-
ADR tips???
95% of what I shoot is corporate video in a studio. We had an outdoor shoot today and of course…the wind had to show up, in a BIG way. We had a decent mic with a dead cat, but still – the audio can’t be salvaged. Luckily, it’s a very short spot, less than a minute. There were also VERY few lines, about 3 per actor.
I’m just put a rough cut of the video together and I need to do the ADR tomorrow. I have never done this, but here is my plan- I am open for suggestions!!!!
I’m going to export the video/bad audio and bring them into soundtrack pro. I have a good audio interface/condenser mic that I’ll be using for the new audio. I was planning on bringing the actors – one at a time- into the studio. I’ll give them headphones and have them watch the video while re-delivering their lines at the correct time.
Is there a better way to do this? Any tips from seasoned pros to help me avoid headaches I will probably encounter?
-
9 Replies
-
You can use the voice over tool directly in FCP.
It is easy to operate and you can get sync directly into the timeline.Rainer
-
I would suggest you take the bad audio and clean it up to reduce rumble and so you can hear it ok; it won’t matter that it isn’t broadcast quality yet.
Next:
Lay that into an ipod set to repeat one track, let them wear the ear buds and just keep repeating the original track into yuor mic, until they’ve got a good lock on it. A paper copy of the script in front of the mic will help them. I would not make them try to follow a lip synch on a screen unless they are trained actors; the few times I tried it the “pro” way, the talent just couldn’t get it. But listening to a loop of themselves, and repeating it until it’s a perfect imitation was easier. Just roll a mic on them while they try it.
-
Can I record from a firewire audio interface using this? I’ve never used the voiceover tool.
Brian
-
You can plug the mic directly into the mac, set in and out and try as long as its fine.
Rainer
-
You might want to look at Vocalign… Especially if your talent is not used to doing this.
https://www.synchroarts.com -
It is more comfortable to use a capure card (Aja or Blackmagic or similar) and a small audio mixer attached to it.
Rainer
-
Brian,
It’s not nearly as tough as one’s imagination or the others here make it seem, and there’s no reason you need to use any complicated recording to picture technique or even the VO Tool.
We used to record so-called “wild lines” all the time in the old days when we shot film, and it was at all uncommon to substitute them for the lines the actors spoke while moving through the scene and often hitting things, going off mic, or being stepped on by auto brakes, a siren, or a plane.
My simple 1, 2, 3 technique is as follows:
1) playback short pieces or phrases of the actor’s lines, one at a time.
2) have the actor repeat it five or six times with whatever nuances you or the director think are required for that section.
3) Go back and cut the best parts together, syncing to picture a word at a time where necessary.
You will find that the combination of multiple takes, nuanced direction, and sub-frame audio editing in FCP make believable sync really no big deal. Recreating the EQ of being outside might be a bit tough, but layering it some exterior ambience underneath will cover a multitude of EQ issues.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
EPK Colorist – UP IN THE AIR – nominated for six academy awards
A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.
-
And wear headphones this time.
-
This is called looping. And it might be the most effective way for you to
complete your ADR needs. It doesn’t take mad skills to complete it.
I’ve heard it called “the Poor man’s ADR”Dialog that cannot be salvaged from production tracks must be
re-recorded in a process called looping or ADR.Looping originally involved recording an actor who spoke lines in
sync to “loops” of the image which were played over and over along
with matching lengths of recording tape. ADR, though faster, is still
painstaking work.An actor watches the image repeatedly while listening to the original production track on headphones as a guide. The actor then re-performs each line to match the wording and lip movements. Actors vary in their ability to achieve sync and to recapture the emotional tone of their performance.
Marion Brando liked to loop because he didn’t like to
freeze a performance until he knows its final context.
(People have said that one reason he mumbles is to make the production sound
unusable so that he can make adjustments in looping.)ADR is usually considered a necessary evil but there are moments when looping can be used not just for technical reasons but to add new character or interpretation to a shot. Just by altering a few key words or phrases an actor can change the emotional bent on a scene.
-Nicholas Bierzonski
Senior Editor/DVD Author/Java Boy
http://www.finalfocusvideo.com
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up