Dialogue Editing

ADR Editing 279
When you’re piecing together a line from alternate takes, it’s best to sort out
one problem at a time. Otherwise, you’ll easily lose focus and fall victim to
the fantasy of quick fi xes. From the information provided by the waveform,
pick the most plausible candidates for the word you want to replace and listen
to each. Select the most likely candidate and edit it directly onto the buy take.
See how well this works. Next you must fi nd a way to splice the replacement
into your line.
Where to Edit
In one way or another, the sounds of every language consist of vowels and
consonants. Generally, vowels are created with an open vocal tract and consonants
are the result of some sort of constriction in the mouth or throat.
Understanding a bit about vowels and consonants can be helpful when you’re
trying to squeeze takes together to form a replacement sentence or when you
need to tighten or loosen a phrase.
For the most part, it’s the vowels that give you trouble. They’re usually longer
than consonants, so they have more opportunities to wreak havoc, and being
open they tend to be more tonal, more musical, than their percussive consonant
cousins. It can be frustratingly diffi cult to cut within vowels. In fact,
unless you’re totally without options, don’t try it. You’ll likely create a bump
since the complex tonal elements of the vowel won’t line up properly at your
cut. And if you try to smooth the edit with a crossfade, you’ll create a double
voice. Approach vowels as respected adversaries. Avoid them as best you can
and focus instead on consonants.
Most consonants are useful landmarks for lining up alternate takes against
a reference. Those like D, P, and T tend to show up quite clearly in a waveform,
so they’re ideal beacons for navigating through a sentence. The only
problem with short consonants is that they’re, well, short. The very attribute
that makes them useful for alignment lends them little fl exibility. You can’t
really stretch time by making a T sound longer. You can, however, play with
the space around it. Don’t be afraid to lose a tiny bit of time before a T or buy
a little more pause after a P. Just don’t expect to gain a lot of time.
Editing within Words If the vowels are too dangerous and the short consonants
are good as markers but not the least bit fl exible, where can you edit
within words to change the length of a sentence?
Cut in the pauses when possible. You can make up a lot of ground by
pulling a frame here and there from the spaces between words, but
there aren’t always real pauses in a sentence or it sounds unnatural
when you tamper with them. Be careful not to hurt the breaths.