Add edit points when reference tracks don't have them?

[JimOfferman]

Thanks Mark!

You're just trying to make someone else's job easier.

Presses print, tacks on wall.

[VanderBoegh]

Here's a little more help, in case you still need it:

https://youtu.be/4iYrd9Ncbug

~~Matt

[JimOfferman]

Here's a little more help, in case you still need it:

Thanks, Matt! Your video was actually what prompted me to ask this question. Watched the entire 101 series already, it’s pure gold!

[CTWF]

Obviously, Mark and Matt are way more experienced and successful than me, but my two cents here are that the music supervisors often could not care less about the structure of your track and just butcher it wherever they need to anyway. Yes, possibly still good to have an obvious edit point somewhere, but they might slice out 0:35-0:50 while the edit point sits at 1:00, and, honestly, no one will care.

EDITed to add the POINT: Of course, you‘ll get a TAXI return without an edit point, but the track might still be perfectly fine for top libraries.

[telefunkin]

my two cents here are that the music supervisors often could not care less about the structure of your track and just butcher it wherever they need to anyway.

Of course they can do that if it works, but Taxi (as well as Matt Vander Boegh) hasn't been hammering on for years about including edit points just for the heck of it. Screeners look for them because they know that libraries expect them. Libraries expect them because they know they can make life easier for editors, which increases the chances of a track being used. If you've ever watched an editor working (demonstrated by Laurel Ostrander at the Ralley a few years ago) you can understand why. If not, then perhaps reading this series of Taxi notes might help, particularly when punctuation is mentioned.

https://www.taxi.com/transmitter/2204/h ... ostrander/

https://www.taxi.com/transmitter/2205/h ... ostrander/

https://www.taxi.com/transmitter/2206/h ... ostrander/

https://www.taxi.com/transmitter/2207/h ... ostrander/

If that isn't enough then you could go here for umpteen more videos that talk about edit points...
https://www.youtube.com/@TaxiIndependen ... t%20points

My 2c? Include edit points!

[Casey H]

My 3 cents...
Your waveforms are naked. There are multiple hurdles to go through to get a track used in a TV show: Screener, Library, and ultimately the music sups & editors who pick your cue for actual use. Don't lose sight of that last one where the music sup spends 10 seconds deciding if your cue would possibly work. They start playing it-- maybe it works, maybe it doesn't. If they see an obvious edit point, they are more likely to slide over to the start of that section and listen, and so on. Waveforms with no obvious pattern change and/or gap are less interesting. Tom- you are correct that many tracks get placed with no edit points. But we're talking probability. In a baseball game (sorry for the American analogy, Tom), would you rather have the guy come up to bat who hits .320 against this pitcher or the guy who bats .230 against him?

It's not generally relevant to vocal songs, mainly instrumental cues.

Just because you've had lots of placements without edit points (or without them being used), doesn't mean there might not have been more placements with them. How would you know what WASN'T picked by a sup going through library tracks?

Casey

#WaveformsLivesMatter

[VanderBoegh]

My fourth cent: it's waaaaay better to include edit points and have them not used, then to not have them at all.

As mentioned by the other fellas (I think Casey especially, if I scrolled back through the comments) - this is a matter of increasing the odds that your track lands a placement. Edit points increase the odds. It's as simple as that. When someone looks at your waveform without even pressing play, they should have visual clues as to where the track starts & stops for easy usability.

Do you know how we pull paper towels off the roll? We use the perforations and tear it - that's the tangible version of an edit point. Can you imagine how frustrated consumers would be if they bought a roll of paper towels that had no perforations and you just had to rip & tear it willy-nilly? I can guarantee that paper towel company would be out of business in a hurry. Now, sometimes we might pull off a nice perforated square and then tear it again into halves or fourths on our own, but at least the perforation gave us a good starting point.

So yeah.... edit points are like the perforations on paper towels. Disregard them at your own peril!

P.S. thanks for checking out my channel, Jim!!!!!

~~Matt

[Casey H]

My fourth cent: it's waaaaay better to include edit points and have them not used, then to not have them at all.

It is better to have edit pointed and lost than to never have edited pointed at all.

[JimOfferman]

P.S. thanks for checking out my channel, Jim!!!!!

It was my pleasure! Your videos are highly entertaining and informative. Thanks for making them!

[JimOfferman]

It is better to have edit pointed and lost than to never have edited pointed at all.