Sound Design - Post - Music

A.D.R.

 

A.D.R. stands for "Automated" or "Automatic" Dialogue Replacement.  However, a more appropriate definition would be "Additional Dialogue Recording" as this is a more accurate title.  

 

Dialogue 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.

 

Today, 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. This allows both the actor and the director to fix or improve the performance as well as the quality of the sound. In some extreme cases, the performance can be drastically changed; even the voice of the actor can be replaced with another (usually only for minor characters).

 

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 feel of a scene.

 

Ambience or Atmosphere

 

Ambience pertains to the pervading atmosphere of a place. (Often more of a psychological, rather than technical description).

 

Ambience is commonly used as a synonym for ambient sound or background sound. Ambient sound consists of noises present in the environment.

 

In film and video sound production the term "ambience" usually means the background sound accompanying a scene.

 

Background sounds can be either: source footage using sound present in the original production recording (i.e. room tone); or deliberately added sound-effects that provide an acoustic space around the rest of the dialog and on-screen action.

 

Sometimes added ambience is not so straight-forward. Other sounds (like animal noises, vehicles, or synthetic sounds) can be added and combined to create more emotional and distinctive atmospheres.

 

Ambience helps establish the scene and works editorially to support the picture editing by, for example, staying constant across a picture cut to indicate to the audience that no change of space has occurred, but rather only a simple picture edit. Conversely, if ambience changes abruptly at a picture cut, an indication is made to listener that the scene also has changed.

 

Foley

 

The term Foley is named after Jack Foley, working for Universal Studios who was the first sound editor to add live sound effects to film for the musical "Show Boat" in 1929.

 

Foley artists create live sound effects in real-time with the action of the picture. Foleying is an excellent means of supplying the subtle sounds that production mics often miss. The rustling of clothing and the squeak of a saddle when a rider mounts his horse give a scene a touch of realism that is difficult to provide using other effects methods. The good Foley artist must "become" the actor with whom they are synching effects or the sounds will lack the necessary realism to be convincing.

 

Foley artists must often use creative methods to create sounds by combining other sounds. A bug squish might be comprised of crushing celery, and squishing a wet paper towel.

 

The foley crew will include the artist or "walker," who makes the sound, and a technician or two to record and mix it.A foley stage often appear to be storage areas for the studio's unwanted junk. Metal laundry tubs are filled to the brim with metal trays, tin pie plates, empty soda cans, hubcaps, bedpans, knives, forks and broken staple guns. These "crash" tubs are used for anything from comedy crashes to adding presence (brightness and naturalness) to something as serious as a car crash.

 

Embedded in the floor are "foley pits" that contain different surfaces (gravel, tile, concrete, etc.) used in combination with different shoes for the production of all types of footsteps.

 

Layback or Re-stripe

 

Transfer of the finished audio mix back onto the video edit master. Somtimes this includes creating "stems" where the different elements (narration, dialogue, music, and effects) are split up on separate tracks; yet the final mix levels are maintained. In addition, other mix versions may be created including surround (5.1) LCRS, & stereo; as well as international versions.

 

Re-recording

 

The process of mixing together all the separate elements created for the film (dialogue, sound effects, music etc.) and "re-recording" them to another set of audio tracks that become the final mixed soundtrack.

 

Room Tone

 

A location´s "aural fingerprint" - basically what the room would sound like if you were the only person in it, and were holding your breath.

 

Each room has a distinct presence of subtle sounds created by the movement of air particles in a particular volume. A microphone placed in two different empty rooms will produce different room tone for each. Sometimes even the time of day may have an effect on room tone, so location sound recordists tend to record room tone as often as possible. Usually before breaks, and on each day of recording.

 

Room tone is used to match the production sound track so that it may be intercut with the dialogue track and provide a continuous-sounding background.

 

Room tone may smooth out edit points from location dialogue and give a feeling of life when added to sound recorded in a "deadened" studio.

 

Sound Designer

 

Originally coined by Walter Murch while creating the soundtrack to "Apocalypse Now", this title describes the person responsible for the development and augmentation of all soundtrack material, or a significant portion thereof, and is intimately connected with the director in bringing the sound and picture together.

