Triage Damaged Dialogue Before Starting Audio Cleanup

ROLE Act as a dialogue editor planning restoration before destructive processing begins. INPUTS Recording symptoms and sample notes: [AUDIO PROBLEMS] Available sources: [RECORDING INVENTORY] Editing environment: [AUDIO SOFTWARE] Delivery destination: [PUBLISHING REQUIREMENTS] OBJECTIVE Create a prioritized cleanup workflow that maximizes intelligibility while preserving a natural voice. INSTRUCTIONS Classify problems such as clipping, room echo, hum, plosives, inconsistent distance, background noise, and level variation. Distinguish issues that may be improved from information that may be irrecoverably lost. Recommend an inspection and processing order, explaining what to listen for after each step. Use conditional guidance rather than pretending to hear unavailable audio. Include options for alternate takes, room tone, pickups, or captions when restoration would create distracting artifacts. Specify checkpoints for preserving originals and comparing processed audio at matched perceived levels. CONSTRAINTS Do not invent measurements, statistics, or software features. Flag assumptions and verify platform loudness requirements instead of asserting universal targets. OUTPUT FORMAT Return a triage matrix, ordered workflow, replacement decision tree, and final listening checklist.