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Dialogue Editing Workflow: Must-Have Tools & Plugins

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Summary: Dialogue Editing Workflow — Tools & Plugins (Auto subtitles)

The speaker explains a daily dialogue editing workflow focused on editing/correcting the content (not mixing). He emphasizes that dialogue editing is crucial audio post-production: getting the right takes/timing and removing artifacts makes later mixing much easier.

Key distinction: Dialogue Editing vs. Dialogue Mixing

  • Dialogue editing = timeline/content accuracy (removing pops/ticks, cleaning edits, creating seamless room tone)

  • Dialogue mixing = EQ/compression/noise reduction after the content is already correct

He argues many people skip editing and jump straight to mixing, lowering final quality.

Affiliate / Noise Reduction tools mentioned

  • Cedar Audio (affiliate link)
    • Uses Cedar Screen Vox for real-time noise reduction on his streaming mic (fan noise)
    • Also uses Cedar during dialogue mixes, and even for Foley/music
  • iZotope DNS
    • Used for mixing (explicitly not for editing)

Platform / production context

  • He positions himself as a dialogue specialist with experience on major union projects
  • He says he’s cutting dialogue, not doing full mixing, and works in high-budget film/TV environments

Must-have workflow philosophy (“toolbox” vs plugin shopping)

He downplays buying lots of plugins and instead highlights core “bread-and-butter” tools and workflow speed:

  • Use a handful of tools you use constantly
  • Don’t spend money repeatedly on every noise reduction vendor

Hardware tools for dialogue editing

1) Headphones (critical for detecting artifacts)

He recommends headphones for hearing high-frequency details (ticks, lav rustle). Examples mentioned:

  • Sennheiser HD280 Pro (closed-back isolation)
  • Beyerdynamic DT880 Pro
  • Alo Audio SX4 (recently added, “flat,” comfortable)

2) Studio monitors + room tuning (critical monitoring)

  • Uses a stereo pair + center channel arrangement
  • Emphasizes:
    • Room treatment/calibration is more important than plugins
    • Avoid boosted frequencies that mask ticks
  • Suggests DIY treatment (e.g., Home Depot insulation/2x4s) rather than expensive acoustic products

3) Ergonomics for speed / reliability

  • Trackball mouse (Kensington expert mouse) or a quality mouse to reduce wear
  • Keyboard (Corsair K55) and general ergonomics:
    • chair, sit/stand desk considerations

4) Workflow reliability for streaming

  • Mentions Pro Tools “OX IO” audio dropouts (about once every ~5 minutes)
  • Switches to hardware connection for stability using an Audient interface headphone output

Software / workflow speed: Keyboard Maestro (or similar)

Keyboard Maestro

He uses Keyboard Maestro to keep hands on keyboard/mouse and run repetitive tasks quickly. Mapped shortcuts include:

  • Option C: declick (based on mouse position / on-screen pixel targeting)
  • Option S: send selection to iZotope
  • Option R: render in iZotope

Core idea: faster cleanup when handling thousands of micro-artifacts.

Alternative mentioned (Windows)

  • Auto Hotkey as a replacement for Keyboard Maestro

Core Pro Tools + iZotope editing tools (main plugins)

iZotope (described as the “most used tool”)

He calls iZotope the equivalent of an “impact wrench” for dialogue editing:

  • Main strength: 2D spectral editing (time + frequency), like “Photoshop for audio”

Workflow preference

  • Zoom in and declick frame-by-frame / subframe where possible (higher quality than batch processing)
  • When needed: use RX Connect / iZotope spectral repair, with copy/paste limited to problem regions (not replacing entire areas) to avoid degrading good audio

iZotope d-click behavior (modules)

  • Mentions that iZotope d-click tools use transient/healing concepts and can include ambience handling depending on module/settings

Ambience-related tools in RX / iZotope

He highlights that the hardest part of dialogue editing is often not clicks/pops, but finding/building room tone fill for smooth edits.

