Actors in tiny boxes

Here’s just one of the cool exchanges that took place online recently. Actor Mark Atteberry (The Shield, Dexter, 24) made an online post about an ADR session that sparked some intriguing comments, some of which you might already know, others you might not. Some names have been omitted for sake of privacy.

Mark Atteberry Just finished doing some ADR. Nothing like trying to duplicate your on-set performance when you’re in a tiny soundproof box. Who said acting’s easy?

Actor 1 ADR is murder. It’s part of the job, but I can’t stand it. It is what it is.

Friend Splain please…for all of us not in the entertainment biz what is ADR? I have an idea but not really sure.

Jeff Bartsch Seriously. Just not easy to do well.

Actor 2 i love ADR. It’s the only time the control freak producers and directors let us see our work before they screen it or air it. And I lurves me a sneak peek.

Actor 2 ADR is Automatic Dialogue Replacement…also known as looping. Basically, think Ashlee Simpson fake singing over her own song – but in reverse…we re-voice our performance on film because for whatever reason, the sound was bad when we shot it. So we re-record – basically re-act in voice… standing in a sound booth. And they replace the original recording with the looped stuff. What makes it hard is syncing your in-booth performance to match your already filmed mouth in motion…while still maintaining the correct emotional tone and quality of your voice so that it matches the film. And we usually have to do this weeks or months AFTER the initial performance.

[Jeff note: some also refer to it as “Additional Dialogue Replacement”. FYI.]

Jill D’Aubery I was an ADR editor for a number of years and it isn’t easy for an actor!!! The best loopers I worked with had the attitude that this “is the last chance I have to get it right.” The actors who simply could not manage it were the ones who assumed the ADR editor was out to destroy their performance. And there are many reasons to loop dialogue…”Manions of America” took place during the potato famine in Ireland in 1845, but a great deal of it was shot with the sound of cars, busses, motorcycles, airplanes, etc. over the dialogue and that just wouldn’t work! “Manions” was Pierce Brosnon’s first American work, and he was in just about every scene of that 6-hour production. We spent a whole week in New York looping every day and he was intent on learning the process and doing it right. And he was terrific!!! To this day he is one of my most favorite actors as far as looping goes.

Mark Atteberry Wow, look how smart my friends are! One little addition to this whole diatribe… generally ADR refers to session where the actors re-voice the dialogue they did on set, as was discussed above. Looping generally refers to what “Looping Groups” do. Looping groups fill in the ambient sounds of each scene. There are many aspects to this work. For example crowd noises, etc. If you shoot a restaurant scene, you need the sound of diners. Normally the extras in that scene are silent and the sound is added later. Looper also add announcements, like intercom pages at an airport, hospital, etc. Loopers also add the “efforts.” For example in a fight scene it is almost impossible to get good sound since the actors can’t be mic’ed well. So, loopers have to add their grunts and groans later. Loopers also provide breathing sounds if they are necessary. And on occasion loopers will revoice an actor who had a terrible voice or bad accent. I was in a looping group for years and loved every second of it.

To be continued…