{"id":1762,"date":"2022-11-30T12:40:15","date_gmt":"2022-11-30T12:40:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/?p=1762"},"modified":"2024-01-05T17:23:56","modified_gmt":"2024-01-05T17:23:56","slug":"navigating-self-taping-when-you-have-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/news-and-advice\/the-essentials\/navigating-self-taping-when-you-have-kids\/","title":{"rendered":"Navigating Self-taping When You Have Kids"},"content":{"rendered":"

Five tips for performer parents or guardians who need to self-tape whilst caring for kids or babies.<\/h3>\n

Self-tapes have opened actors up to a world of possibility, but they can become pretty complicated when you add small children into the mix. Love them or loathe them, self-tapes are here to stay but if you\u2019re a parent or guardian of small children, that idea needn\u2019t fill you with dread.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m an actor, and so is my partner. As the number of self-tape requests grew, so did our family and\u00a0I\u2019ve had to learn some nifty tricks to navigate taping in a busy household of toddlers and children.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re new to self-taping around little people, here are a few tips to help you out.<\/p>\n

1. Tape when your baby sleeps<\/h4>\n

It\u2019s an obvious one but nine times out of 10, it\u2019s easier to do a self-tape when your little ones are asleep.\u00a0If you have a baby under one, you may be able to self-tape in the daytime while they\u2019re napping. With older children, you may have to wait until bedtime but meanwhile, you can learn your lines and set your kit up so once the kids are fast asleep, you\u2019re free to focus on getting a great tape done in as little time as possible.<\/p>\n

2. Prepare quiet food for them to munch on<\/h4>\n

Weaned babies and toddlers can be easily distracted by what I call \u2018quiet food\u2019. Think little pieces of fruit like chopped grapes and blueberries. Whilst they\u2019re busy trying to pick their snack up and wrangle it into their mouth behind the camera, you can be in front of it, recording your tape*. Pick the snack wisely though as your microphone\u00a0will<\/em>\u00a0pick up background sounds, so the quieter the food is to eat, the better it is for your self-tape sound.<\/p>\n

Casting Directors aren\u2019t listening to check you have a 100% clear background, they\u2019re there to see your performance and your interpretation of the character. It doesn\u2019t matter if your little one makes a slight sound or two on the recording, as long as your performance can clearly be seen and heard. If there are some obvious baby noises between the spoken lines you can edit your self-tape afterwards.<\/p>\n

My method to clean up sound on my tapes is to:<\/p>\n