When people speak, they interrupt, they falter, they repeat themselves — they stumble their way to articulacy. As editors, how can we prune back all of that excess language in order to discover what someone is really trying to say, and what they really mean? How can we create a satisfying feeling of an arc out of a conversation, while preserving its digressions? In this course, taught by Michele Moses, a veteran audio editor at The New Yorker, students will learn interview and to edit audio interviews.

Unlike editing for print, this requires paying attention not only to what is said but to what is conveyed through tone and delivery. We will use a style of listening that is part theater director, part psychoanalyst, and part script supervisor. This class will include a workshop component, in which we will conduct and record interviews and then edit them. We will use Descript, so no hard audio skills are required.