My first ADR experience...
 

First let me thank Douglas Spotted Eagle for his tutorial for using Vegas for ADR. It helped us in our time of need. Really appreciate it.

Everything went fine. My sound engineer had the perfect mic (don't remember the name of it but it was pro quality). We set up the moving blankets, hushed the central air and got busy.

Seeing the footage, hearing it in your head phones and your own voice resonating in your head made for dead on takes.

I've read posts on other boards where people have a horrible fear and loathing for ADR but I'm hear to tell you it was a little on the fun side and the sound we got was beautiful.

We learned a lot but here's a couple of quick tips for those starting out.

Do not let the talent repeat a take one after the other. This is a sure way to loose the emotion. Take a break between takes when you see this happening.

Don't expect perfection in a hurry. It will come, some are slower than others. You have to relax, make sure your talent is relaxed and just let it flow.

I can't express how wonderful it is not to sweat location sound any longer. This point alone convinces me that doing ADR as a practice session is a good idea.

Thanks DVi board, I love this place.

Hey Dennis,

Do you have a link for the ADR tutorial?

Thanks,

Ken

What does "ADR" stand for?

Automated Dialog Replacement.

Some claim it means "Audio Dialog Replacement" but this is not correct.

Is there a mike specifically suited for ADR?

Jim

Jim--

In my opinion, it's probably best to use the same mic used during production if you'll be mixing location audio with ADR... Different mics mixed within a single scene will obviously give you mixed results. If you need to ADR an entire scene, however, your best bet is probably a large-diaphragm condensor like the EV re-20 or an AT2020 (the latter being much more affordable and yet still a great-sounding mic).

It's up in the air as to what ADR really stands for. It's also referred to as "Additional Dialogue Recording", which I think makes more sense, as there's nothing really automated about the dubbing process.

Hmm....could be, but I highly doubt it. when it was invented/created, it was all done with loops that automatically ran. I've never heard "additional dialogue recording" before WIKI's begain; the ADR houses always have referred to it as "Automated" since long, long before any of us were born....
A quick email to an ADR mixer at Perpetual Ocean was responded to with "Well, I'm an Automated Dialog Replacement mixer, but I guess it could mean something else".

Called "Post-sync" and "dubbing" in the past as well, early audio engineers such as James Stewart referred to it as "Automatic Dialog Replacement" and it certainly was an automated reprint of the voice with the equipment of the era.
Either way, while there are probably a number of meanings that might be assigned to the acronym, "Automated Dialog Replacement" is the significantly more prominent definition, rightlfully or wrongfully used.

Dennis,
Glad to hear it all went so well. I've never done ADR before and have always been kind of stand-offish towards it (i.e., let's try to get it in production so we don't have to do ADR), so it's nice hearing from a first timer that it wasn't too bad.

You're not implying that Wiki's could spread misinformation are you? ;)


-A

when I first wrote that article, a guy sent me a very intense email explaining why I was wrong in calling ADR "Automatic/Automated Dialog Replacement" and went on and on about how it was sad that someone of my "calibre" could spread such misinformation.
I asked him for his source of "Additonal Dialog Recording" and he pointed me to a WIKI.
Same said WIKI had several incorrectly edited references to Marlon Brando that were taken out of a book written by a recordist that had worked with Brando a lot. Now, those same misquotes are found all over the web.

I like the idea, but is it really less stressful than recording sound on location? I wonder why big budget movies don't use it more.

Seun,
I'm don't really know if this is why big budget movies don't use ADR, but I heard a story about Richard Prior that may lend some insight...

Prior was working on the movie See No Evil, Hear No Evil and the production had wrapped. He had his money and was not interested in doing the ADR for the scenes where the audio needed reinforcing. So someone in the production brought Dave Coulier (the guy from Full House) in to impersonate Prior for the ADR. The producers brought in the execs to approve Dave Coulier doing the ADR. But they had to have the execs hear Coulier (and tell the execs it was Prior) before the execs saw that it was Coulier. The execs realized that if they were fooled, America would be too.

So, maybe wrangling talent is one reason big productions don't use ADR more.

Just my two bits...

Kevin

Dennis
 

Dennis, could you please clarify:

Are you saying that you prefer not loop the same section line of dialogue for the talent to record repeatedly (at all). Or are you just saying not to do it too many times, and to take a break if it seems to be a problem.

Thanks

BTW. I think we may have posted about the short films I'm working on earlier this spring, I'm just around the corner from you in Muskegon.

We shot 2 projects in a week. Used my FX1 with a brevis adapter.
both are in post right now
www.onestoreypictures.com

I'm right around the corner in muskegon