[grc] Weird new audio editing software

Frieda Werden wings at wings.org
Tue Dec 13 11:15:22 PST 2022 

So glad you are looking into all this, including both programs.

Frieda Werden, Series Producer
WINGS: Women's International News Gathering Service www.wings.org


On Tue, Dec 13, 2022 at 11:12 AM Carl Etnier <carl at wgdr.org> wrote:

> Well, I signed up for a free trial of Trebble and played around with it
> some. When you sign up, Armel, the CEO, offers to meet with you for half an
> hour to learn more about your needs and how Trebble can meet them. I like
> his style! So I signed up,and we had a nice chat this morning. He'd like to
> get to know members of the GRC community who edit audio, to understand our
> needs better, so Trebble can be responsive to them. I offered to coordinate
> a one-hour online session, in which he would also give some background as
> to how he thinks about Trebble.
>
> I offered to look for a time of the week that works for a bunch of people,
> so we can schedule an hour in January. If you're interested, please fill
> out the poll about times at https://forms.gle/JGP3UzuZ1r2HTtcG9. Please
> do so in the next 7 days, and I'll pass the info to Armel then, for
> scheduling.
>
> Also, he told me that they have a limited time offer that I'm welcome to
> pass on to the GRC community. (He's not sure how limited; they're offering
> it through January, and that may be extended.) The normal pricing for
> Trebble is based on a monthly subscription--the more you pay, the more
> audio hours of transcription/editing you get each month. When you stop
> paying, you lose access (except to 30 audio minutes a month). But for $70,
> they're offering lifetime access to two audio hours per month of
> transcription/editing. If you need more than that, you can buy lifetime
> access in chunks of two audio hours, at $70 each. Details here
> <https://appsumo.com/products/trebble-online-audio-editor?utm_source=partner-link&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=partner-165995>
> .
>
> My impressions of Trebble, based on the little bit of playing I've done
> with it, is that it could be helpful for beginning audio editors. But
> there's a real technique to cutting out bits of audio so that what remains
> sounds natural, and Trebble's tools are too crude to achieve that. Maybe
> it's a gateway program for people, to gain confidence? There are probably
> plenty of uses where somewhat clumsily edited audio is better than unedited
> audio.
>
> I appreciate the link to TwistedWave, which I haven't tried yet. I like
> its pricing strategy: Rather than buying a subscription, you pay $100 for
> the program, and that's it for unlimited hours of audio. Its range of
> languages is smaller than Trebble's; TwistedWave transcribes to about a
> dozen, whereas Trebble transcribes to several dozen, from Afrikaans to
> Ukrainian. I plan to sign up for TwistedWave's 30-day free trial sometime
> soon. I think it could be useful in foreign language learning (e.g.,
> transcribing podcasts in a foreign language) if nothing else.
>
> Carl Etnier (he/they)
> CVCR Programming
> 802.441.3337 (mobile)
> wgdr.org
>
>
> On Fri, Dec 9, 2022 at 7:21 PM Frieda Werden <wings at wings.org> wrote:
>
>> Interesting to learn what workarounds folks are coming up with to do
>> complex editing.
>> For now, I just use Audacity in mono with label track and make divisions
>> and notes as I go along, noting what might be moved or featured.  I do most
>> of my level adjustments by hand.  I do spend hours and hours on fiddling
>> with shows (one of my friends said audio editing is like sculpture).  As I
>> age I am getting a bit more interested in likely shortcuts, but also not
>> enthusiastic about investing in learning new tricks that might not be as
>> good as what I've got.
>>
>> Frieda Werden, Series Producer
>> WINGS: Women's International News Gathering Service www.wings.org
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Dec 9, 2022 at 11:06 AM Carl Etnier <carl at wgdr.org> wrote:
>>
>>> Thanks for sharing these programs and the workflow!
>>>
>>> I use AI-generated audio transcripts for finding needles in haystacks,
>>> like short (say, 30 seconds to a couple minutes) clips from an hour-long
>>> news conference.
>>>
>>> For editing my own interviews, I can work quickly enough within Audacity
>>> that I'm satisfied with that method. After saving a raw recording of the
>>> interview, I speed-listen to the interview in Audacity, with a Label Track
>>> below the audio track(s). Where there's something that needs to be cleaned
>>> up or potentially edited out, I make a note in the Label Track. Then I go
>>> back and do the editing.
>>>
>>> That's for interviews that just need to be tightened and cleaned up a
>>> bit. If I'm producing a segment with multiple voices, from multiple
>>> interviews, I'll still use the Label Track and speed listening, but I'll
>>> jot down quick notes about who is saying what as I listen. Then I'll save
>>> the label tracks into text files (which include time stamps), open up the
>>> text files and highlight the bits of the interviews that seem to be most
>>> important, and cobble together the segment from there.
>>>
>>> Your mileage may vary! It's always interesting to hear what others are
>>> doing.
>>>
>>> --Carl
>>>
>>> Carl Etnier (he/they)
>>> CVCR Programming
>>> 802.441.3337 (mobile)
>>> wgdr.org
>>>
>>>
>>> On Wed, Dec 7, 2022 at 3:54 PM Frieda Werden via grc <
>>> grc at maillist.peak.org> wrote:
>>>
>>>> I just attended a Zoom demonstration session with the programmer who
>>>> created Trebble, hosted by the NCRA.  I think there will be a recording
>>>> available and that I will be allowed to share the link.  It looks
>>>> potentially quite useful. If not for finalizing a show, at least for
>>>> roughing it out.  There are quite a few bells and whistles, all
>>>> optional to
>>>> use, including noise reduction/removal that may be better than what I've
>>>> been able to find on Audacity.  The demo went very quickly so I didn't
>>>> get
>>>> to savour the sound changes.
>>>>
>>>> This website includes a link to try it for free.  Would be interested to
>>>> hear from anyone who does:
>>>> https://www.trebble.fm/#make-audio-editing-a-breeze
