Dialogue Editing, Audio Cleanup & Restoration

Dialogue editing is the work of selecting and organizing the spoken material: choosing between takes and microphone sources, assembling lines cleanly against picture and removing overlaps, clicks and unwanted noises between words.

Level and tone are matched from line to line and scene to scene, and room tone is used so edits do not reveal themselves. The result is a prepared dialogue track the mix can be built on.

Cleanup targets the distractions around the voice: electrical hum and buzz, clicks and pops, handling and clothing noise, air conditioning, traffic and other inconsistent backgrounds.

Processing is applied only as far as it improves the listening experience. Pushed too far, noise reduction leaves a voice thin and artificial, so the line is drawn where the dialogue still sounds like a person in a room.

Restoration addresses damaged, compromised and archival recordings: distortion, dropouts, tape and transfer artifacts, heavy noise floors and material recorded in difficult conditions.

Results depend entirely on the source. A great deal can often be improved, but information that was never captured cannot be recreated, and a recording that is badly distorted has real limits. We give an honest assessment rather than a promise.

Edited and cleaned dialogue is delivered at the correct sample rate, bit depth and channel layout, organized so the mix session opens cleanly.

In the mix, that prepared material becomes the spine the music, effects and backgrounds are balanced around. This stage is usually the first phase of a mixing project rather than a separate service.

Because results depend on the source recording, we review the material before committing to an outcome.

Send a representative sample with a short description of the problem and how the audio will be used. We will tell you what can realistically be achieved and recommend an approach.