Audio from one scene continues over the cut into the next shot's visuals. Softens transitions and creates narrative flow without hard cuts.
You cut scene A — but the audio continues. At the same time, you're already seeing scene B. This is the L-cut: an editing technique where audio and video meet with a time offset. The name comes from the visual pattern on the timeline — when you look at it in your editing software, it looks like a large L.
In practice, it works like this: You still hear the dialogue or ambient sound from the previous shot while the image is already transitioning to the next scene. This creates a transition area that feels more natural than a hard cut — not so harsh, not so abrupt. You constantly use this in interviews or conversations: the protagonist is still finishing their last sentence, but you're already cutting to the other person's reaction shot. The voice pulls you through, the eye follows the visual action. This feels continuous, even though two different takes are being joined.
The opposite is the J-cut — where the audio from the next scene arrives while the previous one is still playing. By combining both techniques, you create a fluid editing rhythm without jarring cuts. This is standard in documentary work or interview material where pace is important but shouldn't feel choppy.
Practical on set: This only works if you have really clean sound recording. If the ambient sound is noisy or the dialogue was recorded unclearly, you'll immediately notice something is off. So, you always need ambience tracks — clean room tone from both locations, so the audio transitions don't sound like an editing mistake. In the editing suite, you work with the fade curves: don't just cut, but gently lower the volume of the outgoing track while the new one comes in. This makes it believable. An L-cut without proper audio mixing always looks like a beginner's mistake.