Excellent Editing Pt. 2
So there’s nothing like sitting in your chair at your computer for hours on end staring at your computer screen, right? Me, I would rather be behind the mic, but here’s some tips to make your editing a lot easier and your clients a lot more happy.
Continued from the post before last…
6) Wear a good pair of headphones when you edit. If you wear a set of Shure, Sennheiser, Bose, or Sony headphones when you edit, the clients will be amazed when they listen to your product on their craptacular speakers.
7) Apply compression. In your audio editor, there should be some type of compression tool. Some people are against compression, but I think it makes the voice sound fantastic. In Adobe Audition it’s called Multiband Compressor. In Audacity I think it’s just called Compressor. If you have a voice like mine, boost the bass and treble, and leave the midrange where it is. Mess around with the compressor on your voice and see where you think it sounds the best.
8 ) If there is background music, make sure it is less interesting and at a lower volume than your voice. The more interesting the music is, the lower the volume on it should be. Try your best to avoid popular music and lyrics in background music altogether. You want the center of attention to be on your client’s message and your voice that’s delivering it.
9) DO NOT make changes to the copy unless given explicit permission to do so. Usually a client will have written the copy with a certain sound in mind and if you change the script, in a certain sense, you’re telling the writer that what they wrote isn’t good enough. Bad idea. Only suggest revisions if you are extremely confident that your way sounds better and you can give reasons as to why. (Hint: not being able to fit the amount of words in the amount of time given is NOT a good enough reason for change.)
10) Overall, make the product sound as natural as possible. You want the product to sound like you read it in one take and in one breath. Put the right amount of pause between sentences (whatever you think sounds natural), emphasize the correct words (even if that means boosting their volume a little), and put it in the right format (.wav if possible and not a long file, .aac if they will take it, or 128 kbps .mp3 or higher as a last resort). More on the different audio compressions at another time (it’s another post all to itself).
Next time I talk about one key technique that will improve your sound, editing, and overall VO approach tenfold. It needs a post of it’s own, that’s why it’s not included in this one! Stay tuned!
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