Voiceover Post-Production: Editing, Processing and Mixing with Music

A voice actor's raw recording is not yet a finished product. A voice gets its professional sound in post-production: editing, processing and mixing with music. This is the stage that decides whether listeners catch every word, whether the voice gets lost under the music and whether a TV channel or platform accepts your file at all. Below we walk through what voiceover post-production involves, step by step.

What a clean recording sounds like before post-production

A raw recording surprises many people the first time they hear it: the voice is quieter, drier and less impressive than on radio or TV. That is normal. The recording is made this way on purpose, to leave maximum room for processing.

Why it sounds quiet

• Headroom: the level is deliberately kept low while recording. Peaks usually sit around −12 to −6 dBFS, so an emotional or loud line never overloads the recording. Distortion from clipping cannot be repaired, while a quiet voice is easy to raise.
• No compression or limiting yet: voices on radio and in ads sound dense and loud because compression evens out quiet and loud passages and a limiter raises the overall level. A raw recording has none of that yet.
• 24-bit recording: the high resolution keeps even a low-level voice clean, so it can be raised later without losing quality.
• Final loudness is set last: the target LUFS depends on where the file will air, so the level is only set in the final mix.

What else is different

• A dry voice: no music, no effects, no reverb. The voice sounds close and bare.
• Natural imperfections: you may hear breaths, mouth clicks, pauses between takes and a little room tone. All of it is cleaned up in editing.
• Natural tone: no EQ has been applied yet, so the voice sounds less bright and crisp.

If you receive a clean file and it sounds quiet, nothing is wrong: this is exactly the kind of file that lets the engineer prepare the voice to your channel's standard. Don't judge a raw recording at low volume on a phone speaker; it is not the final measure of quality.

What post-production is

Post-production is everything that happens to a recording after the session, from choosing the best takes to exporting the final file. In voiceover it usually has a few stages.

1. Editing

The best phrases from the directed takes are selected and assembled into one natural performance. Pauses are adjusted so the script fits the video, and unwanted sounds are removed: mouth clicks, loud breaths, paper rustle.

2. Noise reduction and clean-up

Even an acoustically treated studio can leave some background noise, such as ventilation or electrical hum. Dedicated tools reduce it without damaging the voice. The key is not to overdo it: an over-cleaned voice sounds artificial and metallic.

3. EQ, de-essing and compression

• EQ removes unnecessary low frequencies and adds clarity, so the voice works even on a phone speaker.
• A de-esser softens harsh "s" and "sh" sounds that tire the ear.
• Compression evens out the dynamics: quiet words are not lost and loud ones do not shout.

Mixing with music: the voice comes first

In commercials and videos the voice is almost always paired with music. A good mix lets the listener feel both, without losing the message for a single second.

• Ducking: while the voice actor speaks, the music dips automatically or by hand, then comes back up in the pauses. The voice stays clear and the spot still feels energetic.
• Frequency carving: the music is slightly reduced in the range where speech lives, so the two do not clash.
• The right track: songs with vocals compete with the voice. Instrumental music usually works better.
• Sound effects and a sonic logo make a spot memorable when used with restraint.

Where the mix is checked

The mix is done on studio monitors in an acoustically treated room. Monitors do not flatter the sound: you hear the exact balance between voice and music, the low end and every flaw that consumer speakers or headphones hide.

The final version is then checked on the devices people will actually use: a phone speaker, a laptop, a TV and a car. A good mix stays clear on all of them.

Loudness standards

Loudness is measured in LUFS. Each channel expects a different target: if a file is too loud, platforms turn it down on their own, and some TV channels will reject it outright.

Channel	Common standard
TV (Europe)	EBU R128: −23 LUFS, true peak no higher than −1 dBTP
TV (USA)	ATSC A/85: −24 LKFS
YouTube, Spotify and other streaming	Normalised to around −14 LUFS
Podcasts	Often around −16 LUFS

The exact requirements are always set by the specific channel or platform, so it is worth getting their technical spec before the final mix.

What the client receives

• Final mix: voice, music and effects in one broadcast-ready file.
• Clean voice: the processed voice without music, if your video editor prefers to mix it.
• Stems: voice, music and effects as separate tracks for flexibility.
• Format: for example WAV 48 kHz / 24-bit for video and broadcast, MP3 for the web.

Common mistakes

1. The music is louder than the voice and words get lost.
2. Over-processing makes the voice sound artificial and flat.
3. The file misses the loudness standard and the TV channel sends it back.
4. The mix is done on headphones or consumer speakers instead of studio monitors, and never checked on a phone, laptop or TV.

How we work

At Voice.ge, recording and post-production happen in one studio: we record on a Neumann U87, edit, clean up and mix with music on studio monitors, and prepare the file to the standard of the channel where it will air. Read more about the Neumann U87, commercial voiceover and voiceover pricing.

Good post-production goes unnoticed: listeners simply hear every word and remember your message.

See also: why sound is half the video.