The cost of partial knowledge in Audio Editing

Author

Master Editor
October 22, 2024

The idiom “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing” applies strongly to audio editing.

You can modify it to say, “Partial knowledge is the most costly thing in audio editing.” This raises two questions:

  1. What is partial knowledge in audio editing?

  2. What is the actual cost of it?

Let’s start with the cost. From my experience, the cost can be summed up as "$1200 + FAILURE".

This figure might seem odd, but here’s how I arrived at it:

One of my clients purchased iZotope RX Advanced, a $1200 audio editing software, hoping it would solve his problem. 

Unfortunately, it didn’t work. The issue wasn’t with the software—it was that the problem needed to be fixed during the recording stage, not in post-production.

If the client had complete knowledge, he wouldn’t have spent $1200 on a solution that couldn’t address his issue.

Let me clarify: iZotope RX is excellent software with specific use cases, but you need to know when and how to use it.

In another instance, a client bought a $1200 Neumann TLM 103 microphone because he wanted smoother voice recordings. This microphone is fantastic, but his $200–$300 microphone was already sufficient. All he needed was proper EQ adjustments.

These examples highlight the true cost of partial knowledge. Spending $1200 on tools or software is fine if it solves the problem, but it’s a waste if it doesn’t.

So, what would have solved their problems? Correct knowledge.

  • With no knowledge, you may fail to take any action.

  • With partial knowledge, you might take the wrong actions and fail to reach your goal.

  • With the right knowledge, you’ll know exactly what to do.

Here’s a story from my software engineering days to illustrate this:

In 2012, during my first job as a junior software engineer, I was assigned to migrate a website. Everything went smoothly except for the product images. 

These images were stored across multiple CDNs, which caused a problem during migration.

I needed to update over 800 image URLs to the new location. With limited knowledge, I assumed this had to be done manually, which would take more than a day.

While I was working, a senior engineer noticed and asked why I was doing it manually. I explained that writing a script would take too long and might not work.

He then introduced me to regular expressions (Regex). Using Regex, I wrote a script in under an hour and finished the task in minutes.

Looking back, I had the basic skills of a software engineer but lacked this small piece of knowledge. That gap cost me valuable time.

The same principle applies to audio editing. Many people waste hours on tasks that could be done instantly with the right tools or techniques.

For example:

  • Audacity Macros or Adobe Audition Presets: These automate repetitive tasks like applying the same audio effects. Manually doing this a few times might be fine, but over months or years, it wastes countless hours.

  • Marker or clicker technique: While recording, if you make a mistake, repeat the entire sentence instead of just the word. This creates clear markers in your audio. During editing, you can easily identify and delete mistakes without re-listening multiple times.

Without these techniques, you’d spend hours repeatedly listening and checking for errors.

Now, you might wonder: How can I acquire this knowledge?

The process is simple:

  1. Learn the software: Watch YouTube videos about your tools, but don’t just watch—practice what you learn to retain it.

  2. Take courses: Courses provide structured learning and consolidate all necessary information.

  3. Join training programs: Unlike courses, training involves active participation.

  4. 1-on-1 coaching: This is a more personalized, a bit expensive, option. But, it can fast-track your learning and help you achieve your goals.

Correct knowledge isn’t just about saving money; it’s about saving time and achieving better results.

If you have any queries, don't hesitate to get in touch with me at [email protected]