Trim audio fades

A VO track has abrupt level drops and hard cutoffs at edit points. Smooth the audio by adding 20–40 ms fades at each edit, keep the overall VO length identical, and export a wav deliverable for mix with markers where fades were applied. Finish by 5 p.m. today.

Before I hand the VO to the mixer, make the fades transparent: show a short timeline snapshot at the top with before/after waveforms, list fade lengths applied at each cut, and flag any edits where fades altered syllable timing so the producer can decide if a shrink or crossfade is better.

I added 25 ms fades to clean up VO edits and now the last syllable of a line sounds clipped and unnatural. The producer, Omar, will notice in review tomorrow. I can't extend the VO or re-record. Should I lengthen the fades, use crossfades with the adjacent clip, or nudge the edit point slightly to preserve the syllable, and which will sound most natural in the final mix?

I repeatedly spend hours applying manual fades to VO edits and still get pop artifacts or altered timings, which frustrates producers and delays mixes. Should I adopt a specific fade length standard, train assistants to leave handles, or use a preset crossfade workflow to eliminate this rework across projects?