Benefits of ADR
There are no truly controlled environments in which you can make a film. Even studio sets have ambient noise like the buzzing of cell phones and the clatter of a boom microphone. Movies filmed on location have even more noise to deal with, like traffic, crowds, and overhead airplanes.
Sometimes directors decide in post-production to change the dialogue in its entirety for artful purposes. Either they don’t like the vocal effect that came out of the filming, or they literally decide to change the verbiage, perhaps adding a line or accommodating an actor’s perfect improvisation. All this is possible using ADR.
While sound editors are magical people and have some serious tricks up their sleeves when it comes to intrusive noise, sometimes a director just has to re-record dialogue – especially when the scene is otherwise perfect and cannot be re-shot.
ADR’s challenges
ADR is a highly specialized technology that requires talented mixers and editors to match recorded dialogue perfectly with the video. It’s expensive and time-consuming. Not unlike Photoshopping an image, it’s best to have the excellent raw material so you need fewer tweaks. It’s important to factor in the projected costs of ADR when setting a budget before filming.
Further, film acting is a talent that is separate from voiceover work. You can compare ADR with it like when you’re filming in noisy, naturalistic settings, like New Yor,k which affects casting decisions.
The nitty-gritty of ADR in film
At the beginning of a session, the sound mixer cues the video up to a frame where the actors can prepare to get back into the role. The sound mixer records – and re-records – the actor’s voiceover.
After you record the new dialogue, you must integrate it with the video in post-production. Sound editors generally use Avid software’s Pro Tools to begin a project. Adobe Premiere also has a simple-to-use ADR feature for those with a lower budget.
There is a difference between ADR for live-action films versus animated films. When actors do voiceover work for animation, they perform the initial takes in a sound studio with a perfect microphone and acoustics. Replacing errors or recapturing their dialogue for whatever reason is simpler, as the raw piece is already so crisp.
Also, the same actor is in the same soundstage for the edits, using the same high-quality equipment and talented mixers. That way, the audio quality matches perfectly with the initial recording.
This video expands upon the nuances of ADR in animated versus feature films and pre-recorded television.
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