Most voice actors make this common audio editing mistake...

What do a song from 1992, your DAW, and voiceover editing have in common?

Editing audio is a part of being a voice actor. No matter your DAW, you have to edit based on your waveform right? Well, only if you remember this one thing...

Most voice actors make this common audio editing mistake - 4:00

What do a song from 1992, your DAW, and voiceover editing have in common?

Stick around — you’re going to find out.

Hey guys, it’s Gabby!

Let’s talk about voiceover editing. There are so, so many tutorials, videos, and resources online that can help you improve your editing skills — but there’s one thing that I think is critical, and not enough people take advantage of it.

That, my friends, is: Zooming in on your waveform.

Why Zooming Matters

You see, the waveform — the visual representation of your audio — is just that: a representation. It’s not necessarily accurate to the sound you’re actually hearing.

What often happens is people get complacent. They start editing with their eyes instead of their ears, and that is a huge mistake.

If you only edit visually — and you’re not acutely listening to your audio — you’re going to either:

• Miss something important

• Or worse, clip your audio

Both of those are really damaging to your overall sound quality, and I hear this all the time. I hear clipped audio and glaringly obvious mistakes from voice actors that should have been corrected.

Zooming Is the Key

Zooming in and out while you edit is key to improving your editing process. Here’s why:

Let’s say your gain is too low on your interface, or your playback level is low — you won’t see the sound in your waveform. But it's still there. Try this:

• Take a voice recording

• Drop the decibels on the track by 10

• Look closely at the waveform

A bunch of that audio disappears visually — but guess what? You’ll still hear it.

That’s the proof: the waveform can lie to your eyes.

Zooming in gives your eyes a real advantage and helps your ears and eyes work better together. The visual loss of sound, especially with just a 5-decibel drop, is staggering. So, you’ve got to...

🎵 Zoom! 🎵“All I wanna do is zooma-zoom-zoom-zoom…”

Yep — that’s your new editing mantra.

Your Editing Mantra: Zoom, Zoom, Zoom

Yes, we’re referencing the 1992 song Rump Shaker. It was wild. It was awesome. It was everywhere.

🎶 “All I wanna do is zooma-zoom-zoom-zoom…” 🎶

Let that be your editing mindset. Always zoom in, then zoom back out, and then zoom in again. Do it over and over so you really, really see what you’re working on.

If you’ve had problems with clipped audio, this is how you fix it. Zooming gives you the precision you need.

Want More Editing Tips?

If you want more tips and tricks about editing for voiceover and the studio process, check out this video here.👉 And don’t forget to like and subscribe!

Thanks, guys — see you next time! 🎶 “All I wanna do is zoom...” 🎶

704-674-8294 / GabrielleNistico.com / gabby@voiceovervixen.com

Gabrielle Nistico, Gabby Nistico, The Voiceover Vixen, The Business First VO Coach, #VoiceoverVixen #VoiceOnFire #BusinessFirstVOCoach Voiceover, Charlotte, North Carolina, Voiceover Demo, Voiceover Coaching Advice, audio editing, music, funny