Should You Be Mixing and Mastering Audition Files? - Summer Series 2021 Episode 05 - Everyday VOpreneur® with Marc Scott

Podcast Summary: Everyday VOpreneur® with Marc Scott

Episode: Should You Be Mixing and Mastering Audition Files? - Summer Series 2021 Episode 05
Air Date: July 1, 2021
Host: Marc Scott

Main Theme and Purpose

This episode addresses a frequent listener question: What level of audio mixing, mastering, and processing should be applied to voiceover audition files? Marc Scott gives clear, actionable advice on the do’s and don’ts of preparing and submitting audition audio, emphasizing efficiency and meeting industry expectations.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Should You Add Background Music to Audition Files?

Short Answer: No, unless specifically requested.
Rationale: Adding music isn’t standard practice and is rarely requested by casting sites or clients for auditions.
Advice:
- “Unless specifically asked, you are never going to put background music behind your auditions. … It’s a distraction.” (Marc Scott, 03:02)
- If you have mixing skills, mention them in your proposal—not in your audition file.

2. What About Mastering and Processing Audition Audio?

Definition Clarity: “Mastering” is a broad and often misunderstood term—everyone seems to have a different take.
Best Practice: Submit relatively raw audio, but not completely unedited.
- Remove mistakes, clicks, pops, and major mouth noises.
- Use tools like Adobe Audition (Spectral View) or Isotope plugins if needed.
On Removing Breaths:
- Don’t remove all breaths; natural-sounding auditions are preferred.
- “I don’t think that you need to be removing all breaths. … It actually makes the read sound less natural and less conversational. And hey, what does everybody want today in their auditions? They want conversational.” (Marc Scott, 05:11)

3. How Much Processing is Appropriate?

Compression and EQ: Generally, avoid heavy processing (compression, EQ, mastering) for auditions.
Reason: The client will usually want to apply their own processing to the hired voiceover.
Exception: If you have a vetted, minimal processing chain (from a trusted engineer or mentor), you can use it.
- “If you got something like that set up, by all means, you could do that with your audition. But outside of that, we’re really talking about just going into the studio, recording, cleaning, sending.” (Marc Scott, 06:19)

4. Efficiency in Workflow

Don’t overcomplicate your audition process—speed matters!
Overprocessing can slow down submissions and reduce opportunities.
- “If you’re doing much more than that … that might be one of the reasons why you feel like your auditions are taking too long.” (Marc Scott, 06:42)

Practical Summary of Marc's Audition File Prep Workflow

Record your audition.
Edit out mistakes, removal of major noises (clicks, pops, mouth noise).
Shorten or reduce breaths (don’t remove all).
Skip adding music, heavy compression, or mastering unless explicitly directed.
Send the cleaned file, confident that your studio’s audio quality is good.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On background music:
“You shouldn’t do that. I know that some talent think that it might be a way of making them stand out from the other submissions. … But really, it’s a distraction.” (Marc Scott, 03:24)
On efficiency:
“This is why people are getting their auditions out really, really fast, is because they’re not doing too much to them.” (Marc Scott, 07:01)
Key general rule:
“For the most part, we’re going in, we’re recording, we’re cleaning up, and we’re sending. That’s how you’re going to get it done faster. It’s going to make your life so much easier.” (Marc Scott, 07:50)

Timestamps for Important Segments

00:00 – 01:00: Listener question and episode setup
03:02 – 04:00: Why you shouldn’t add music unless directed
05:11 – 06:00: How to handle breaths, clicks, pops, and mistakes
06:19 – 07:01: When minimal processing is OK
07:01 – 07:50: How overprocessing slows you down; the basic “record, clean, send” philosophy

Episode Takeaways

Don’t mix or master audition files heavily—keep it simple, natural, and stick to what’s asked for in the brief.
Focus on basics: clean up mistakes and distracting noises, but leave processing minimal.
Efficiency wins: The quicker and cleaner your workflow, the more opportunities you’ll have.

For listener-submitted questions on voiceover business or marketing, email Marc at mark@markscottvoiceover.com.
For more episodes, visit vopreneur.com.

This episode is ideal for both new and experienced voice actors wanting to optimize their audition process and present themselves professionally, without unnecessary technical work.

Transcript

A (0:00)

What do I need to do to my auditions? If anything.

B (0:05)

You'Re a voice actor, you're an entrepreneur, you're a Veopreneur. Welcome to the Everyday veopreneur podcast, your guide through the business of voiceover.

C (0:15)

Your voiceover demos are your number one marketing tool and you need to display them on your website in a way that works on any device or browser. VoiceSam is the player producers love, plus it offers tools that can improve your email signature Quickly, create a one page website, and much more. Sign up now at voicesam.commarkscott and get three months of the bass player for the price of one. That's voicesam.commarkscott for full details and to.

A (0:42)

B (0:48)

Not as funny as Conan, not as cute as Seth Meyers, not as smart as Colbert. But he's one of us and that counts for something. Here's Mark Scott, the original Everyday Veopreneur.

