Patching up corrections. How seamless should it be?

Le Marteau · Post by **Le Marteau** » December 31st, 2006, 2:14 am

Like a fool, I am working on a solo project, "Moby Dick"

I am very obsessive about my work. As such, I tend to try to patch up misphrases and lines which were not 'properly' read.

However, the challenge is, to get the corrections to not be an obvious patch.

Maybe another listener might not notice, but, wearing high-quality headphones through a high-quality sound setup, I can hear the difference.

My question is:

Where does one leave 'well enough' alone? I could spend weeks nailing a chapter seamlessly, or I could accept that the transitions between patches are not absolutely perfect, and record many chapters in the time being.

Does one strive for 100% perfection in seamless, indetectable changes in voice? Or does one leave it as 'this is acceptable'? Where is the dividing line?

Many thanks in advance,

- Le Marteau

Peter Why · Post by **Peter Why** » December 31st, 2006, 2:39 am

It's entirely up to you how close to perfect you try to make it. The difficulty with patching in corrections is the perceptible change at each end of the patch. Firstly, you should generally patch a complete sentence rather than a word or phrase, so the change is masked by the break in content ... you may need to do a whole paragraph instead, for the same reason.

If you're having trouble matching a character's spoken voice, it helps to copy existing sections of his or her voice into a separate file, play it a few times then re-record a number of attempts at the patched section.

Another thing that's noticeable in patches is volume change ... caused, I suppose, by different head position in relation to the microphone .. it's relatively simple to play with the volume of the patch, but occasionally better to re-record, especially if the patch was too quiet.

I hope that helps; you'll probably get other suggestions.

Peter

Le Marteau · Post by **Le Marteau** » December 31st, 2006, 2:50 am

Very good advice. I generally try to patch nothing less than sentences, but even still, sometimes (oftentimes) there are still obvious differerences. Ever still, doing paragraphs.

Your advice about 'it's entirely up to you how close to perfect you try to make it' is good.

This is somewhat new to me, but I think my standard will be, "is this uncomfortable?" Does it give un-ease? If it does, I must go back and re-do the sentence, re-do the paragraph, perhaps even re-do the chapter. This is not a road race, after all, and crossing the finish line first is not the point.

Thx.

- Le Marteau

earthcalling · Post by **earthcalling** » December 31st, 2006, 5:28 am

Another way to help you judge whether further work is necessary, after you've done what you feel broadly comfortable with but before you've hit 'perfection', is to leave it alone for a week or so, then listen through your stereo, 'normally' rather than 'critically'. If nothing stands out, it's good to go!

David

kri · Post by **kri** » January 1st, 2007, 7:23 am

Also, you'll make it easier on yourself if you catch the misreadings, re-read them immediately after reading it incorrectly (in the same track), and you can just delete the phrase you don't want later.