While voiceover editing might not be the most favored task among voiceover artists, it's a crucial part of the job. Though, some voice actors do find it enjoyable; the majority hold a consensus that leans more towards it being a tedious activity. You may have encountered terms like Equalization, Compression, and Mastering from your audio-savvy colleagues. However, we will set aside these complex terminologies for this discussion. Instead, we will delve into the basics of voiceover editing, aiming to simplify this often daunting task. Stay tuned, we will also offer some quick wins making your life easier and save you time.
Errors during editing can be detected both audibly and visually. For instance, a small, inconsistent blip in your audio track might indicate a breath, while a little spike following a word could be a plosive sound. Similarly, a tiny blip before a word could signify a lip smack, and scattered dots throughout your track may suggest background noise.
These are common issues, and most available audio editing software allows you to easily rectify them with a click of a button. You just need to highlight these issues and delete them, leaving you with cleaner, professional-sounding audio. So don't hesitate to experiment and learn through doing. You can also research what functionality your audio editing software of choice has readily available to you. Many host a noise reduction tool that you can tune to remove these elements instantly.
Most recording and editing software includes a noise reduction feature as mentioned above. This tool identifies and eliminates noise from a section or an entire file. To use this feature, you first need to highlight an affected area that you've identified. Then, apply the noise reduction tool to the entire file. At this point, it will detect the anomalies you have presented and remember those ready for your next instruction.
This two-click method simply requires you to listen for any background noise. Once you've found an instance of noise, you can use it as a sample for the noise reduction tool. This allows you to clean the entire file of that specific noise with just a few clicks.
Once you have your sound sample you can order the software to then remove it from he entire file. Once it has identified it once in the audio file, it can identify it again over the entire track.
The key to achieving clean audio lies in delivering your best performance while recording, minimizing the need for extensive editing. However, there are times when the audio may require a bit of a boost. In such cases, you can amplify either the whole file or just a quieter section. You might do the entire file if your levels are low, the easier precaution would be to raise your levels slightly. However, amplification is an option should you learn of the low level too late. In a scenario where you were deliberately being quiet, you may wish to amplify a particular section as opposed to the entire track.
The challenge here is that amplifying audio also increases the volume of undesired sounds. Any background noise that was previously unnoticeable might become audibly discernible. But don't fret - the noise reduction feature comes to the rescue here. However, it's worth noting that using this feature multiple times can degrade your audio quality. Ideally, try to limit its use to once or, if critically necessary, twice but no more.
So, there you have it - two fundamental tips that simplify voiceover editing. You've learned how to eliminate unwanted sounds while maintaining high audio quality. Moreover, you've discovered how to amplify your audio without compromising its crispness. By understanding and applying these basic editing concepts, you're well on your way to producing superior voiceover content.
Voiceover Editing by Alan Shires
Voice Actor