Making a voice over longer
 

Hello guys

What is the best way to make a voice over last a little longer in editing? When the person talks just a little too fast and I need to cover a little longer portion of video. I am obviously not referring to inserting pauses between sentences.

Re: Making a voice over longer
 

If you have an editing app like ProTools you can use the time compression/expansion function, but it will only get you so far. The best thing to do is recut the VO at the proper pace.

Re: Making a voice over longer
 

Thanks David. Anybody knows similar tools in Soundtrack Pro or Final Cut 10?
I know there is only so much room until you distort the voice.

Re: Making a voice over longer
 

Soundtrack Pro has time stretch.

Re: Making a voice over longer
 

Can you cut between a sentence or statement, add a little "space" between cut. This is where having a minute of two of recording of just the sound of the room by itself comes in handy I've found.

Re: Making a voice over longer
 

"a recording of just the sound of the room by itself"
aka, 'room tone'

Re: Making a voice over longer
 

Audacity is a nice, free audio editor.

Lay down a track of room tone behind your voice, then insert tiny fractions of a second in between phrases or words, when possible. This only works as voice over.

OR video editors will allow you to stretch/lengthen the audio and it doesn't take much at all to make a noticeable difference. It certainly shouldn't be enough to distort or change the pitch. A second every minute would be a good start. Also good if you want to show the speaker, at least occasionally.

If the speaker was way to fast, I'd do both methods.

Re: Making a voice over longer
 

Yes, FCPX will allow a certain amount of stretching too. Just use the slow/fast motion speed tool and drag the handles just as you would with video - it works also on an audio-only clip. You may be able to stretch 5-8% before it starts sounding too artificial.

Re: Making a voice over longer
 

Sounds like the voice was recorded before the final pix was edited, that's always open to this problem.

So it depends on how long this project is. With a 30sec TV ad, time streching and editing might work, but a 15min doco could easily go awry
and you might not realise it till you've finished it and listened to it right through.

If that's the case, as advised re-record the voice track, you always get a much better reading with proper inflections to fit the picture.

Cheers.

Re: Making a voice over longer
 

I'm not sure I would rely on a software program to do this. Inserting pauses between sentences is exactly what I would do if a retake isn't an option. I usually do that anyway to help the dialogue breath.