 

Occasionally, it is used to refer to a person who is responsible for creating unique sounds or sound elements which are incorporated into a soundtrack.

 

Stock or Royalty-Free Music

 

This music usually comes from a library of pre-written music, owned by the studio or producer. There is a one-time fee paid when the library is purchased and in most cases the music can be used over and over without paying additional fees.

 

Some special circumstances arise where additional royalties must be paid. Consult a lawyer or royalty collection agency for questions or further information.

 

Surround Sound

 

Surround sound refers to the use of multiple audio tracks to envelop the audience, making them feel like they're in the middle of the action. The surround sound movie soundtrack allows the audience to hear sounds coming from all around them, and plays a large part in realizing what movie makers call "suspended disbelief".

 

"Suspended disbelief" is a term used to describe how people can become completely captivated by the movie experience and are no longer aware they are in a theatre or in their own home.

 

True surround sound formats rely on dedicated speakers that physically surround the audience. There is one center speaker which carries most of the dialog (since the actors usually speak while on-screen), and much of the on-screen sound effects. There are left and right front speakers that carry the stereo elements of the soundtrack (music and sound effects); and may carry parts of the dialog (when the director wants to intentionally move the source of the dialog to either side). There is a pair of surround sound speakers that is placed to the side (and slightly above) the audience to provide the surround sound and ambient effects. Finally, a subwoofer is used to reproduce the low and very low frequency sounds, (those that are felt more than heard).

 

Surround formats include:

 

•original LCRS: Left-Centre-Right-Surround. An older, four-channel encoding process where the surround component does not allow for left-right movement. Sound is sent equally to the rear surround speakers.

 

•Dolby Digital (formerly AC-3): The standard for home-theatre sound and DVD-Video. It is also part of the emerging HDTV (High-Definition) standard. This format supports up to 5.1 channels of audio (where the .1 represents the low frequencies handled by the subwoofer). Although fewer channels can still be claimed as Dolby Digital, North American DVDs require at least 2 channels (stereo).

 

•DTS Digital Surround: A competing format to Dolby Digital, it is available in some movie theatres, and as an optional soundtrack on some DVD-Video movies. However, DTS is not used by HDTV or digital satellite broadcasting. The DTS format uses a higher data-rate than Dolby Digital, offering better sound quality; but this consumes more of a DVD-Video's storage capacity.

 

•ES, EX, 5.1, 6.1 & 7.1: New formats are emerging offering additional speaker placement behind the audience. Either a single speaker, or a left-right pair are added at the rear to allow 360° of sound movement. These formats work really well with 3-D projection technologies to emerse the audience in a realistic environment.

 

•Dolby Atmos:  The ultimate in surround sound.  Still only available in select theatres this offers 128 discreet audio tracks, and up to 64 individual speakers for the ultimate in surround sound placement and control.

 

Walla

 

A term used to describe the murmur of a crowd in the background. Walla is often used to fill in background sound in order to add realism to a location.

 

The word walla was created in the old radio days when they needed the sound of a crowd in the background. They found if several people simply repeated "walla, walla, walla, walla" it sounded like people talking. The audience did not really hear the words, just the buzz of voices.

 

Today the walla is created by a group of actors (usually called a "Loop Group" or "ADR Group") who use real words and real conversations. The walla actors come prepared. They have been informed of the period and locale of the film and have researched the local jargon and geography so that the background dialogue will be authentic. The material is mostly improvised. Group walla has to be edited very skillfully so that it does not sound artificially placed.

 

It is usually the ADR supervisor who works with the walla group. At this point of post-production, the director might need to be on the scoring stage with the music composer, or in the cutting room for opticals.

 

The sounds coming from a radio or loud speaker are mostly written and recorded by the ADR group. This because If in production they use a real radio or TV program then they will have the problem of getting legal clearances and perhaps paying fees.

 

There is no group sound recorded on the production sound-track. The extras are told not to say anything (or to converse in a very quiet whisper) in order to allow a clean recording of the main dialogue.