L cut

The picture changes, but you keep hearing the last few words for a moment. The sound finishes over the next shot, which makes the change feel gentle.

A split edit in which the outgoing clip's audio continues past its video out point, overlapping the incoming clip's picture. The audio edit point sits later than the video edit point; editors usually blend the overlap with a short fade or room tone.

On a timeline, the first clip's audio track runs longer than its video track and tucks under the start of the clip that follows. Seen from the side, the first clip forms a capital L: an upright of picture with a foot of sound stretching right.

It is one of two split edits. Its partner, the J cut, runs the other way, letting the next sound arrive early.

Sound that lingers gives a moment room to land. A reaction shot after a punchline, a close-up of a product while the last words about it finish, or a cutaway to a location while someone is still describing it all lean on this.

In interviews it lets you show the listener while the speaker finishes, which keeps a long answer from feeling like one static shot.

Short videos are tight. After the dead air and fumbles are trimmed, sentences sit right up against each other, and a hard cut at every join can feel choppy.

Letting the tail of a sentence ride a few frames past the picture change gives each line a breath without adding any length. It works especially well going into a product close-up or a screen recording: you are still talking about the thing as it appears.

Upload your takes to Bang AI on the web or the Mac and press Auto Edit. It cuts by what you said, removing the ums, long pauses and false starts, then joins the keepers with J and L cuts so the sound flows from one line to the next. Punch-ins and captions go on in the same pass.

If a spot needs a different touch, open the edit in the Mac app and change it by hand.

You're holding a candle to the camera: "It smells like a cedar cabin, honestly." The next shot is a close-up of the label.

Cut both tracks at once and the word "honestly" is clipped by the close-up. Let your voice run a moment longer instead, so "honestly" plays over the label shot. The picture moves first and your voice follows it across, which makes the close-up feel like a reaction to what you just said instead of an interruption.

In a one-camera video, the same move works between two takes of you, just with less to look at.

There is no fixed number. In fast short videos the overhang is often only a few frames, just enough to finish a word or a breath. In interviews or slower stories it can stretch to a second or more, while a listener nods or a place comes into view. The test is simple: if anyone notices the sound and picture are out of step, shorten it.

• A tail that is too long, so the next shot plays under words that no longer match it.
• Breath or room noise left in the overhang, which sounds like a mistake rather than a choice.
• Ending a sentence over a shot that contradicts it, such as naming one product over a close-up of another.
• Splitting cuts the viewer never noticed in the first place, which only adds drift.