Don't Let Crappy Audio Ruin a Great Performance

You've spent time practicing your script, working on your delivery, and making sure every word sounds just right. You hit RECORD, deliver a fantastic performance, save the file, and send it off to your client or demo producer. Congratulations! Except there's one little problem. Your audio sounds like it was recorded inside a washing machine during the spin cycle.

Okay, maybe that's a slight exaggeration, but after more than 35 years working as a professional voice actor, audio engineer, and demo producer, I can tell you that audio quality is something every voice actor needs to take seriously. I work with some incredibly talented people, and while their performances can be fantastic, the recordings they send me sometimes create unnecessary challenges that could have been avoided with a few simple adjustments.

The good news is that you don't need a degree in audio engineering, a studio full of expensive equipment, or a collection of plugins that costs more than your first car to get this stuff right.

Let's Talk About Those Audio Levels!

When you're recording voiceovers, the goal is to capture a strong, clean signal without pushing your recording levels so high that you introduce distortion. As a general starting point, I recommend aiming for peaks somewhere around -12 dBFS to -6 dBFS. These aren't magical numbers or rigid industry requirements, but they're a sensible target that gives you some breathing room while maintaining a healthy recording level.

That breathing room is called headroom, and it's important because your voice isn't going to stay at exactly the same volume throughout a performance. Some words will naturally be louder than others, particularly when you're delivering an energetic commercial or an emotional character performance. You want enough room for those louder moments without your recording reaching 0 dBFS, where digital clipping can occur.

And here's something worth remembering: once you've clipped and distorted your original recording, simply turning down the volume afterward isn't going to repair the damage. It's a little like burning your Christmas cookies and thinking you can fix the problem by putting them in a prettier box. They're still going to taste like charcoal.

Consistency Is Your Friend!

One of the most common issues I encounter during demo production is inconsistent recording levels between scripts. An actor might send me six commercial performances, and the first sounds great, the second is barely audible, the third is ridiculously loud, and the fourth sounds like they moved their microphone into the garage halfway through the read.

By the time I've listened to everything, I'm wondering whether these recordings were made with six different microphones in six different zip codes.

Try to keep your recording levels reasonably consistent from one script to the next. That doesn't mean every word needs to be delivered at exactly the same volume. Natural performances have dynamics, and those dynamics are an essential part of good voice acting. A warm, intimate narration shouldn't have the same intensity as a screaming video game villain, and we certainly don't want to squeeze all that personality out of your performance.

What we do want is a consistent recording setup. Keep your microphone position relatively stable, establish a sensible input level, and avoid making dramatic changes to your interface gain every time you record another script. Pay attention to your meters, especially during louder passages, and remember that you don't need to compress everything into submission just to make the waveforms look identical.

Sending Files to a Demo Producer? PLEASE Send the Raw Audio!

Now we're getting into something I feel particularly strongly about because I produce professional voiceover demos regularly, and I can tell you that clean, unprocessed audio is almost always preferable to a recording that's already been heavily processed.

When someone hires a professional demo producer, part of what they're paying for is the producer's ability to shape the sound of their voice, create an appropriate mix, add music and sound effects, and make each performance fit naturally into the finished production. That's difficult to accomplish when the original recording has already been run through aggressive compression, limiting, noise reduction, reverb, and seventeen plugins somebody recommended in a YouTube video at two in the morning.

I understand the temptation. You want your recordings to sound impressive, polished, and ready for broadcast before sending them off. But an overly compressed recording can lose its natural dynamics, aggressive noise reduction can introduce strange artifacts, and excessive EQ can turn a perfectly good voice into something harsh, muddy, or unnaturally thin. Once those changes are baked into the audio file, your producer may have very little flexibility to correct them.

My advice is simple: give your demo producer a clean canvas to work with. Record the best performance you can, make sure the audio is clean and free of clipping, and send the original recording unless your producer has requested something different. There's no need to add music, sound effects, or reverb. Your producer will handle all of that, and trust me, they'll appreciate having the freedom to do their job properly.

