My Editing Playlist: Jeffrey
At the heart of most editors workflow, beneath all the plug-ins and go-to cutting techniques, is their most powerful tool: Their playlist. I, like most editors, pop up a playlist as soon as I get into a part of a project where I just need to focus and get through a specific area. My listening choices fall into two categories, podcasts and music. These two categories do not mix easily. Instead, I use them differently depending on what part of a project I’m working on at the time.
Podcasts
For me, this makes up the majority of what I listen to while working. If a project doesn’t require careful audio monitoring, I’ll pretty quickly go to my preferred podcast app (Overcast for iPhone, check it out) and pull up one of my favorite. Most of my go-tos are purely conversational, such as some of Kevin Smith’s on the Smodcast Network. Most of their shows, like Tell ‘Em Steve Dave (My favorite), are pretty simple in format. It’s just a few guys who sit down at mics once a week and talk about whatever comes to mind. No structure, rarely specific topics and no storyline. To me these are simply good background noise, especially since many of them I’ve listened through the whole library. So, the conversations are basically just ambient sound to keep my mind active. I find when there’s no noise, my mind goes blank easily. Why not listen to a funny conversation to fill that void?
Music
When I’m working on a project where I need to focus on typing (For some reason my mind doesn’t do well with Podcasts and typing at the same time), or if I do need to go back and forth from audio mixing to other sources. Then I fire up Spotify for some actual music. My music choice is admittedly hard to describe. I find I don’t select from one specific genre, or artist, but rather I just fire up my Spotify saved songs and let it go. These song span pretty much every style, speed, and variation of lyrics/no lyrics, and I just skip through as ones pop up that I’m not feeling that day. A time I do get specific, though, is that I tend to fire up some more EDM-type tunes for the occasional late-night edit. Another exception is when I'm editing hype videos. When working on those, my “Now Playing” turns into a whirlwind of artists who really get tones and rhythms that work to build a video piece to a crescendo. That’s my take on audible bliss. What do you listen to when you work? Leave us a comment below and let us know what you spin while you’re busting through an edit.
