VO Pro Tip: Don't be Afraid to Re-Record

Published about 1 month ago • 1 min read

Re-Record

Hey Reader,

Let's talk about efficiency in your home studio, specifically around one of the biggest time sinks: editing technical mistakes.

You've just wrapped a great take, you hit stop, and you hear it: a little mouth noise, a small mic bump, or maybe a stray breath that really sticks out.

Your first instinct is likely to zoom way in on the waveform and start surgically removing the flaw. You grab the pencil tool, you spend five minutes finding the perfect replacement breath from a different take, you're sorting through your repair plugins...

Sometimes though, it's honestly just better and easier to simply re-record the troublesome spot.

The moment you find yourself spending more than about two minutes (and that's honestly kind of a lot) trying to fix a technical mistake in your DAW, you are wasting time and slowing down your career.

Your time is almost always better spent just re-recording the line clean.

This may change as your editing expertise improves. At this point I can surgically edit out small imperfections in a few seconds or less, but if you are not there yet, it might just be best to re-record.

Think about it logically. How much energy does it take to surgically edit out a click or a hum and still ensure it sounds natural? A few minutes? Now compare that to getting back in the scene for 30 seconds, speaking the line again, and dropping it into place. The re-record might be quicker, and most importantly, will sound better.

It's gonna be a judgement call, but be honest about your technical proficiency with editing, and think about what's gonna get you the best results, in the least amount of time.

-Michael

If you have a question or topic you'd like me to address in a future email like this - just reply to this email and let me know!

Hope you find this useful! Feel free to reach out with any questions! And if you find these emails helpful - please share VoiceoverRoadmap.com among any VO groups your part of - Facebook, Reddit, etc... or just tell others about it!

Thanks so much!

-Michael

Curious about my own personal VO Work?

www.MichaelLangsnerVO.com

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