Is a Little EQ Okay? Absolutely!

I'm certainly not opposed to a little EQ, especially when you're making subtle adjustments to correct an obvious issue. A gentle high-pass filter can help reduce low-frequency rumble, and a small adjustment to tame an unpleasant frequency may improve the overall clarity of your recording.

The important thing is understanding the difference between making a subtle correction and performing major reconstructive surgery on your voice.

Less is more, especially when you're preparing recordings for professional demo production. My preference is to receive the original, unprocessed file whenever possible, even if you've been monitoring yourself through some EQ while recording. You can enjoy that polished sound in your headphones without necessarily baking it into the file you're sending.

And remember, your demo producer may have a particular way they like to receive files. Some will ask for completely dry recordings, while others may have specific technical requirements. Follow their instructions rather than assuming every producer wants the same thing.

ALWAYS Listen Before You Save and Send!

Here's something that sounds ridiculously obvious, yet you'd be surprised how often it gets overlooked: listen to your entire recording before you send it to somebody.

And when I say the entire recording, I mean the ENTIRE recording, not just the opening sentence and the final few words. Listen carefully for mouth clicks, plosives, background noise, distorted syllables, strange edits, sudden volume changes, and anything else that might distract from your performance. Make sure you haven't accidentally chopped off the beginning of a sentence or cut the final syllable of a word.

Over the years, I've received recordings featuring barking dogs, mysterious clicking noises, rumbling air conditioners, and what sounded suspiciously like somebody operating a small construction company in the next room. Occasionally, the person sending the recording had no idea those noises were there because they hadn't bothered to listen back.

A good pair of headphones can help you catch problems that aren't immediately obvious through speakers. I also recommend listening to the actual exported file before sending it, rather than assuming everything is fine because it sounded good inside your recording software. Make sure the correct take was exported, the file plays properly, and nothing unusual happened during the export process.

Those extra few minutes can save you a lot of embarrassment and prevent your client or producer from having to contact you for replacement files.

What File Format Should You Use?

For professional demo production, I generally prefer receiving WAV files recorded at 24-bit resolution, using either a 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz sample rate. WAV preserves the source audio without the lossy compression associated with MP3, which gives your producer high-quality material to work with during editing and mixing.

However, there's an important exception to that recommendation: always follow the specifications provided by the person receiving your audio. If a casting director asks for an MP3 audition, send an MP3. If your demo producer requests 48 kHz WAV files, that's what you should deliver.

And unless you've specifically been asked to do so, don't normalize, maximize, or loudness-match your raw recordings before sending them to a producer. Keeping the source audio clean and natural provides much more flexibility during production.

A Quick Checklist Before You Hit SEND!

Before sending your next audition, recording session, or demo performance, take a minute to make sure you've covered the basics.

• My recording is clean, clear, and free of digital clipping.

• My audio levels are healthy, with enough headroom for louder passages.

• My microphone position and recording gain have remained reasonably consistent.

• I haven't added unnecessary compression, limiting, or other heavy processing.

• I've listened to the entire performance and checked for unwanted noises or editing mistakes.

• I've opened and listened to the actual exported file.

• I've followed the requested file format, naming, and delivery instructions.

One Final Thought

Great voiceover audio isn't about making your recording as LOUD as humanly possible. It's about capturing a clean, natural, professional performance that gives a client, casting director, or demo producer something they can actually work with.

You can own a $1,500 microphone, have a studio full of expensive plugins, and spend hours obsessing over your EQ settings. But if your recording is distorted, inconsistent, or full of background noise, none of that fancy equipment is going to save you.

And if you're hiring somebody to produce your professional demo, let them do their job! Give them excellent performances, clean recordings, and consistent audio levels, and allow them to work their magic.

I've always believed that great audio production should enhance a performance rather than draw attention to itself. If listeners are noticing your compression more than your acting, something has probably gone wrong.

Remember, your job as a voice actor is to deliver a great performance. The technology should support that performance, not get in its way.

Now, go make some great recordings!