VO-BB - 19 YEARS OLD!

[Moosevoice]

Do you edit out your breaths before submitting your auditions?
I'm not talking about frequent big nasal inhalations like a certain someone but just regular breaths.
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www.moosevoice.com

[Bob Bergen]

Never. Take out the breaths and you take out the humanity. It makes the read sterile. This is something I always ask industry guests in my workshop so my students can har from them and not just me. I have never had an agent or casting director advise to take out the breaths. In fact, often it is in a breath where I emote.

[Moosevoice]

Thank you, Mr. Flight Attendant.
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www.moosevoice.com

[Jason Huggins]

That is good advice. I used to always leave them in, but then I had a couple clients ask for me to remove them and I think I took that as a cue that people don't want them and started removing them from everything without thinking. Thanks for the insight Bob!

[Bruce]

First I try to breathe “right” by avoiding big breaths, which has taken years of self training, and then if a breath is too big I might soften it through cross fading or volume control. Agreed that breathless is sterile.


B
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VO-BB Member #31 Enlisted June, 2005

I'm not a Zoo, but over the years I've played one on radio/TV. .

[Lee Gordon]

Bob is absolutely right about taking out the humanity, so even if I remove a particularly loud breath, I generally replace it with an equivalent length of room tone or just lower its volume. It's not the inhaling and exhaling that creates the humanity, it's the space. So, for normal breathing, I leave it in, except if a sentence is so long I had to take a breath in a place that there shouldn't be a pause. In those cases, I edit them out.
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Lee Gordon, O.A.V.
Voice President of the United States
www.leegordonproductions.com
Twitter: @LeeGordonVoice

[George]

I find that personally it depends on the target. I leave breathing sounds in for acting roles that are character based because that sounds more natural, whereas in the context of something like medical narration I usually gate those out because the clients I work with frequently want a more dry/sterile experience with as few distractions as possible.

Your mileage will likely vary.

[Dan-O]

If you want the answer to your question, simply listen to examples of the final product.

For me, I almost always remove breaths.

In narration, which is 95% of my work (docs, in-show, promo, trailer), breaths are removed in the final mix. It makes it easier for the producer to simply drop my file into the mix without having to edit it. Call it customer service.

In the other 5% when I'm auditioning for games or commercials, breaths stay in.

[todd ellis]

what george said.
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"i know philip banks": todd ellis
who's/on/1st?

[Frank F]

I have a breath remover which allows me to silence or diminish the sound of the breath.

If removing breaths, I never remove the space in which a breath existed. Oftentimes I just decrease the volume of the BIG breaths. It depends on the project and it's intent.

I have noticed recently on many national commercials (and long form shows) the breathing sound has been removed.

It is a choice you as a producer of the project need to make.

If in doubt, ask.

F2
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Be thankful for the bad things in life. They opened your eyes to the good things you weren't paying attention to before. email: thevoice@usa.com

[Bruce]

Of course breaths may not be important at all if there's lots of background noise and music in the final product. I've narrated a lot of hunting shows and sports retrospectives where you couldn't hear any extraneous noise.



B
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VO-BB Member #31 Enlisted June, 2005

I'm not a Zoo, but over the years I've played one on radio/TV. .

[Jack Daniel]

Definitely. As Dan says, listen to what airs. Your auditions should sound like they are ready to air, and removing breaths is a big part of that. In certain forms of narration, I may choose to leave them in *if* they serve to enhance the story, but generally I take 'em all out. Certainly for trailer, promo, and commercial reads.

All of this is much less important than a great read. If you are good and have the right sound, whether you have breaths or not probably won't much matter.
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Jack Daniel
Narrator / Man About Town

[Philip Banks]

Sometimes not ...

This morning the team insisted that they should remain even when I was ad libbing

https://vimeo.com/503582947

[todd ellis]

how many people get to say ... "i will vanquish ..." in their daily life?

definitely a plus.
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"i know philip banks": todd ellis
who's/on/1st?

[Bish]