Crowd laughter can sound fake when the space, timing, or intensity does not match the shot. Use prompts that specify audience size, mic distance, and the shape of the laugh (instant burst, swell, or sustained bed). Then regenerate small variations to find a take with the right transient, room tone, and decay for your edit.
Pick the audience and energy
Start by choosing who is laughing and how hard. A small club reads as tighter and drier, while a theater audience carries more stereo width and a longer tail.
- Use words like small club, studio audience, or big theater
- Specify intensity: polite chuckle, warm laugh, rowdy roar
- Call out texture: scattered giggles, unified burst, uneven reactions
Match camera distance with room tone
Distance is what sells realism. Close laughs have more detail and less room, while distant laughs have softer transients and more reflections and ambience.
- Ask for close, mid, or distant perspective
- Mention room tone: dry, light reflections, or roomy
- Control stereo: narrow for TV, wide for theater shots
Shape timing: attack and decay
Comedy edits live and die on timing. Decide whether you need an instant hit that cuts off cleanly, or a laugh that ramps down naturally.
- Request fast attack for punchlines and reveals
- Use clean cutoff or hard stop for smash cuts
- Ask for natural decay when it needs to fade under dialogue
Avoid common laugh-track giveaways
Some details make laughter feel stock: pumping levels, obvious looping, or extra crowd noises that do not belong in the scene.
- Avoid clapping, whistles, and shouting unless you want them
- Ask for consistent loudness without heavy compression artifacts
- Request no looping feel and no abrupt repeated patterns
