where to ADR
- Thread starter 908media
- Start date
I'm thinking of doing some ADR in my car! Driving out to the center of a large cemetery, turning the engine off and roll windows up or down, depending which sounds better! The upolstered ceiling, floors, seats and walls, with some reflective glass, some rolled up or down, might do the trick. I've read of some doing this, but I havent tried!
Jeremy Ordan
Major Contributor
ADR can be done in several locations.
The poor man's sound booth is a car with the windows rolled up. The more upholstery in the car the better to cut down on the reflection.
I have done it closets filled with clothes and this works great because the clothes eat the reflection.
Finally, just rent a sound booth or get to know someone who has their own studio. Putting an ad up on craigslist can work wonders, plus if someone owns their own studio then you can work with protools which is fun and educational to say the least.
Wow, it's been a while since I've posted in audio, kinda sort missed you guys, but not really.
The poor man's sound booth is a car with the windows rolled up. The more upholstery in the car the better to cut down on the reflection.
I have done it closets filled with clothes and this works great because the clothes eat the reflection.
Finally, just rent a sound booth or get to know someone who has their own studio. Putting an ad up on craigslist can work wonders, plus if someone owns their own studio then you can work with protools which is fun and educational to say the least.
Wow, it's been a while since I've posted in audio, kinda sort missed you guys, but not really.
wabbit
Evil has Ears
:nads:Jeremy Ordan said:
Same to you Jeremy
Backseat of an automobile makes a great quick and dirty place to do wild lines. ADR would be tricky as hell. Assuming you would be using a laptop to loop the lines and record, the fan would be noisy and it would probably get uncomfortable after awhile.
A quiet closet full of clothes or a poor man's booth made with soft flats or hanging blankets would work well. Your space will need to be quiet and keep the computer in another room.
Good luck
The key to ADR is about matching - so you need to make sure you can provide your talent with a big enough screen so they can see their mouth. I can always tell when ADR was done on a project using a small monitor - it sort of matches but is always off. I would even sacrifice a little background noise in favor of a bigger screen.
And, unless you are in a completely dead room, don't forget to get tone for the ADR studio, you may need to add it in to the tone taken on set to get a cleaner match.
Phil
And, unless you are in a completely dead room, don't forget to get tone for the ADR studio, you may need to add it in to the tone taken on set to get a cleaner match.
Phil
Here's a couple suggestions for recording ADR (and any other vocals) at home.
Find a reasonably small space, either a bathroom or a closet is ideal.
Deaden it (you're not going to be able to match the reverb from the location audio until you go into post, so just make sure you have no nasty reflections.
Simple way to deaden a space that I've used before, is get a sleeping bag. Hang it inside out on the wall that you're talent will be facing. Make sure to cover the entire wall, including the corners. This should eat up alot of what your talent will throw at it. You may also want to cover the wall behind the talent with another sleeping bag, if available.
For the monitor, (or the music stand if you're doing singing) you want to place it so your talent can see it without moving their mouth off the mic. Ideally, place it slightly off center of them, angled slightly. And if you can, try to get an LCD screen for your monitor, because the surface of an LCD doesn't reflect noise as much as the curved glass surface to a monitor.
Other suggestions, use the same mic as you used for location audio. Try to make sure your talent isn't rustling paper (scripts or lyric sheets) while you're recording. And take your time with it, ADR can be a bit of a pain, but the last thing you want is a bunch of sound that seems like it was recorded in a studio and not on set.
-Steve
Find a reasonably small space, either a bathroom or a closet is ideal.
Deaden it (you're not going to be able to match the reverb from the location audio until you go into post, so just make sure you have no nasty reflections.
Simple way to deaden a space that I've used before, is get a sleeping bag. Hang it inside out on the wall that you're talent will be facing. Make sure to cover the entire wall, including the corners. This should eat up alot of what your talent will throw at it. You may also want to cover the wall behind the talent with another sleeping bag, if available.
For the monitor, (or the music stand if you're doing singing) you want to place it so your talent can see it without moving their mouth off the mic. Ideally, place it slightly off center of them, angled slightly. And if you can, try to get an LCD screen for your monitor, because the surface of an LCD doesn't reflect noise as much as the curved glass surface to a monitor.
Other suggestions, use the same mic as you used for location audio. Try to make sure your talent isn't rustling paper (scripts or lyric sheets) while you're recording. And take your time with it, ADR can be a bit of a pain, but the last thing you want is a bunch of sound that seems like it was recorded in a studio and not on set.
-Steve
Matthew Bennett
Well-known member
I just did a massive 'ghetto' ADR session using a long shotgun ( a no-no but it worked out) inside a little blanket booth. I covered every single surface, walls, corners and ceiling with heavy blankets. I didn't cover the floor, that probably would have reduced reflections even further.
The trick is definitely to eliminate any hard surface from your capture area. Make everything soft!
Take the time to listen to any ambient noise no matter how small and work to get it out of your space, computer hard drive fans being the biggest offenders. I used a laptop (iBook) and it didn't give off any noise at all.
take your time, focus, and try to get every line reading in tempo every time. Be especially focused on the length of time it takes the actor to say something, they will invariably stretch out the line because they are more relaxed in the darkness and comfort of the booth. If your scratch track is peppy, then get then to read fast and peppy!
Remember you can use VocAlign to help you tighten any soft readings, but don't depend on it. I've been using the stand alone version of VocAlign recently and it's a godsend, I would literally be lost without it.
The trick is definitely to eliminate any hard surface from your capture area. Make everything soft!
Take the time to listen to any ambient noise no matter how small and work to get it out of your space, computer hard drive fans being the biggest offenders. I used a laptop (iBook) and it didn't give off any noise at all.
take your time, focus, and try to get every line reading in tempo every time. Be especially focused on the length of time it takes the actor to say something, they will invariably stretch out the line because they are more relaxed in the darkness and comfort of the booth. If your scratch track is peppy, then get then to read fast and peppy!
Remember you can use VocAlign to help you tighten any soft readings, but don't depend on it. I've been using the stand alone version of VocAlign recently and it's a godsend, I would literally be lost without it.
