Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/426326
www.postmagazine.com 37 POST NOVEMBER 2014 rom recording guerilla-style Foley to custom tailoring an ADR ses- sion to fi t an actor's individual style, ad- vancements in technology have unques- tionably improved workfl ows and given us greater fl exibility to get the job done. For good or bad, we're seeing more non-traditional approaches to ADR and Foley. Improved audio tools have made it possible to overcome obstacles previous- ly considered impossible, like signifi cantly reducing reverb on a location recording, or the ability to use low-quality source recordings in a fi nal mix. Now, if only technology could improve budgets ... POSTWORKS NEW YORK — PAUL FUREDI Re-recording mixer Paul Furedi at PostWorks New York (www.postworks. com) often mixes reality TV series that use 'non-traditional' ADR because, he explains, "It's diffi cult to approach ADR properly when the budget and sched- ule do not allow for getting someone to mark what needs to be recorded, hiring someone to loop it, booking the talent for the studio, and getting all the material delivered on time." Instead, Furedi (who's mixed a variety of reality series, includ- ing Hardcore Pawn, Black Ink Crew and Chopped on the Food Network) receives fi les labeled ADR that weren't recorded cleanly in a studio to picture. They may be wild lines recorded on-set, or even on an iPhone. But that doesn't stop Furedi. "The tools we have available are fantastic. I've been using the iZotope RX 4 Advanced for a few weeks now and I am blown away by its capabilities. It's already changed the way I approach certain problems, largely with matching dialogue." iZotope's RX audio restoration toolkit has become a staple in the audio post industry. The latest version, the RX 4 Advanced, off ers many new and power- ful features. In terms of ADR, Furedi fi nds the EQ Match, Ambience Match, Dere- verb, Denoise and Declip features to be particularly useful when working with the run-and-gun type recordings delivered to the mix stage. Furedi is currently working on a series that combines reality-style location scenes, where the camera is captur- ing whatever happens, with footage of sit-down interviews recorded in a quiet, controlled environment. Occasionally, a character is recorded in that controlled environment, using a very good sound- ing mic, and Furedi needs to place those lines within the reality-style scenes. "We have to make it match as best we can. It's an EQ issue and it's an ambience issue," explains Furedi. Before the RX 4, Furedi searched fi les to fi nd room tone to use under the ADR line, added some reverb, and hoped for the best. He says, "We did fairly well with that but the EQ Match in RX 4 has changed our approach." Now Furedi samples a segment of the reality-style location recording using the RX 4's EQ Match feature. He applies the resulting EQ fi lter to the non-traditional ADR recorded at the interview location. "It matches fairly well. It's an amazing thing," adds Furedi. To go along with EQ Match, RX 4 also features Ambience Match that allows Furedi to sample the noise fl oor — the noise under the dia- logue — extract just that noise from the clip, and then place that noise under the EQ-matched line. "I still use a little bit of reverb on the EQ-matched line because it's not recorded in a reverberant space. It becomes a done thing in a matter of a minute," he says. Non-traditional ADR is common on the reality series Furedi mixes, and im- proved audio tools help him spend less time cleaning dialogue and painstakingly EQing lines to make them sound as if they happened on location. "When the deadline is the deadline and the budget is the budget, having a tool like the RX 4 in my back pocket lets me spend more time on the creative and 'beauty' part of the project than I do on the technical as- pects. It's defi nitely a tool for the times." Even though signifi cant improvements in audio post tools give mixers better options to get the job done, Furedi feels there's always going to be a place for traditional ADR. He's recorded hours of high-quality ADR in his career, working with great actors, producers and direc- tors. "The ADR process is to get a good performance. You're working toward a high goal and I think that is still — and will always be — a priority. There will always be a place for that in the busi- ness. But in a world where TV projects are happening on streamlined budgets, there's going to be a push to get things done more cost eff ectively, faster with lower-quality sources. There will always be room for the high-quality recordings, but we have to be able to work with the run-and-gun recordings too." SONY PICTURES STUDIOS — HOWARD LONDON ADR mixer Howard London mans the helm in ADR 1 at Sony Pictures Studios (www.sonypictures.com/studios) in Cul- ver City, CA. He's worked on countless Hollywood hits, the most recent being The Equalizer, Fury and Goosebumps. London notes the basic job of ADR is unchanged, the actors are asked to listen and ostensibly perform their scenes as BY JENNIFER WALDEN F PostWorks' Paul Furedi (right) relies on iZotope's RX 4 Advanced to help match reverbs, room tones and noise fl oors when working on reality TV programming. ADR & FOLEY