CineMontage

Winter 2017

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50 CINEMONTAGE / Q1 2017 even as late as 1989 (see Figure 4). A few months earlier, on the West Coast, Ryder Sound Services was the first to install MTE's "electronic looping system" in the Hollywood post- production community. A large ad appeared in the May 6, 1969, issue of Daily Variety announcing that Ryder's "Reverse-O-Matic" system was open for business (see Figure 5). According to Leo Chaloukian, then vice president of Ryder Sound, the first producer to use the system was Roger Corman. Two days later, another ad from Ryder Sound appeared in Daily Variety, also touting its new Reverse-O-Matic loop-free system, but this one led off with: "Ryder Sound Offers Automatic Dialogue Replacement System Called Reverse-O- Matic." This ad is evidence that by May 1969, the term "Automatic Dialogue Replacement" was already a familiar one in Hollywood. April 1970 saw Popelka and MTE receive a Class II Scientific-Technical Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for their "development of an electronically controlled looping system." By the end of that year, Glen Glenn Sound purchased the MTE system for itself and, on January 19, 1971, took out an ad in Daily Variety announcing that it had two stages equipped for Automatic Dialogue Replacement, with a third to be ready in the very near future. What's most interesting about the ad is the inclusion of the following: "And remember, we know more about what ADR can do because Glen Glenn Sound invented the Automatic Dialogue Replacement system" (see Figure 6). But no matter what name was given to the system by various sound facilities (Electronic Post Sync, Reverse-O-Matic, No-Loops), in 1970 Hollywood the process was called Automatic Dialogue Replacement or ADR (my emphasis). The 1970s saw the adoption of ADR systems throughout the industry. A press release from October 30, 1972, in Variety announced, "Todd- AO Corp....completed installation of an automatic dialogue replacement system and Foley stage in a 'completely modernized studio.'" Just a few months later, Goldwyn Studios opened its Gordon E. Sawyer sound facility on January 25, 1973. Not only did it receive substantial coverage in Daily Variety, but the March 1973 issue of American Cinematographer ran a lengthy article describing the new stages therein: re-recording, sound effects recording (what we now call Foley) and ADR. According to the article, "Incorporating the RCA AL-70 Automated Dialog [sic] Replacement system, the need for cutting and splicing film loops is eliminated. Its electronics counter system, computer logic and interlock motor system permits more precise and faster recording, with the added advantage of versatility... After pre-set footages have been programmed, actuation of the sequential push buttons — 'rehearse,' 'record' and 'play' — automatically control the total recording and monitoring functions." (See Figure 7.) There it is: Automated Dialogue Replacement (my emphasis); the term first appeared in print in connection with Goldwyn Sound in 1973. From that time onward, the "A" in ADR had two meanings: "automatic" and "automated," with "automated" eventually winning the hearts and minds of ADR editors and mixers. Another line in the description of the Goldwyn ADR system piqued this writer's curiosity: "An automatic electronic pacer tone is provided which is electronically adjustable to the actor's pace." What was that all about? Abandonment of looping continued apace as sound facilities upgraded their post-sync Figure 6: Ad for Glen Glenn Super Sound, Daily Variety, January 1971, courtesy of AMPAS Margaret Herrick Library CONTINUED ON PAGE 52

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