In this episode we'll look at the world
of ADR or Automatic Dialogue Replacement
or in some quarters...
automatic dialogue replacement
ADR is a method of replacing dialogue
that has a problem with it.
We use it a lot in TV and film
for many reasons,
the piece of dialogue is not easily understood
or there's too much extraneous noise on it,
or even to help the storyline along.
So what's the difference between ADR and dubbing?
Well, if I'm shooting my project in English,
naturally, any other dialogue
that I'm recording for the project
will be in that language.
In dubbing you're changing the project
from one language to another,
even though the recording methods
and the studio setup are the same for both.
Let's look at a live action setup.
In this scene you'll see two people talking
both have lav mics and a boom.
During the dialogue edit
the engineer has noticed three things;
there's the noise of a passing car out of shot
over one of the lines of dialogue.
We need a clean version.
Two the actors delivered some lines
and they're not very coherent,
so we'll need to replace those ["I won;t be late"]
and finally when the scene
has been cut all together
we realized that another line
would help the story along.
At this stage of the project
there's no time or budget
to shoot the scene again.
Firstly recording the lines;
the setup is pretty much the same
as dubbing, you'll need an ADR package
and as I mentioned before
I'd always use Steinberg Nuendo for ease of use,
it covers all the bases.
In the latest version of Da Vinci
there's an ADR section in the Fairlight tab
though I haven't had a chance to play with it.
When you've lined up your problem queue
you need to try and replicate the recording
on the day,
we need to cue the actor
when the line is coming up in the synchronized picture.
Some Studios use a thing called pips
which is a series of 3 pips
that sound at a regular rate.
["You be careful now"]
The actor talks on the fourth pip
which isn't actually there.
They've taken their timing from the first three.
It's an aural away of teeing up the line
for the actor
and it's handy when they want to be looking
at their script
and not the picture.
Another method of cueing up the actor
is a streamer, either in hardware or software,
there's different types;
a count down, a line across the screen
or two lines meeting in the middle.
The hardware versions of these
boxes are exceptionally expensive
but now there are a few software versions.
One thing I love
about Nuendo's ADR section
is that it gives you a built-in
streamer and dialogue overlay
right onto the actors screen
and that's at no extra cost.
Traditionally people call the recording process
of ADR looping,
looping,
looping and this is when
you take your section of video
containing the offending dialogue
and loop it. It gives the actor
a chance to get the timing
of the line and a few chances
to tweak the read to the best delivery possible.
["You be careful now"]
If you just can't get the timing
of your cue perfect
then you should look at another great tool
in the latest version Nuendo
called Audio Align Tool.
It takes your new ADR line
and magically aligns it
up to your original recording.
You should have a play
it's really very good.
When you have all your takes done per actor,
don't forget to place the line
in the situation or scenario
you need to consider the room reverb,
the ambience and the timbre of the recordings
are all super important in making your ADR
seamless and not distracting your viewer.
This is one of the skills to perfecting your craft
to simply not make it obvious.
I'm Keith Alexander and you've been watching
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