Editing A Book

hbrooks3 · Post by **hbrooks3** » April 28th, 2018, 5:37 am

Hey guys! I am editing my book and redoing a few of the stumbles/stutters that I have. Sometimes, when I redo a word or two, it sounds a tad bit different than the original line. Do you think this is okay or should I just say the entire line over again?

Post by **annise** » April 28th, 2018, 5:46 am

I find it's always better to repeat the phrase or sentence.

Anne

tovarisch · Post by **tovarisch** » April 28th, 2018, 6:55 am

Yes, it's better to re-record everything between pauses. Even then you can sound different, however slightly. The distance from the mic is different, your throat is different, your breathing is different, time of day is different...

Practice makes perfect. I am not sure what the right way of "punching in" would be in Audacity, but in Reaper it's relatively easy, and still I rarely get it right on the first try.

Start by listening to your pronouncing of the original passage while following the text closely with your eyes. Loop it. Repeat after yourself, making sure to actually say the right word, but try to say the rest the same way you did before. Then hit record and say the phrase again, then copy the piece and paste it into the track instead of the old piece.

Don't forget to make a backup copy of the track before fiddling with it.

Good luck!

Penumbra · Post by **Penumbra** » April 28th, 2018, 8:15 am

And after you have given it a good shot, and it still sounds a little different from the way you originally recorded it, don't worry about it. Most listeners won't even notice, and the few who do won't have time or interest in giving it much thought because the story is moving on. Your time is much better spent in doing more recording than in fiddling with small variations in voice sound.

Cori · Post by **Cori** » April 30th, 2018, 11:29 am

I try to repeat the line 2-3 times at slightly different pitches, so I'm more likely to find a good match when it comes to editing. Doesn't work for the 'punching in' method, but I didn't get on with that when I last tried, so ... it's fine for post-editing.

ZamesCurran · Post by **ZamesCurran** » May 2nd, 2018, 8:38 am

For a recent example, in the dramatic reading of Huckleberry Finn, there's one section where the narrator apparently mispronounced one word repeatedly, and so later went back and plugged in the correctly pronounced word (it seems the same clip) over & over. The vocal tone doesn't match at all, and it's rather jarring.