coldRead 4+

Almost perfect

This app is honestly such a saving grace for those needing a reader or want to practice lines, BUT Sometimes the audio is glitchy when you try to record, where it will cut some portions out. And there’s no options to choose to keep those portions in, you can choose to re-record but those problems may arise again.

Another thing, when you try to take a video of your scene with the other voice playing, the mic will mute your audio, so when you watch it back all the white noise is gone, making it sound edited. (Not good for self tapes for submission)

With all things considered, even with these issues, I think this is an app definitely worth getting for aspiring actors. It lets you practice with the audio records WHILE recording a video of you. This was always an issue for me since finding a reader can be difficult, and for me personally, i’m picky with who I’d like to read for me. Not to mention, finding a reader last minute reader can be difficult.

Best line learning tool I’ve ever used! (Professional Actor)

This is a genius invention that has made line learning such a seamless process for me. It allows for hands-free line learning experience, through which my voice triggers the “reader” lines via a “cue word” feature. If I mess up the line, and don’t say the final cue word, the reader’s line is not triggered. This causes me to learn lines with more accuracy! One user mentioned that sometimes the cue word feature glitches (e.g. you have to repeat the cue word sometimes). I would say that having to occasionally repeat a cue word is a much simpler thing to do than having to break character to press a button or do something manual on my phone. Also, because of the cue word feature, I am not constrained to a pre-determined interval of silence within which to say my line. I can take as long as I need with the line as long as I finish with the cue word! This genius app developer has somehow managed to replicate the experience of a live rehearsal with a scene partner digitally — it’s not always going to be perfect, obviously, because it’s an app. I’ve been acting professionally for 8 years and have been involved in film/theatre for 16 years. It’s the best line learning tool I’ve ever used. Highly recommend!

Developer Response ,

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
The reason developers we able to replicate the experience of a live rehearsal is because this app is truly created by a working actor. Many apps for actors offer everything but the thing actors actually need - to start memorizing and rehearsing as soon as they open that audition email from their agent. The excitement hits and all they want to do is GET READY. This is a business tool, not a game. 
Your review inspires us to do even better and even work harder. Really grateful. 
Please email us if you have any questions at support@coldreadapp.com.

“Almost” perfect!

I’m gonna start with my issue, because everything else is perfect. This app records lines inconsistently. It’s like when you record your lines for the “reader” it cancels out the white noise, but doesn’t do the same for your recording voice. So why is this an issue? Well when you record an audition, you have 2 options, to use the version where it mutes you when the reader reads, snd then unmutes you on your turn again. This provides a VERY clear voice for the reader. However even if you record everything the same way, it feels very unnatural because it cuts out the white noise. So it sounds very edited and take you out of it. But if you do option 2, it doesn’t mute you, but records the speakerphone version of the audio which also sounds terrible..

SIMPLE FIX! It should record audio fir the reader the same way it does for you when you audition. That way when it mutes you, it doesn’t sound so artificial.

Pros: everything else. The way you can record both lines of dialogue and just listen on repeat. Or mute one or the other to practice the lines. The multiple options such as voice recognizing the last word to move to the next piece of dialogue. Like this is the best app ever for learning lines. If they fixed the audio for recording it would never be matched by anyone.

Developer Response ,

We hear you. The lines are recorded in the same fashion, but when you self-tape you are much further from the phone than when you record the lines, and this creates natural static or hum in the video when you speak. We got creative and addressed this issue by adding the “Match your room ambience” feature. So by default, you will have 2 tapes saved. One is unedited and the other one is run through our algorithm trying to even out the audio. If you'd like to try this please reach out directly to matt@coldreadapp.com and mention your review and username you used. We will provide you with the promo code so you can test it out for free. We look forward to hearing from you. Thank you so much for taking the time to write a review. We work hard daily to make coldRead even better and user's feedback is much appreciated.