What Does Your Client Want? Tuesday Tech Tip – Studio Workflow

Too frequently, we end up negotiating with ourselves when it comes to deliverables. This need to please likely comes from a good place: we want to deliver our best to our client. However, it can lead us to “fix” things which may already be good enough.

I’m going to suggest a radical solution: talk to your client. Before you step into the booth.

It’s surprising how many people neglect this step. In my experience, every client wants something different. You may have a project requiring only simple, unedited audio, while another may need files split, debreathed, compressed and Normalized to specific levels. Take the time to confirm what you will be providing. You don’t want to provide extensive editing for a project that only requires your raw takes. There’s no need to guess on this stuff.

Create a simple checklist or or more detailed email template which outlines delivery options. You’ll likely find that a significant number of clients won’t know exactly what to ask. Having a “default” deliverable – “I’ll provide a single mono WAV file in 24 bit/48kHz with errors removed…” lets them coordinate with any other “downstream” production team members. It also shows them you know your stuff.

Voiceover Project Preflight Checklist

Key project delivery specs may include:

• File type
• Sample rate
• “Resolution” or “Quality” of your audio (Bit Depth)
• Peak amplitude (maximum level of a single wave cycle)
• Overall Loudness / Average Loudness
• How much editing will be required
• File Splitting and Labeling
• Adding specific amounts of header or tail
• Whether you will be Debreathing the audio
• How you will be delivering final audio to the client

Not all of these will matter for each client. Mentioning them early may prevent extra work later on. Some of the above (for example, a client request for Debreathing the audio) may require you to update your project fee due to the added production time needed.

Whether we are outsourcing the tech end of the project or handling it ourselves, it is our job to understand how to achieve these things.

Of course, all these deliverable specs are good things to save in your client notes – that way you can quickly confirm things will be “the same as last time.” Then we can simply deliver the best read. That’s a much better place to focus our energies.

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