# Name for sound editing technique

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-sound-editing-technique/293760>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [March 10, 2005, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-sound-editing-technique/293760 "2005-03-10T01:30:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\
**Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-sound-editing-technique/293760/1 "2005-03-10T01:30:28Z")

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You’ve seen a thousand movies using this. It’s the end of a scene (usually quiet). Suddenly, the sound if the next scene (usually loud) is audible, then two seconds later, the visual cuts to the new scene. Is there a specific name for this? Surely it would be cooler for a director to say to the editor something like, “Let’s do a Hoffman cut to the car-crash scene right at this point” rather than “Let’s cut the sound in three seconds early.”

DD

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**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\
**Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-sound-editing-technique/293760/2 "2005-03-10T01:35:29Z")

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When the audio for the following scene starts before the actual video does (or vice versa for that matter)?

It’s called an **L Cut"**.

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**Author:** ![TJdude825](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@TJdude825](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJdude825)\
**Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-sound-editing-technique/293760/3 "2005-03-10T03:49:45Z")

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Thanks **drm**. According to Wikipedia, it’s also called a [split edit](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L_cut). After a bit of googling, I found that

> [@](#):
>
> (From [http://www.wis-kino.com/editing.html](http://www.wis-kino.com/editing.html))  
> The L-cut is named for the “L” shape it makes on an editing timeline.

I also noticed a couple references to a “J-cut” which I presume is when the video starts before the sound, and there is a squarish “J” shape on the editing timeline.

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**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\
**Post date:** [March 12, 2005, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-sound-editing-technique/293760/4 "2005-03-12T03:04:28Z")

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Thank you for the input. Not as nifty as I’d imagined, but it’ll do.

Wanders away muttering, “L-cut . . . L-cut . . .”

DD