Bleeping words and splitting channels in Video by Zaweba

A few sound jobs come up rarely but are maddening when you don't have the right tool. Bleeping out a word. Using only one microphone from a recording that put two people on the left and right channels. Working with a camera file that recorded several separate sound streams. Video by Zaweba has a direct answer for each.

Bleep the marked range

Mark the range that covers the word you want to hide, then choose Clip > Bleep the marked range. The sound in that range is replaced by a bleep. It's the classic way to keep a clip family friendly, remove a name that shouldn't be heard, or hide a private detail someone said on camera.

Mark generously but not wildly. Cover the whole word, including its first and last sounds, since a half-hidden word is often still understood. Too long a bleep, though, eats into the words around it. The transcript can help you find the exact spot quickly when the clip is long.

If the speaker's lips are clearly visible, a bleep alone may not be enough. Consider covering the mouth as well, or cutting away to another shot for that moment.

Break out to mono clips

Many recordings put two separate microphones on the left and right channels of one stereo file, for example two clip-on mics on an interviewer and a guest. Played as stereo, each voice comes from one side only, which sounds odd. Clip > Break out to mono clips splits the stereo clip into separate mono clips, one per channel.

Each voice then becomes its own clip that you can level, clean and pan independently, usually to the centre. It also lets you mute one person's microphone while the other is talking, which reduces room echo and background noise.

The Channel mapping effect

The Channel mapping effect changes which channel goes where within a clip. Use it to swap left and right, to send one channel to both sides, or to rearrange the channels of a multi-channel file. It's the tool for odd source files where the sound isn't laid out the way you need.

Files with several sound streams

Some cameras and recorders store more than one sound stream in a file, such as a camera mic plus a separate input. Video by Zaweba places each stream on its own linked sound track when you bring such a file in. They stay linked to the picture, so they move together, but you can choose which to use, mix them, or mute the ones you don't need.

A tidy way to work

Sort out channels first. Breaking out mono clips and mapping channels is best done early, before you start cutting and mixing, so all your later work happens on clean, sensible clips.

Leave bleeps till near the end, once the edit is fixed. A bleep placed early can drift out of place if the clip is trimmed or moved.

And label what you've done. After breaking out a stereo file, rename the resulting clips by speaker. Video by Zaweba keeps everything linked, but clear names make the mix far easier to follow.