To Breathe or Not To Breathe

[byJO]

Hello all,

To breathe or not to breathe. I am perplexed and need some direction. What is the accepted rule for narrators? Or is it the preference of the author for which you are narrating?

From some I hear and read, "don't have any breathing sounds in your final submission," which means hours of tedious editing replacing any breath sounds with room tone, which I'm willing to do, but greatly increases production time.

From others, such as in this video by Pat Fraley, I hear that breathing is OK and natural and should be heard, as long as it is natural sounding.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwQbwmRuXwg

I'd love to know what is the industry standard on this issue, or if there is even one.

Thanks,
John

[byJO]

I meant to include the following comment I received from a LibriVox participant reviewing a recent submission, clearly an advocate for "no breathing" or reduced breathing sounds.

"I will make one comment: The recording has many very audible intakes of breath. For future recordings you might improve the overall effect if you can remove or reduce the prominence of these breath marks."

[InTheDesert]

While all breaths edited out is disconcerting for the listener, it is possible to change one's physical breathing technique to make it less prominent. I found a very old youtube video on this which I can't find again but it was basically asking you to practise taking as deep a breath as possible as quietly as possible. I noticed I could change it considerably. All that is to say that it's possible to change it at the level of technique to avoid having to do more editing.

[Rapunzelina]

Here's another discussion about breaths if you'd like to see more points of view on the subject: viewtopic.php?t=94427
My personal take is, unless it's louder than the actual speech, just leave it be. It's natural to breathe.

As for breathing techniques, when you're sitting and having a normal conversation or describing how your day has been, you don't find yourself taking loud or deep breaths, I don't think. My opinion is that this natural breathing is what narrators should aim for.

[byJO]

Here's another discussion about breaths if you'd like to see more points of view on the subject: viewtopic.php?t=94427
My personal take is, unless it's louder than the actual speech, just leave it be. It's natural to breathe.

As for breathing techniques, when you're sitting and having a normal conversation or describing how your day has been, you don't find yourself taking loud or deep breaths, I don't think. My opinion is that this natural breathing is what narrators should aim for.

Thanks so much for the topic link...lot's of good discussion there, providing a clearer perspective of different approaches.

[byJO]

While all breaths edited out is disconcerting for the listener, it is possible to change one's physical breathing technique to make it less prominent. I found a very old youtube video on this which I can't find again but it was basically asking you to practise taking as deep a breath as possible as quietly as possible. I noticed I could change it considerably. All that is to say that it's possible to change it at the level of technique to avoid having to do more editing.

Thanks for the advice! I appreciate it and will add that practice to my work.

[iBeScotty]

I use an expander with light settings to gently reduce the volume of breath levels to just make them a little less intrusive (low ratio and threshold at around breath level), but intentional gasps still come through about the same. I think I made a post years ago about this when I first started using this technique.

Of course, imo it is also great to think about this and what is making it into the microphone and experimenting with breath and mic technique too.

[sjmarky]

My advice is don’t worry about it. This is a common obsession for folks just starting out.

Removing breaths isn’t even expected for professional audiobooks. I only edit the really extreme ones. If you’re really concerned, there are also de-breathing plugins, although TBH I’ve never been happy with the results. Finally, some mics are more sensitive to breaths than others.

[DACSoft]

As with most things, you'll receive advice from all over the breathing spectrum.

My two cents worth is to do what feels most comfortable for you and fulfills the results that you want of your recordings.

I fall on the "little or no" breathing in my recordings (for almost 10 years here, not a newbie), unless the story calls for it (for instance, if the character has just run a race, and tries talking to his or her coach immediately after while catching their breath). But, in general, I don't like to listen to "normal" breathing, at any level/volume, as it is a distraction to me.

I think that low background noise/ambiance, and use of pauses in speech, acts against the eeriness of dead silence or lack of breathing that others sometimes point to.

FWIW,

[Winnifred]

I think I'm somewhere in the middle; edit out the breaths that sound "like an asthmatic rhinoceros" (thank you for that image, TriciaG!) and leave in the ones that sound natural to my ear. I started out editing them all out, but found that that didn't sound right either (and was a lot of work!) So now I just focus on the ones that distract me and edit those out (sometimes only part of them).

Cheers,

[lightcrystal]

Kylie Minogue: it won't be long now breathe. Breathe,

You are a respiratory system. Breathe.

[TriciaG]

edit out the breaths that sound "like an asthmatic rhinoceros" (thank you for that image, TriciaG!)

It has helped me learn to correctly spell those two words!