Need tips when making corrections with Audacity

Joyfull · Post by **Joyfull** » May 20th, 2016, 11:40 am

What do you all do when you need to change a phrase or sentence so the "new and old" recordings blend well and don't sound like a correction? Most of the time I don't have a problem with it, but every now and then it seems like my voice is different, background, etc. I'd like not to have to record the entire chapter again

TIA for Your help!

Peter Why · Post by **Peter Why** » May 20th, 2016, 12:58 pm

That's two separate problems: your voice and background.

1 Your voice. If you have to re-record a phrase or sentence to match its surrounding recording, it's often simplest to record a whole paragraph; that is, a block which starts and ends with a second or so of silence. Then the change in voice is less disturbing to the listener.
However, if you are really looking for a close match for the sound of the surrounding voice, you could a) record at the same time of day, as the sound of your voice changes through the day, and b) listen to the original recording and make three or more recordings of your patch, varying the sound of your voice to more-or-less imitate the original ... then listen to the recordings and choose the closest match.

2 Change in background may be more complex, and it would be worth putting together some samples and asking in this Advice thread for some suggestions.

Peter

Newgatenovelist · Post by **Newgatenovelist** » May 21st, 2016, 10:42 am

I agree with Peter's advice and would just like to add that you might want to pay attention to what you eat and drink and see if anything affects your voice noticeably, especially if you record after dinner. I can hear a difference if I've had cheese within a couple of hours of recording, and I'm sure others have their own similar things they've noticed.
Erin

Joyfull · Post by **Joyfull** » May 21st, 2016, 11:53 am

Thanks Peter and Erin!

Lucy_k_p · Post by **Lucy_k_p** » May 28th, 2016, 1:48 am

When I have been doing something like putting on a character voice, I will usually listen to my recording on headphones while I record and try to match my voice to the original that way. (You do have to pause the original recording when you speak though, otherwise it can get picked up by the mic.)

Joyfull · Post by **Joyfull** » May 28th, 2016, 6:52 am

Lucy_k_p wrote:When I have been doing something like putting on a character voice, I will usually listen to my recording on headphones while I record and try to match my voice to the original that way. (You do have to pause the original recording when you speak though, otherwise it can get picked up by the mic.)

Thank you Lucy!