Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1546135
C I N E M A A U D I O S O C I E T Y. O R G 55 Why would someone choose the dubbed version over the original with subtitles? For animation specifically, Serge points out that "It's clear. Everything is manufactured from the start—all the backgrounds, the effects—so it's a lot easier to dub into other languages while maintaining sonic consistency." That ease, however, comes with higher expectations. Certainly, lip sync is more demanding than it used to be. Clients and audiences are more aware—the bar is being raised continuously. We want to make sure that we're ahead of the audience, of course, and get the sync right. However, we need to remember that it's still localization—it will probably never be "perfect," but we work to get it the best possible. "Sometimes I tweak sync, sometimes I split tracks for perspective, like an editor. We just do whatever we need to do to make the experience better," reveals Serge. However, it's not only the dubbed dialogue that changes; the whole session architecture and the M&E's change, too, because of the nature of production sound and its own sonic and technical characteristics and aesthetics. Recording qualities, noise floor, acoustic properties, and other aspects define the sonic qualities of production sound. These tend to be more controlled for dubbing in a sound recording stage environment. "There tends to be more panning in many forms of animation. It depends entirely on the project, but when characters have few human constraints, they can fly around the room, and often it's being tracked panning- wise. We have Atmos and surround, so why not? We're not constrained either," adds Serge. Not All Animation Is Equal In recent years, I've had the opportunity to work on some English-dubbing mixing, and one of the main takeaways is that each genre must be honored—there are aesthetics and conventions for different genres within animation. Anime, for example. I remember the first anime mix I did—I sent it to the director. It was a great mix, and he acknowledged it, but he told me: "Hey, it sounds great, well balanced, warm, dynamic, it really does, but it does not sound quite like anime." It was an interesting discovery for me. There are different paradigms with what the audiences expect. For instance, for Japanese anime, they like it brighter, with mid-frequencies cutting across, and they like to detail all the words. Russia France Germany Spain Italy