In improv, public speaking, and podcasting, self-editing is the enemy of performance. When you judge what you are saying while you are saying it, your brain freezes, and the flow stops.
Recording is a generative, expansive act. Editing is a reductive, selective act. These are two different cognitive modes, mindsets, that cannot successfully coexist in the same moment. When you try to do both, the “editor” usually wins, stopping the “creator” before anything worth editing is even produced.
In this micro-episode:
- The psychological difference between the “Creator” and the “Editor”
- Why directing yourself while performing is nearly impossible
- A practical workflow: Record the full take first, refine later
Resources: Find more episodes and subscribe at stereoforest.com/minute.
Transcript
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::In most kind of performances, from giving a public speech to teaching a fitness class or improv,
self-editing shuts down whatever you're doing up there while you perform. In improv, self-editing can
stop your brain, or at least it slows it down a lot, which is awful when you're up on a stage. So when you
self-edit, you really freeze up because you're thinking about and judging the thing that you're doing.
::you're about to say or the thing that you're actively doing so you kind of loop around on that thing and you
freeze so what we learn in these spaces is to just keep moving to get out of your head if you can that's the big
goal and improv and other forms of performance and save that evaluation part for after the show is over or at
the end of the scene then at that point you get to figure out what worked and what didn't
::And then you learn and you iterate from there. Solo recording, doing these podcasts, has the same problem,
especially when you are first starting out. You might try to record and edit simultaneously. You might try
to edit yourself in the moment. You say a sentence, you judge it, you stop, you start over. And then you say
another sentence, you judge that, you stop, you start over. It's way too hard to try and do these two things
together at the same time because they're too
::different mindsets. Recording is this really generative, expansive, permission-giving act.
::This big thing. You're getting all these ideas out onto the microphone. And you see what you actually think
when you think out loud after kind of marinating on those episode notes for a while. Now, editing is super
important. It's critical. It's reductive. It's selective. The goal of editing is that refinement.
::You're finding out what works and you're cutting the things that don't work. You're thinking about that
pacing and organization of the topic and it's really hard to do that while you're actually recording. So I
do some of this or try some of this in an audio drama that I do. I direct it while I'm improvising. I have tools
to help me like I have a very structured format and pre-written notes to help me direct from them but
::I find it's really impossible to be out of your head and direct while you're being creative and
improvising. Like I'm the best improviser I can be when I'm out of my head but you're not directing while you
do that. You can't. So I have to let go at certain points and not think about the direction until later
between the scenes. Now these are very different cognitive modes.
::do both of them at once the editor is going to win the editor is louder the editor is more certain the editor
stops the creator before anything worth editing gets made so yes there are options here now you can work
with a director and that person can help you while you perform and this is kind of like editing while you
perform they're going to help set you up before recording and then they're going to help you achieve this
stuff while you record
::So you, the performer, you can just go. And then the director can coach you while you record or they can have
you redo some certain sections. They're listening for that direction stuff. You don't need to. So you
don't need to think about that while you record. Now, if a director is not part of the plan or it's not
possible right now, try to record without stopping. Keep going even if you mess up. Don't stop. Just do the
full episode, record as though no one will ever listen to it.
::Then stop. Think about what you might want to focus on and record it one more time. And on that second pass,
you can let yourself stop but between major segments. Redo entire segments. Don't let yourself just stop
for sentences. Restate a word if you must, like if you fall over a word, pause, re-say it. But try to redo the
rest if you want to rethink a sentence. Try to do that as a full segment instead. Then in a separate session,
::Ideally on a different day, even if it's you, let the editor select and refine and cut and do the rest. I'm Jen
DeHaan, and this is the Credibility Minute. Find more episodes or subscribe at stereoforest.com slash
minute.