Adobe Audition

One of the main technologies I will be using for my capstone project is the audio editing software Adobe Audition. I will be using this specific software because I have had extensive experience with it in the past, and it is the only editing software I currently have access to because it is already downloaded on my laptop. 

Even though I have been using Adobe Audition to edit audio for about two and a half years at this point, there is still a wealth of features I haven’t even touched. The 3 features I would like to master before I start the editing stage of my project are: multi-track editing, keyboard shortcuts, and the parametric equalizer. This will take my audio editing to the next level, hopefully producing an extremely immersive and clear sound experience. In the next month or so, I am planning on fiddling around with audio soundtracks I already have just to get the hang of it, so that by the time I have my audio and dialogue recorded and am ready to start editing, I will be proficient with these features. 

Social & Cultural Implications

Adobe Audition is social because it allows you to determine the frequency, pitch, volume, and order of the sound that others hear, therefore shaping their listening experience. The software also has a “edit audio to video” function, allowing cross-platform interaction between Audition and Premiere Pro. And finally, Audition allows users to record sound from their own computer and insert that into their projects. In other words, the software allows for on-the-spot modifications and feedback. 

Adobe Audition reflects the cultural value of editing things to be as close to flawless as possible, even if the original file had a lot of issues. The ability to lower or raise the volume (hertz) shows how society wants things toned down or played up to be palatable to our ears, eyes, or minds. The multi-track mixing function reflects how society will disassemble and rearrange parts of a whole in order to create a desirable end-product. And the noise reduction features reflect society’s wish to tune out “meaningless” background noise and only focus on the main subject, completely disregarding that the background ambience makes sound more realistic. 

Affordances & Constraints

Adobe Audition has a myriad of different functions and editing tools that I could spend a lifetime trying to master. But in a general sense, this software affords me the privilege to not worry about minor background noise or echoes/reverb while I am out in the field recording, because I know that in post-production I will most likely be able to fix that or edit it out all together. It also affords me the ability to record dialogue and ambience separately, since I can mix multiple tracks together in any way I like. This is extremely beneficial, since I want to record the dialogue in as quiet a place as possible to get the clearest sound, as opposed to being forced to record dialogue on location. Audition also affords me the ability to record straight from the source and edit pitch and frequency in post. What this means is, if there is a phone call written into my script, I won’t have to call someone on the phone and record their voice from my phone into the zoom recorder. Rather, I can record their voice as is, and then either use the telephone function in Audition or adjust the treble to make the voice sound like it is coming through a phone. 

That being said, Adobe Audition also has its limitations. While I can edit microphone bumps and background interference out to an extent, it cannot magically get rid of a lot of serious problems. Because of this, I have made the decision to record dialogue and ambience separately, with the dialogue being recorded in a quiet and acoustic sound room. Audition’s interface can also be very confusing, with so many functions it can be difficult to find the specific one you’re looking for. The software also takes up a lot of memory and computer power, which means you probably shouldn’t run other applications at the same time if you want Audition to run quickly.