This entry was written at least a month ago. I just realized I never published it:

Luckily, I mistakenly thought the sound file for Soundslides 1 was due last week so I edited it nearly two weeks in advance of today’s assignment. Sometimes (rarely) my mistakes benefit me. If I’d waited, I never would have wrapped up the file in time. Audacity, the sound editing program, is easy to use, but that doesn’t reduce the difficulty of slicing and rearranging sound bites in a precise and pleasing way. Lots of time is required.

My biggest sticking point was organizing the snippets I cut from the main file. In my mind I had an idea of order, but I had to keep searching for the track that held that particular cut through a list of about 10 or 11 different tracks. I realize there must be an easier, faster, more efficient way! Keeping clips all on one track might help.

Despite the labor intensive aspects of editing sound, I enjoy doing it. I like gathering it: Opening my mind to all the sounds around me, interviewing and constructing a full image of the story from sound. Of all the aspects of the soundslides, I think sound can contribute the most.