irthlingz wrote: ↑Thu Sep 16, 2021 4:36 pm
An edit point is a musically logical place where it makes sense to cut the cue. This does not mean you must insert a moment of silence. If you do, that's okay, as long as the moment of silence makes sense. Edit points are musical cadences or resolutions.
--Writing Production Music for TV, Steve Barden, p. 68
The conclusion I draw is: Do what makes the most musical sense. Do not leave silence simply because you think it will make an easier edit point.
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Michael
Let me add - without being contrary - the cue certainly must be musical (by some definition) but it must also have
utility. The editor is not going to a concert, they are going to a buffet - to pick and choose what is best for the scene they're cutting to. If the spot of silence is both musical and useful, then it has satisfied the criteria of having made "the most ... sense". Many cues that I've studied have really great edit points that are not silences, but rather a slowing or cessation of motion, or a lull in the melody (where the rhythm is still going but could be faded out over a few seconds without sounding strange), or some other "breathing point" that allows an easy and satisfying edit.
I struggle with temptation, and lose quite a lot
when I make my cues follow some classical common-practice notion of form. They are too busy, too complex. For the editor, whatever bit they use for sync must have a 'completeness' about it as it stands alone. That bit they select
must not need what comes before or what comes after to make musical sense. Edit points don't need to be a hard stop, but they do need to be an OK place to stop listening. If that makes any sense?