Dramatic Works Editing Workflow?

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alanine
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Post by alanine »

Hey, folks:

I've gotten curious about the editing process for plays and dramatic readings around here, but can't find much information on how people go about it. Do editors just import cast members' MP3s into their editing software, decompress them, edit the play together, then recompress to a new MP3? If so, how do they limit the inevitable quality losses from two trips through the compression algorithm?

Searches of the forum don't bring up any clear answers to this, just some old posts from the earliest Librivox efforts at play productions. So what's the current standard procedure?
ToddHW
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Post by ToddHW »

You can find some info on our editing at viewtopic.php?f=27&t=44647

But you have the process about right. We have had informal (funny hats optional) Zoom sessions on editing; recordings available at
viewtopic.php?p=1852032#p1852032 (recording link is in the message below that) and
viewtopic.php?p=1791028#p1791028 (recording link is in the message above that)

Note that there have been experiments (reported somewhere in the forum) on "is there any perceptible loss of quality with mp3s?", and a half a dozen to a dozen cycles through that conversion process makes an inaudible change. (Sometimes people will ask for the theoretically better lossless export method "FLAC" files when they are running Dramatic Works, but it really doesn't matter to most of us. I don't even bother to go find my own original part recording when I edit a play - I just download the mp3 of my part from the MW same as everyone else's.)

More questions?

Thanks, Todd
alanine
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Post by alanine »

Excellent, thanks for the information and links. I figured there must be good answers somewhere on here, but couldn't find them in my initial searches.
mightyfelix
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Post by mightyfelix »

Todd has given you some good resources. If you're interested in trying it out, you might like to BC a one-act play for our next one-act collection. This current collection is here, and is already full up with plays: viewtopic.php?f=27&t=84428 But if you're interested, you can start scoping out a good one-act for the next collection, when it opens up.

We also have a Dramatic Reading (DR) scene and story collection running right now, with several open slots: viewtopic.php?f=27&t=86596 The editing process is the same as for plays, but there is more work for the BC up front, because you'd need to create a script for your readers to use.
alanine
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Post by alanine »

Thanks, the one-act collections look like a good starting point for something like this.

On a related note, I'm thoroughly impressed with the helpfulness and efficiency of this group. The project management procedures and skills around here are better than what I've seen at many big companies and nonprofits I've worked with.
ToddHW
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Post by ToddHW »

Ah, shucks. We're just a buncha people having fun listening to ourselves talk a lot.

Thanks, Todd
InTheDesert
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Post by InTheDesert »

ToddHW wrote: June 5th, 2021, 9:15 am Ah, shucks. We're just a buncha people having fun listening to ourselves talk a lot.

Thanks, Todd
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