Tools discussed:

  • Ambience Match (imperfect; can produce hiss/over-bright ambience, especially when misreading breaths)
  • Undertone (less effective than his next choice)
  • iZotope RX (Ambience generation) contrasted with Absent/Absentia DX (see below)

Absentia DX (fill generation + alt-finding)

He names Absentia DX (sometimes auto-transcribed as “absent DX/absentia”) as:

  • #2 most used (and possibly #1 for fill work)

Fill creation

  • Often better than RX ambience match for his workflow (he claims ~80% improvement)
  • Can create ambience even when there isn’t enough natural room tone available (e.g., limited handles)

ALT finding (alternate take workflow)

ALT workflow concept:

  • When the best visual take has poor audio, editors create an alternate take by syncing better audio from another take

Absentia DX supports:

  • Transcription of multitrack audio into a searchable database
  • Searching by character/scene/take/project/channel
  • “Spotting” results back into Pro Tools

He compares speed versus tools like Sound Miner / Soundly.

Clarification

  • Absentia DX ≠ Kraken (Kraken is for assemblies/other tasks; Absentia DX is his alt-finder + fill generator)

Auto Align Post 2 (phase alignment for multi-mic)

For scenes with multiple mics (boom, lavs, plant mics), he recommends:

  • Auto Align Post 2 to align tracks so phase relationships add rather than subtract

Key point:

  • Aligning boom to lav(s) (or vice versa) prevents comb filtering and improves combined sound

Additional mention:

  • Potentially useful beyond dialogue (e.g., drum alignment such as kick vs overheads/snare)

Workflow detail:

  • Uses sidechain/reference track selection and renders alignment

“Back of toolbox” tools mentioned

Chameleon / Chameleon-like reverb tools

Used occasionally for:

  • Matching reverb on wide vs close shots
  • ADR/Foley matching
  • Creating tail/ring-out when the edit ends

Soroa Pitch & Time Pro (pitch/tempo changing)

Used for ADR/alt syncing when high-quality pitch shifting is required:

  • He claims it’s best-in-market for vocal pitch/tempo changes
  • Mentions ~$600 price
  • Describes it as transparent for syncing

Pro Tools + iZotope shortcuts

He strongly recommends customizing keyboard shortcuts inside iZotope and Pro Tools:

  • Goal: turn cleanup into rapid, repeatable actions (nearly “game-like” declicking)
  • In iZotope:
    • Assign shortcuts so spectral repair actions can be triggered without hunting menus

Dialogue editing workflow tips (non-plugin process)

Clip gain first (before detailed editing)

He typically:

  1. calibrates monitoring/room
  2. applies clip gain so tracks are at a consistent level

Warns that many new editors under-clip gain (audio too quiet), hiding subtle issues.

Crossfades / zero-crossing checks

  • If a click occurs, he checks zero crossing behavior
  • If cycling through produces no pop, he often doesn’t add tiny crossfades

Minimal touching for best quality

He emphasizes “touch as little as possible”:

  • Over-processing (big batch declicking) can degrade quality
  • Manual precision yields more “real” dialogue (not robotic)

ALT workflow recap (as described)

  • Identify the visual take you want
  • Replace audio by syncing alternate recorded dialogue
  • Use Absentia DX:
    • Transcribe → search → spot candidate alt takes into Pro Tools

Positioned as much faster than manual searching.

Compressor plugin mentioned (by speaker)

He promotes his own plugin: Autocompressor

  • Designed for transparent automatic compression
  • Features: lift, compression, trim output, limiter safety
  • Uses automatic makeup gain to get VO/dialogue to reference faster than manual clip gain
  • Mentions it’s used on OX for leveling

Speaker’s “starting from scratch” recommendations (ranking)

If forced to pick only a few:

  1. iZotope (for 2D spectral editing power)
  2. Absentia DX (for fill generation / ambience)
  3. Auto Align Post 2 (for multi-mic alignment)

Main speakers / sources

  • Main speaker: Tom (dialogue editor; referenced as “Tom,” name appears on his own plugin and referenced via the channel)
  • Product/tool sources mentioned:
    • iZotope (RX Connect / Spectral editing / d-click)
    • Absentia DX
    • Auto Align Post 2
    • Cedar Audio
    • Audient (interface)
    • Pro Tools
    • Keyboard Maestro (automation)
    • Sennheiser / Beyerdynamic / Alo Audio (headphones)
    • Kensington (trackball)
    • Corsair (keyboard)
    • JBL (monitors)

Original video