Dialogue Editing

Organizing ADR Paperwork 255
the shot. These special lines are recorded at the same time as the full-mix
ADR, and their code names carry the suffi x “TV.”
Organizing ADR Paperwork
There’s a lot to ADR: microphone selection and placement, room acoustics,
dealing with actors, and knowing when you have the best take. Fortunately,
the technical issues are rarely your concern—that’s what the ADR recording
engineer is for. But you’re still left with the huge responsibility of managing
the vast amount of information generated by the ADR process. An ADR
recording session is a very busy, reasonably expensive event. In the studio or
control room are the talent (who easily may prefer not to be there), the director
(who’s probably agitated for one reason or another), perhaps the supervising
sound editor, at least one engineer, and of course you, on whose shoulders
all of this rests.
Getting through an ADR session without blowing it or “blowing a fuse”
requires outstanding organization. By carefully spotting the ADR cues and
organizing the data in a way that’s comfortable for the production company,
the engineers, and the talent, you’ll streamline the session. When you clearly
have your act together, the talent will be more relaxed and you’ll have greater
power. Being able to control a session is vital because you—more than
anyone—know what you need to complete the dialogue. If you’ve earned the
respect of the actors and the engineer, you’ll be able to fi ght for those extra
takes or those few minutes beyond quitting time.
Remain aware of everyone’s reactions to each take so that you can later decide
just how hard to work to get the line right. Never forget that by the end of
ADR recording you’ll have accumulated thousands of takes. Remember, too,
that you’ll have very little time to edit the ADR into your dialogue. Except in
extraordinary cases you have to decide in-session which is the best take (or
the takes you’ll combine to create a good performance). That’s why great note
taking is critical.
Paperwork Overview
Here’s a summary of the paperwork you’ll need to prepare, both before and
during the ADR session. Later we’ll look at each form in more detail, so don’t
worry about the nitty-gritty yet.
Before the recording session. Compile the ADR calls, breaking down each
long line into manageable lengths and precisely noting its start and
stop times. From this you create a master ADR cue sheet (sometimes