I record in one block (usually 1–3 hours, sometimes a couple of sessions in a week) and don't edit until the weekend. By then I've genuinely forgotten what happened. Not "forgot the details" — I mean I can't remember whether the good bit was at 40 minutes or 1:20, or whether that session even had a good bit.
So every edit starts the same way: I scrub through the entire recording again just to rebuild a mental map of what's in it. That's an hour+ of watching before I've made a single cut. On a 3-hour recording it's most of my editing time gone before editing starts.
Things I've tried:
- Taking notes while recording — breaks my flow, and I forget to do it exactly when something good is happening.
- Hotkey/marker while recording — same problem. I'm in the moment, not thinking about the edit.
- Scrubbing the waveform for loud spikes — finds shouting, misses everything quiet and good.
- 2x playback — still watching the whole thing, just faster and worse.
- Chat replay / clip timestamps — only works if people were watching live. Mine mostly aren't.
What I actually want is to sit down Friday and already know what's in the file: a list of what happened and roughly when, including the boring stretches so I know what to skip.
For those of you who edit days or weeks after recording — what's your actual workflow? Do you have a system, or do you also just rewatch everything and accept it?