ADR/Looping on location vs. studio

M

mikewest13

Well-known member
Has anyone tried looping by going back to the location and trying to control the elements better? We shot in a park, and it was really humid so these damn cicada bugs were buzzing the whole time... needless to say the audio is ****ed.

The other part of the shoot took place at an industrial unit with an industrial sized AC unit nearby, same outcome.

It's a short so I don't want to put too much money into it, but I don't want to toss it away either... Studio time can be pricey, and may put added pressure on the actors to hit their lines perfect as the time/dollars tick away.

What are your experiences with ADR?
 
If you can deaden or find a dead-enough room you could do ADR with a laptop and a portable audio interface, using the same mic you used on location. Create your own little studio!

It doesn't sound like it could get much worse than the production audio so why not have some fun fixing it?

I have used a "portable vocal booth" on many occasions, in less than perfect rooms, and once the audio was mixed properly, it would be hard for those not-in-the-know to tell it wasn't recorded in a pricey, dedicated facility.

Depending on your access to the talent, you could at least "try" and then see if something more involved is warranted.

I'm sure others here will have even better suggestions.
 
I have, on no budget films, done ADR in the wild. The plus side is if your space matches the feel of the location the ADR drops in pretty painlessly.

I've actually gone over to the no picture ADR mode now. It seems to work a lot better with inexperienced actors. Put the bits you need to ADR on a track, you play that and then they say their line. Since they are not trying to match their lips they actually get better sync, usually. The visuals just seem to distract and throw them off.
 
Noiz2 - I do agree that visuals can distract actors... plus it's not that hard to slice and dice the audio to make it fit if a few words are "off".

dialing_wand - I think I'm going to rule out the studio time, as it's just a short I did to scratch the itch I had to shoot again. I don't know whether to do it on location, like in a large open space, or in a quite room with a make shift portable sound booth.

How did you make yours? Just a padded box with the mic in the middle?

If I did it in the open space, I'd have the portable sound booth with the mic in it, then a seperate recorder, likely the H4N outside the box also recording, then mix the two together for a dry and location sounding ADR mix.
 
I believe what Noiz2 is suggesting is that ADR be recorded in a room or space live in order to try and match the acoustical space of the original location. IE without some kind of "vocal booth."

There is the padded box with a mic in the middle, big sound blanket behind talent method.

I use a combination of the blanket behind and a commercial portable vocal booth (not the sE Reflextion filter - stay away!) from a company that specializes in room treatment. It's essentially a folding set of absorbers. It's not even close to being the end-all and be-all but it works in a pinch. I use this setup for voice over work since I do mostly documentary work - I like that work tracked as dry as humanly possible - but not boxy sounding like you get in some studio vocal booths that are too small and too dead.

There are others with vastly more experience in the actual ADR process who are better suited to answer you other questions.

Regarding construction of the vocal booth, if you wanted to do it yourself you could create your own from some burlap sacks and a couple of sheets of OC-703 or OC-705 and they would be just as effective as any you could purchase. Not pretty, but effective.
 
What was wrong with the audio? I've recorded dialogue with insects and it came out fine. Also, why did you choose a location that was inappropriate for half your product?

mikewest13 said:
Has anyone tried looping by going back to the location and trying to control the elements better? We shot in a park, and it was really humid so these damn cicada bugs were buzzing the whole time... needless to say the audio is poo pooed.

The other part of the shoot took place at an industrial unit with an industrial sized AC unit nearby, same outcome.

It's a short so I don't want to put too much money into it, but I don't want to toss it away either... Studio time can be pricey, and may put added pressure on the actors to hit their lines perfect as the time/dollars tick away.

What are your experiences with ADR?
Click to expand...
 
In iZotope RX (now RX2 for 250.00) you can select the bugs and lower their volume. Same with an AC unit. You can really do some seemingly magical stuff to clean up a track, and the price of the software is often cheaper than the cost of re-shooting, or ADR.

It seems like there is no audio at the beginning, but watch the whole thing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=im2b--e7xCA

RX2
http://www.izotope.com/products/audio/rx/

Awesome software that can save your butt.
 
You only have the "Denoiser" part? If you have the full RX: Try making a new file (so you don't destroy your original). Then open it up in stand alone mode. You should see the orange audio spectrum. You will see a band where the bugs are happening.

• Open up the gain control (Shift+6).
• Select the area where the bugs happen.
• Set the gain to -3db.
• Hit "G" to apply.
• If that's not enough, try again.

Now, if the bugs happen as one peep here, one peep there, you use "Spectral Repair" and be on the "Attenuate" tab.

• Select the peep.
• Hit "S" to remove the one peep.

You use the "Before/After Weighting" slider to select an area where the peep isn't happening, then when you apply it will just remove only the peep but keep whatever else is happening. Using the denoiser is for things like tape hiss.
 
I was going to ask what happened .. bugs huh .. when scouting locations find someone nearby and call them on the morning before you head out, usually a weather/wind check. Read from a checklist in case of a late night. If a line goes south, just re record asap or after the take reposition the shotgun with the rear to the nuisance and rerecord.

Failing that we head for the pub.

Cheers.
 
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