Sometimes the words in a dialogue edit fit perfectly, but something still sounds wrong.
The first thing I always check is the breaths.
Say I've shortened an interview answer. The outgoing clip ends with a breath, and the incoming clip starts with another. Put them together and suddenly the speaker sounds like they're taking two in a row.
It's a small thing and easy to fix, but it's super noticeable.
I play the entire sentence, including the lead-in, and listen to how the speaker naturally phrases the thought. I keep the breath that makes sense, remove the duplicate, then listen again without staring at the waveform.
And don't automatically remove both. Stripping out every breath can make someone sound like they're racing through a sentence without stopping for air. Sometimes it is necessary to remove them, but usually it's all good just to reduce the breath volume.
Transom has an excellent [listening example of the double breath, along with other useful advice on editing natural speech here - https://transom.org/2026/revisiting-remember-to-breathe/
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If you've got an interview or dialogue edit that doesn't quite sound right, send me the original and edited sections. I'd be happy to have a listen.
https://www.bigmouthstudios.co.za/services/audio-post-production/
