6.2 - How is digital editing different from analog editing?
Description
This article is from the Audio Professional FAQ, by with numerous contributions by Gabe M. Wiener others.
6.2 - How is digital editing different from analog editing?
In the days of analog editing, one edited with a razor blade and a
diagonal splicing block. Making a cut meant scrubbing the tape over
the head, marking it with a grease pencil, cutting, and then taping
the whole thing back together. Analog editing (particularly on music)
was as much art as it was craft, and good music editors were worth
their weight in gold.
In many circles, analog editing has gone the way of the Edsel,
replaced by digital workstation editing. For complex tasks, DAW-based
editing offers remarkable speed, the ability to tweak an edit after
you make it, a plethora of crossfade parameters that can be optimized
for the edit being made, and most importantly, the ability to undo
mistakes with a keystroke. Nearly all commercial releases are being
edited digitally nowadays. Since satisfactory editing systems can
be had for around $1,000, even home recordists are catching onto the
advantages. More elaborate systems can cost tens of thousands of
dollars.
There are certain areas where analog editing still predominates,
however. Radio is sometimes cited as an example, though this has begun
to change thanks to products like the Orban DSE 7000. The needs of
radio production are often quite different from those of music editors,
and a number of products (the Orban being a fine example) have sprung
up to fill the niche. Nonetheless, in spite of the rapid growth of
DAWs in the radio market, razor blades are still found in daily use
in radio stations. [Gabe]
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