The Main Danger When Removing Umms

It is possible, after removing a particular Umm, that the resultant dialogue feels unnaturally rushed at the exact spot where the umm was previously. Especially if the Umm comes after an in-breath.

So, if you have:

[in-breath] “Umm” [Start of sentence]

…after removing the umm, the start of the sentence may seem to come in too quickly and unnaturally.

Solution: Instead of highlighting the Umm and deleting it, highlight it and make that section silent. Then remove about 80% of the silence, leaving about 20% of the silence there. Now, the edit feels much more natural 😉 Also, depending on the specific Umm you’re removing, you can play with those 80/20 numbers and use 70/30 or 60/40 instead – whatever sound best.

Note: A similar problem can arise when the Umm comes before a breath as well, but the solution is the same.

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