Prior to this week, I’d never laid a finger on Adobe Audition. But by the third day, I was asking Gabriela Saldivia and Elizabeth Gabriel, our co-managing editors, “Is it a good sign if I’m having this much fun?” They said yes. I’d liken the process of audio editing to stone sculpting. My uncut interview with Dave Stefan, a hulking marble slab. Working together with everyone to chisel and polish those 63 minutes and six seconds of raw audio into a finished piece of three minutes and 46 seconds — that was incredible.
As a writer, editing comes organically to me — it’s all about leaving out the right things, honoring the space between the lines. But the threshold of my storytelling has expanded well beyond the written word. In just four days, I’ve acquired three new mediums: sound, image, and video.
In the age of smartphones, technically we’re all photographers, though we seldom identify ourselves as such. But after this week, I just might! I learned so much from Jaz’min Franks, my visuals editor. That shot of Dave through the sliding door was their idea and really exemplifies how they think outside of the box for an interesting shot.
Being filmed by our visual editor Alex was positively electrifying. There is no precedent for it, he and my mentor Becca brought energy out of me that I never knew I had. And throughout this week, Becca held me steady whenever I stumbled. Stopping me from fidgeting with a piece of paper while recording, swooping in to elicit further detail from Dave; she is the backbone of my project.