Acceptable Audio: What Voice Actors Should Listen For

The team breaks down what “acceptable audio” really means for voice actors recording from home, from reflections and noise to mic placement, editing, clothing rustle and using reference recordings.

What actually counts as acceptable audio when you’re recording voiceover from home?

That question came up after Robbo spoke with a group of aspiring voice actors in Perth. The advice was simple enough, don’t overprocess, don’t gate everything, and send clean raw audio when asked. But one student asked the thing every beginner wants to know: how do I know if what I’m recording is actually good enough?

In this episode, Robbo, Robert, George and eventually AP unpack the answer. They talk about why reflections are often a bigger problem than background noise, why “boxy” booth sound is so hard to fix, and why a great recording is usually more about the room than the microphone.

The crew also gets into mic technique, the danger of editing yourself into oblivion, clothing noise, hair rustle, inconsistent recording levels, portable booths, the value of reference recordings, and why sometimes “consistent but flawed” is much easier to work with than audio that keeps changing from take to take.

There’s also a detour into rare microphones, a surprise AP entrance, and Robbo discovering that the PASport VO may have just made phone patching easier than expected.

Thanks to our sponsors, Austrian Audio, making passion heard.