Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1261193
M OT I O N P I CTU R E S O U N D E D I TO R S I 21 gets dicey, too. The sweet spot for consistent performance is between 1-6 pm, from my observations. Having a show with many actors in the UK allows me to do 6-9 am PDT sessions with good results, too. It is worth mentioning that I've had the best success running the communication method on a device separate from the device doing the recording. So if they are recording ADR on their iPhone, the Zoom meeting should be on an iPad or laptop. These things are not the best at sharing audio interface resources, so splitting up the work is more stable. The larger screen will be beneficial when watching picture, too, though that's secondary to clean recordings. Again, while you may have a workaround to get an external microphone to record in an app while also going out to zoom, the technical details to accomplish that may make your actor's eyes glaze over. Find that balance between effective and achievable. The nature of the performances needed (whispering, shouting, singing, etc.), the quantity of cues, combined with the talent's home- recording experience will drive which combination of equipment is best suited for an actor. Producers might be willing to assemble a home-recording kit that can be sent to the actors. You might be asked for gear recommendations, so prepare to do research. Keep in mind the balance between ease- of-use and quality. Some features making a mic easy to use also harm the quality for our needs. One example is Auto Level Control, which is great for live podcasts, but lousy for ADR. By the same token, the highest quality gear and recording setups are likely too technical for novices to master quickly enough for our purposes. OK, so you've had this bizarre remote ADR session with an actor in his trashed walk-in closet (anecdotally, the messier the closet, the better sounding the recordings are). Now what? Talk to the actor about how they can get the files to you. They may volunteer a method they already know, like Dropbox or WeTransfer, or they might not even know how to attach a voice memo to an email. Just roll with their level of comfort. From one actor, I've received upward of 30 individual emails with a single take attached to each. Guess what … that's OK. Whatever it takes. It's also OK that the actor had no idea how to label the recordings. It might be their street address and a number incrementing at the end. That's OK … you kept track on the cue sheet while recording, right? Maybe they said, "OK, take two," but didn't actually break recording. You're expecting more files than you got. That's OK, the lines are in there somewhere. You asked for mono 24-bit/ 48kHz wav. They sent you stereo 32-bit, 44.1kHz. Or maybe 16/44.1 .m4a. That's PROBABLY OK, but you'll have to convert and bring in to your DAW to be sure. Or like one actor that I work with, he can record in Garage Band, but can't export individual files. I just have him send me his Garage Band project and pull out the takes myself. You get to whip out your pro-audio Jiu-Jitsu and find out your tolerance for "less than ideal." If there is any doubt as to the suitability of the recordings, keep the actor on the line while you spot check a few files. It will be much easier to have them redo a line on the spot than to try to schedule another session at a later time. With regard to loop group, all of the components already mentioned still apply. The session itself is quite a bit more hectic with all voice actors together in the Zoom session, trying to perform together even though the inherent lag over the internet means they are receiving the streams at slightly different times. It is doable; just takes conceptualization of how the end product will come together. An upside to everyone on the session together is the ability for them to hear the energy and projection level of their fellow loopers. This creates a more cohesive track than if everyone were performing solo. Having each looper verbally slate each take is extremely important when it comes time to assemble multiple recordings into a single cue later on. Finally, do you even have the turnaround time in the show's schedule to get through all of this? Maybe that should be the first question. If you have the chance to mix in two days, but that hinges on getting 10 lines of outstanding ADR and you have yet to even do this with the actor as a test, I don't recommend booking the stage and crew time. It can take days to get a response from the actor's agent to even start the conversation about this process. "A vital component is simple communication during the session … the idea is to facilitate clear communication without bogging the talent down with technological roadblocks."