Editing Audio Clips

When you extract audio, it becomes its own clip that you can edit independently of its original video clip. As with video, you can use Direct Trimming to edit audio clips easily (see Chapter 8 for a complete explanation of Direct Trimming).

To split an audio clip:

1.	Select the audio clip. Unlike video clips, which are split at the Playhead even if they're not selected, audio clips must be selected with the Playhead in place.
2.	Choose Split Selected Audio Clip at Playhead from the Edit menu, or press Command-T (Figure 10.18).

Figure 10.18. You can split an extracted audio clip without splitting the video clip to which it's attached.

To edit an audio clip using Direct Trimming:

1.	Position the mouse pointer at the left or right edge of the audio clip.
2.	Click and drag to reveal or hide the audio frames you choose (Figure 10.19).

Figure 10.19. Drag an audio clip's edges to set which portion will be audible during playback.

To rename an audio clip:

1.	Double-click the audio clip to display the Clip Info dialog.
2.	Type in a new name in the Name field, then click OK.

Tips

• Clips can go into either audio track in the Timeline Viewer, though iMovie tends to use the second track for imported audio.

• You don't have to select an audio clip before you edit it using Direct Trimming. When you click and drag a clip's edge, it's automatically selected for you.

• Hold Option while dragging to create a copy of the selected audio clip.

• Editing audio is one area where the Timeline Viewer's Zoom control is especially useful. Zoom in to make precise changes.

• Although audio clips act like video clips in most respects, you can only edit them in the Timeline Viewer; there's no audio equivalent to the Clips pane. However, you can temporarily store audio clips you aren't yet using: simply drag them beyond the end of the last video track or into the Trash (as long as you don't empty it) (Figure 10.20).

  Figure 10.20. The Trash (surprisingly) or the end of your movie are convenient locations to temporarily store unused audio clips.

  

• Unlike video clips, audio clips can overlap (though this can create audible gibberish, but that may be what you're going for).

• Experiment with overlapping clips that contain fades. This is an easy way to blend dialogue, (one quickie method for playing voices in a character's head), or even tighten scenes by reducing the amount of lag between speakers.