>>>>
>>>> Trebble lets you store drafts, undo, etc. It can record from your mic or
>>>> you can upload audio. It automatically crossfades ambience when you
>>>> make a
>>>> delete edit (don't know if that is optional). Seems fairly inexpensive.
>>>> You
>>>> pay for blocks of time.
>>>>
>>>> Arbie Fru, a producer at the Nanaimo BC station, has started using it.
>>>> When
>>>> the snow melts, I may go down there (about an hour from here) and watch
>>>> him
>>>> work.  Interestingly, the creator of the app sounds as if he is likely
>>>> from
>>>> Africa, though maybe living in Canada (I am not experienced enough to
>>>> pick
>>>> out language of origin from his accent).  He said he developed the app
>>>> to
>>>> help a group of women who wanted to start a podcast but had no
>>>> familiarity
>>>> with audio editing.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Frieda Werden, Series Producer
>>>> WINGS: Women's International News Gathering Service www.wings.org
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Wed, Dec 7, 2022 at 2:17 AM Spencer Graves via grc <
>>>> grc at maillist.peak.org>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> > Hi, Frieda et al.:
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> >           I've not used Trebble.  I'll be interested in the reports.
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> >           I've been using I've been using computer transcription for
>>>> a few
>>>> > years now.  From that I get time stamps to the nearest second.  I
>>>> record
>>>> > where I want to cut in spreadsheet software like MS Excel, LibreOffice
>>>> > Calc or Google Sheet and compute the times to keep and to cut.  Then I
>>>> > switch to Audacity to get cut points to the nearest hundredths of a
>>>> > second and modify the spreadsheet as I edit.
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> >           An example transcript with the accompanying audio file is
>>>> > available at:
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> > https://otter.ai/u/7eRY0BzhugBlyu5FPXteeWdfKoc
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> >           The spreadsheet edit plan I created for that transcript is
>>>> at:
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/19h4QyJMHK2VqmD_FmAG55HcQ3e8q4Fu5zMjot9XlRf0/edit?usp=sharing
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> >           The podcast I created from that is available at:
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> https://kkfi.org/program-episodes/kc-homeless-union-and-hope-for-the-homeless-project-2/
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> >           I started using Trint but switched to Otter.ai.  I need to
>>>> > identify
>>>> > the speakers, but I often only have to identify the first few times
>>>> each
>>>> > speaker talks, because Otter.ai does moderately well at identifying
>>>> > subsequent orations by the same speaker -- and makes it easy for me to
>>>> > correct the speaker.  The transcript is not good enough to publish but
>>>> > is good enough to use for timing, usually.  Occasionally, Otter.ai
>>>> gets
>>>> > the times out of order.  It allows me to download the transcript with
>>>> > speakers and time in, e.g., docx format.  Sadly, it sometimes
>>>> > incorrectly marks the times, then sorts the segments in the wrong
>>>> order
>>>> > when I download the transcript.  Then I have to manually correct that
>>>> > problem.
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> >           Doing this may be more labor intensive than it should be.
>>>> > Yesterday,
>>>> > I recorded an interview of just over an hour and needed to cut it to
>>>> 28
>>>> > minutes.  I ran out of time to complete my editing plan before
>>>> broadcast
>>>> > time at 6 PM Central, so the result was 28:31 mm:ss;  I had two or
>>>> three
>>>> > more cuts I wanted to make but gave up.
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> >           Otter.ai offers a free service for files that are no more
>>>> than
>>>> > 30
>>>> > minutes each up to a total of 300 minutes per month.  I have a paid
>>>> > account for $8.33 per month, up to 90 minutes per recording and a
>>>> total
>>>> > of 1200 minutes per month.
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> >           And I sometimes use this to create a complete transcript
>>>> with
>>>> > time
>>>> > stamps, e.g.:
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Social_construction_of_crime_and_what_we_can_do_about_it
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> >           However, cleaning up a transcript and adding links and
>>>> > references
>>>> > like this can take another day or three.  And without serious
>>>> > references, it's not suitable for Wikiversity.
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> >           I'm willing to believe that there are better options both in
>>>> > terms of
>>>> > the transcription service and easier editing like Trebble.  I've heard
>>>> > of a service that supports editing videos like this, but I can't
>>>> > remember it's name.  I haven't tried it but probably should.
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> >           Comments?
>>>> >           Spencer Graves
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> > On 12/7/22 12:33 AM, Frieda Werden via grc wrote:
>>>> > > https://youtu.be/5ah0IoZCIxI
>>>> > > It's called Trebble.  It lets you edit audio from its transcription.
>>>> > Also
>>>> > > has a suite of effects.  Canada's national campus and community
>>>> radio
>>>> > > association has partnered with Trebble and is offering discounts
>>>> for its
>>>> > > members.  They are recommending it for beginner editors.  I think it
>>>> > likely
>>>> > > there will be a zombie-like quality to audio edited this way - but
>>>> it
>>>> > might
>>>> > > be useful as a way to start cutting down longer pieces.  I haven't
>>>> tried
>>>> > > it, but I might attend their demonstration workshop.  It also says
>>>> it
>>>> > lets
>>>> > > you capture audio from your website....
>>>> > >
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>>>> >
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>>>

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