In your specific examples, I'd point out the first one, but not the second or third. IMHO, the first is not understandable, while the 2nd and 3rd are.

It's a judgment call.

In this case, I don't think it's bad editing. I think the recording skips a bit while being recorded - a software issue rather than an editing one. I could be wrong, though.

JorWat · Post by **JorWat** » February 5th, 2017, 6:48 am

annise wrote:I don't know the reader and I don't think the open forum is the place to ask others to comment on another members recording

You've got a point.

I've removed the link, and the examples.

gypsygirl · Post by **gypsygirl** » February 6th, 2017, 7:25 am

TriciaG wrote:In this case, I don't think it's bad editing. I think the recording skips a bit while being recorded - a software issue rather than an editing one. I could be wrong, though.

My laptop two computers ago used to do this. Super annoying, because there was nothing in the wav form to indicate a problem had occurred, so I wouldn't catch it until listening through (and sometimes even until PLing). I definitely would have wanted to know if I'd missed any of those.

lurcherlover · Post by **lurcherlover** » February 13th, 2017, 12:06 pm

Sometimes using a gate or compression which is badly set up can cause this problem. You could ask if the reader has the raw files before they did any possible processing.