A (1:00)

Hello and welcome to the Everyday Veopreneur podcast, your guide through the business of voiceover. I'm Mark Scott, the original everyday vopeneur, in for another summer series episode. What is the summer series? Quick hit episodes designed to give you one good piece of actionable, practical advice and then get you back to your summer so you can enjoy doing all of those fun things that you should be doing. This one, if I may go back to my radio days, is straight off the request line and what I mean by that is this week's episode was a listener submitted question, which you have the opportunity to do, by the way, if you've got a question you'd like to have answered on the summer series, all you have to do is send an email to markarkscott voiceover.com and hey, maybe your question becomes the next episode of the podcast. So this week's is a question that I actually get asked a lot and it has to do with submitting auditions for your casting sites and what you should and shouldn't do. More specifically, do I mix background music? How much do I master and process, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera? Now a couple of weeks ago I did summer series episode number three, Do I need to watermark my voiceover auditions? So you may want to go back and listen to that. I don't want to rehash that part. This week though, we're talking specifically about how to finish your auditions, so to speak. So rule number one, unless specifically asked, you are never going to put background music behind your auditions. You should never have to do that for a casting site. In fact, in all of the years that I was on casting sites, and granted, I don't use the casting sites any longer, but in all of the years that I was on them, never once did I have to mix background music for an audition and never once did I mix background music for an audition. You shouldn't do that. I know that some talent think that it might be a way of making them stand out from the other submissions. It might be a way of showing them extra skill or capability, but really it's a distraction. And like I said, if it's not specifically in the direction, if it's not specifically asked for, you definitely should not be doing it. If you have the ability to do mixing in that regard, that's something that you could mention in your audition proposal if it was relevant to the job at hand, but definitely not something that I would be doing for the actual audition. So should I be adding music? My opinion is the answer is no, unless specifically asked. And it's not something that I can ever think of ever. Not just on casting sites, but in general, it's not something that I've ever seen in instructions. So that's the first part of the question. Second part of the question comes with the, let's say the mastering. And I know that's a very broad term. And you ask, you know, 10 people what it means to master their audio, you're going to get 10 different answers. But bottom line is you should be submitting relatively raw audio. And even the term raw audio can be misleading because a lot of different people have different definitions of raw audio. Absolutely. You need to edit out your mistakes. You should be editing out any clicks, pops, you know, mouth noise, things of that nature, which you can go through and do on your own using Spectral View, if you're using Adobe Audition, great way to do it. Or you could be using something like Isotope, which is a plugin that allows you to do stuff like that. But at the very least, definitely be removing your mistakes, removing your clicks, pops, etc. People want to know whether or not they should be removing all breaths. I don't think that you need to be removing all breaths. I think that when you take out all of the breaths, it actually makes the read sound less natural and less conversational. And hey, what does everybody want today in their auditions? They want conversational. Now, can you reduce breaths? Can you shorten breaths? Absolutely. Things of that nature. You could go ahead, you could do that. But should you be running a lot of processing when we talk about Processing, you know, should you be running compression, should you be running eqs, all of those sorts of things. Generally speaking, I don't think you should be on your auditions. I think that in most instances when you get hired for a voiceover, they're going to ask for your raw audio. And that raw audio is unprocessed audio. It doesn't mean that you're sending them like literally what you recorded, although that may happen sometimes if you're doing like a source connect session or whatever. But it means after you've done some of those basics, taken out the mistakes, cleaned up, some of the breaths, the clicks, the pops, all that sort of stuff, that's basically what you're sending them. You shouldn't be doing a ton of eqing, compression, all that sort of stuff, because generally speaking, the client wants to do that on their end. Now, if there are certain things that you need to do to your audio, because maybe you've worked with somebody like Uncle Roy or George Whittem or Dan Leonard or Tim Tippets and they've given you a stack, or Uncle Roy has set up a process for you in Adobe Audition. You know, click this button, this button, this button, this button, then send. If you got something like that set up, by all means, you could do that with your audition. But outside of that, we're really talking about just going into the studio, recording, cleaning, sending. And I think if you're doing much more than that, I think that might be one of the reasons why you feel like your auditions are taking too long. And, you know, when you signed in to 1, 2, 3, there was only five people that submitted. But then by the time you get all of the stuff done that you're doing, all of a sudden 75 people have submitted. This is why people are getting their auditions out really, really fast, is because they're not doing too much to them. So when it comes to submitting your auditions, whether it is for casting sites, for your agents, or even for your prospects and clients, that you've gone out and got on your own, generally speaking. And again, always pay attention to the actual directions for every single audition. But generally speaking, you are not going to be putting a music bed or sound effects or anything of that nature into the audition file. You shouldn't be doing a ton of compression, eq, you know, mastering. You should be taking out your mistakes. You should be cleaning up your mouth noise, your clicks, your pops, things of that nature. And if you need to do a little bit of breath reduction or breath shortening, that's okay, as long as you're not removing everything for the most part, we're going in, we're recording, we're cleaning up, and we're sending. That's how you're going to get it done faster. It's going to make your life so much easier. And if you have had your studio assessed and you know that your sound is on point, shouldn't be an issue because you know that the audio files that you're delivering are good ones. So that answers a listener question that came in specifically for the summer series. As a reminder, if you've got a specific question on the business and marketing side of Voiceover that you would like to have answered in an upcoming summer series episode, all you got to do is send an email off to mark@markscottvoiceover.com in the meantime, make sure you're checking out all of the episodes@veopreneur.com or wherever. Fine Podcasts are given away for free, including Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, Stitcher, Podbean, Amazon Music. You can subscribe anywhere so you never have to miss an episode. Thanks so much for listening. I'll catch you on the next one.