ADR or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Dub the Line
Hello Friends! **tap, tap** Is this thing on...?
Last month we had the pleasure of doing ADR sessions with our sound designers, Matt & Mark, over at their studio. The purpose of these sessions was to re-record poor quality lines from the shoot, add additional lines to clarify a few key moments, get some general crowd walla (background vocals), and to work with Matt & Mark to develop the sound and vocal quality of our werewolves. Check out the video above for a little peek into what some of it was like!
There are a number of reasons a recording from on set in the field could turn out to be unusable; a background noise, actors talking over each other, the rustle of clothing against a microphone. We usually record with at least two microphones in every shot to mitigate some of these risks. And even though our shoot was fast and furious, most of our original sound turned out to work great or was salvageable for the final edit!
In many ways, editing is another form of rewriting (we've probably said that a few dozen times!). Plenty of lines and moments hit the cutting room floor as we put the show together in the video editing process. But there were also several moments in Wayward where we noted where we would have to add new lines to on screen characters that weren't in the original script. We did this by having characters say those lines who are off screen or who have their back to camera, so it isn't too obvious. This happens all the time on big TV shows and movies. And once you start to notice how often this technique is used, it's hard to unsee. It's a curse! Sorry!!!!
These ADR sessions have been just one part of our audio post-production process. Another interesting facet that we've touched on before has been experimenting with werewolf voices. Matt & Mark have played with different audio filters and pitching methods, one of which is having different actors record their lines at a 20% faster speed. This way, when played at normal speed, we get a lower pitched sound without having to process the voice too much. That technique paired with various re-records to alter certain performance qualities will make them sound more...er....werewolf-y??
After many months of technical and hands on post production, it was an absolute blast to kick back and work with our actors in a creative capacity, while Matt & Mark engineered on ProTools. These guys are true industry professionals and it is such a pleasure working with them. Some of our performers we haven't seen in over a year!! And reuniting with them was delightful. It's thrilling how much more we're all going to be seeing of each other over the next several months as we put together podcast and roll out the show.
Hope you enjoy the highlights video, which gives a quick overview of the ADR process and features some of the incredible cast members who came in to lend their voices. Look out for another update soon!
Best,
TCB
