I'll often do a pickup or two of a sentence I feel didn't come out right while I'm doing the read. Then I just whack the bad ones out and leave the remaining good one and voila! it's done.

But there's balance between editing and just doing it over again. A 60 second read takes you 60 seconds to repeat and nail, where slicing and dicing between several different takes to find the best bits and pieces can take 10-20 minutes. Sometimes it's better to just redo it from the top.

Good advice.

So true! Just this morning I pieced together a paragraph of puzzle pieces that culminated in a "satisfactory" read. There is a balance, though. I have often found that the first take was the best when reviewing/editing. And the time factor can turn against you quickly. I recently got offered a second book from an author I'm working with and while it's very gratifying, I feel like it's because I read his book 20 times: Once before recording, and 19 times in the booth!

Perfect take: "Thank you. We'll send the check."

That's usually the way it works out for me. But yet, you hit the nail on the head in the audio vs video analogy. So very true. Such sage advice. Thanks Jim. You've confirmed my thoughts. I too ask to do one more take after we got through the whole script and now feel I know where the pitfalls are and feel I can do just one more. Always get a kick out of it when a producer/client says, "Why didn't you do that the first time?"

Great advice! When I first started I did drive myself nuts trying to get the perfect take - all in one take. Now I keep my takes limited and will pick up just the spots that may need helpc- and do an ABC version. Constructing one solid take with the puzzle pieces, or VO surgery, as Bob Bergen puts it, can be fun and even, dare I say...magical? :0) Perfectionists can have some solace, and the client is happy. Win-win.

Interesting. Good stuff, Jim. I've done commercial VO for over forty years, just started doing audio books in my new home studio and only have finished five to date. I have, on occasion, done a one-take job, but the interesting thing is, even though the client and director loved it...I always feel there's a better one inside somewhere. So, I ask, politely, "May I do another...just for grins?"

On the other foot, there have been times (especially when there are more than two representing the client listening in) when I did it over and over. I think that we all know it will begin to get stale after a bit.

I found a little trick that seemed to work when the client and or director don't really know what they want...After a particular good take...to me, I will announce right after I finish the last line, "You can print that sonofabitch." It usually works.