Censor

Menu Command: Effect | Censor

Censor replaces the selection with a tone (beep), static, clipboard audio, or gibberish. Use this effect to cover up profanity, cleanly overwrite dialogue with other dialogue, or make dialogue almost unintelligible.

Censor type
Specifies what sound to use to replace the selection. Most of the censor types are simple tones or noises. Clipboard and Gibberish are special types. Clipboard replaces the selection with audio currently in the clipboard. Use the command to copy audio to the clipboard before using the Censor effect. Gibberish scrambles the selection by moving and reversing short sections of audio, making dialogue difficult to understand.

Censor volume
Controls the volume of the censored audio (the tone, clipboard, or gibberish). Usually this is set near full volume.

Source volume
Controls the volume of the original audio. Usually this is set to the lowest value (Off).

Crossfade time
Controls how long it takes to fade from the original audio to the censored audio. This eliminates sudden transitions (possible clicks) between original to censored regions. Usually this is set to a small value.

Examples
To censor profanity with a beep:

  1. Select the word by itself making sure no surrounding dialogue is selected.
  2. Display the Censor effect window (Effect | Censor).
  3. Select the "Beep" preset.
  4. Choose OK.

To replace dialogue:

  1. Open the file containing the final dialogue.
  2. Use to copy it to the clipboard.
  3. Open the file containing the dialogue to be replaced.
  4. Select only the dialogue to be replaced. This must be the same length as the copied audio.
  5. Display the Censor effect window (Effect | Censor).
  6. Select the "Overwrite with clipboard" preset.
  7. Choose OK.

The copied dialogue must be exactly the same length as the replaced dialogue for it to be completely overwritten. If the clipboard audio is shorter, then the trailing end of the replaced dialogue will still be present. If the clipboard audio is longer, it will be truncated to fit in the selection. This effect does not alter the length of the selection. The timing of the surrounding audio is not affected, which maintains synchronization in music or video.

See Also