How to dub a video on your phone
It works, and it is how most people make their first dub. But three traps ruin a take, and all three are avoidable once you know the rule.
The rule that decides everything: earphones
If you remember one thing, make it this. Without earphones, your dub is lost before you start.
The reason is mechanical: if the video plays through the phone speaker, the microphone records it along with your voice. You end up with the character's original voice glued to yours in the same file, and there is no way to separate them afterwards. The take is worthless.
With earphones, the sound only reaches your ears. The microphone records you alone.
| Setup | Usable? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Wired earphones with microphone | Ideal | No delay, mic close to your mouth |
| Wired earphones without microphone | Fine | The phone mic is enough if you stay close |
| Bluetooth earphones | Passable | 100 to 200 ms delay to correct afterwards |
| Phone speaker | Unusable | The original voice ends up in your take |
The Bluetooth trap
Wireless earphones introduce a delay between picture and sound, typically one to two tenths of a second. You hear the line late, you align to that lateness, and your whole recording ends up consistently shifted.
It is not fatal: a constant offset is fixed with a single setting afterwards, since it is identical from start to finish. But if you have wired earphones within reach, use them and save yourself the adjustment.
Hold the phone in landscape
The rythmo band scrolls horizontally: that is its very nature, text moving towards a fixed marker. In portrait it is squeezed into a phone's width and you only see words arrive at the last second.
In landscape you anticipate. And anticipating is exactly what lets you land on time, because your voice always lags your eye.
Placement beats gear
A furnished room
Bedroom with a bed, curtains, a wardrobe. Avoid bathrooms, kitchens and empty rooms: the reverb they add can never be removed.
About twenty centimetres
Neither glued to your mouth, which puffs and clips, nor a metre away, which captures the whole room.
Slightly off to the side
Speak past the microphone rather than straight into it: p and b sounds send a blast of air that cracks in the recording.
Turn off notifications. One notification mid take and it is ruined. Airplane mode or focus mode, every time.
When to move to a computer
A phone is perfectly fine to discover the craft and for short scenes. You will hit its limits on three things:
- Readability. On a dense scene, the rythmo band is far more comfortable on a big screen.
- Corrections. Fixing text or reassigning a line to another character is much easier with a mouse.
- Long scenes. Beyond two minutes and several characters, a computer saves considerable time.
In short: start on your phone without hesitation, move to a computer when you want to polish.
Try it from your phoneFrequently asked
Can you really dub on a phone?
Yes, with earphones. Without them, the original voice ends up in your recording.
Wired or Bluetooth?
Wired ideally: Bluetooth adds a one to two tenths of a second delay.
Why landscape?
Because the rythmo band scrolls horizontally and you need to see words coming to anticipate.
Is the phone microphone enough?
Often yes. The room you record in matters more than the microphone.
How do you fix a constant offset?
A global offset setting shifts the whole voice at once, since the gap is the same throughout.
Sources
On Bluetooth latency: Bluetooth.
Written by the Dubba team · Published 5 August 2026