BOSS Voces: Dubbing, ADR, and Audio Description

Do you know the difference between dubbing, ADR, walla walla, and looping? In this episode, Anne & Pilar cover it all. Since the pandemic, there has been a boom in content creation globally. Dubbing movies & TV shows into other languages, and creating audio descriptions for the visually impaired has made content much more accessible and given voice artists more work! Stay tuned for Pilar’s experience with voice dubbing + Anne’s tricks for lending your voice artistry to on-screen performances like a #VOBOSS.

>> It’s time to take your business to the next level, the BOSS level! These are the premiere Business Owner Strategies and Successes being utilized by the industry’s top talent today. Rock your business like a BOSS, a VO BOSS! Now let’s welcome your host, Anne Ganguzza.

Pilar: Hola, BOSS Voces. Bienvenidos al podcast, con Anne Ganguzza y Pilar Uribe.

Anne: Hey everyone. Welcome to the VO BOSS podcast. I'm your host Anne Ganguzza along with my very special guest cohost, Pilar Uribe. Pilar. How are you today?

Pilar: Hola, Anne. ¿Cómo estás?

Anne: Ah, tired. I am tired. Pilar. You know, why?

Pilar: Why?

Anne: Because I binged watched the entire season of "Succession" last night and ah, oh my gosh.

Pilar: It's so good.

Anne: So good.

Pilar: So many cliffhangers.

Anne: I know. Oh my gosh.

Pilar: Yeah. I loved it.

Anne: And I'll tell you what, sometimes I stay up later than my husband, so I'm always putting on subtitles. And when I put on subtitles, it makes me think of all these shows now that are coming out in streaming media, and dubbing, and ADR and all of these techniques that are coming out and really offering a lot of jobs these days to people in the VO industry. And I thought we should talk about dubbing and ADR for a little bit. What do you think?

Pilar: Yup. Dubbing is very close to my heart.

Anne: Oh my goodness, and it's just since the pandemic, just an explosion of so much content and media, and you have had some experience dubbing. I personally have not had much at all. I went to a training class on dubbing, but talk to me about dubbing because that's something I think you actively do, right?

Pilar: Yes. Yes. That's where I got started in voiceover.

Anne: Okay.

Pilar: I did like two series in Colombia. There were animated, but I actually cut my teeth on dubbing. Dubbing is a skill like any other, and it requires being a good actor.

Anne: Wait, back that truck up again and say that very important, right? When you watch dubbing shows and of course, what is the latest one? When people are talking about the quality of the dubbing, there is something that was recently released, and we don't have to name it, but there was talk about how the dubbing was not great. There was not great actors. So I think acting is so, so important to be a good dubbing actor.

Pilar: Well, if you want to see examples of bad dubbing, just go to the Godzilla movies.

Anne: Oh yeah.

Pilar: It's hysterical.

Anne: You're right.

Pilar: Those are so funny to watch. But since Netflix has -- and HBO as well and uh, and Amazon, since they have entered the marketplace, uh, you know, over the past couple of years, and when I started back in two thousand... I guess I started dubbing in 2010, Netflix, wasn't really doing that much. They've been doing more and more in HBO, and Netflix is just all over the place. They have so much content. So one of the things that they look for is, yes, are you a good actor? Because you have to be able to portray what is being said in whatever language it is, whether it's, you know, German or Spanish or Portuguese, you need to be able to portray those same emotions. So it's kind of like, 'cause I used to actually teach dubbing. It's kind of like, you're like a one man band stand. You remember those little, those figures of the monkey where they have --

Anne: Yes, they play the tambourine. They play the drums. Yeah, absolutely.

Pilar: All at the same time.

Anne: You have to do it all.

Pilar: It's kind of like being a drummer because if you look at a drummer, he's got one beat going in one arm, another beat going in the other arm, and he's got two different beats going in his, with his legs.

Anne: Yeah. So Pilar, just to back up just a little bit, I want to make sure that, because we are going to talk about both dubbing and ADR, what exactly is dubbing? Let's just clear up the definition.

Pilar: Yes. So dubbing is when you have got a telanovela, say, or a movie in Spanish, and they are speaking in Spanish. And they want you to put your voice onto that person's body basically so it sounds --

Anne: In another language.

Pilar: In another -- in English, in English. So if it's in Spanish, they want you to dub exactly what they are saying in Spanish into English.

Anne: Right. Or vice versa.

Pilar: Or vice versa.

Anne: Or any other language.

Pilar: Or any, 'cause it doesn't matter. I mean, I've dubbed in Chinese, from Chinese to English, German, Swedish. It depends on the project.

Anne: Do you dub mostly in English or in Spanish? Or both?

Pilar: I actually do both. Yeah. I do both. Yeah. I do more other languages to English because that's what the demand is, but I definitely do a lot of times English to Spanish.

Anne: Okay.

Pilar: So basically when you walk into the booth, and you are given a movie or an episode that is in whatever language it's going to be, and I will say this, just because I speak Spanish and French, that doesn't necessarily help you when you're dubbing. Sometimes it can actually be a hindrance because you're listening and you're going, wait a minute. They're not saying exactly what they're saying in English, so.

Anne: Ah, yeah. There's translation there.

Pilar: Yeah. You do not have to know the language that you're dubbing at all for anybody who has that kind of question.

Anne: We should clarify too, you said, when you walk into the studio. Now, this is typically done in a studio, right? It's not something that we can do remotely.

Pilar: Yeah. I would say when we went through the past two years, and everybody had to go inside, there was obviously, it was only remote. So I did a lot of things remotely, but ideally they want you to be in the same studio because you are recording with the same mic and in the same environment.

Anne: Got it. That makes sense.

Pilar: And that's when it makes it really, really makes a difference. So a lot of times they would send kits out. Studios would send kits. So everybody would have the same exact setup in their booth.

Anne: Got it. And you're talking about the same mic as what was recorded in the movie? Is that what you're talking about? Or --

Pilar: No, no, because this is voiceover. So, you know, whatever, whatever the movie is, you know, they have different mix for that. Although actually --

Anne: That's what I was thinking. Like they wanted to specify what kind of mic was being used. That's what I was.

Pilar: Yeah. But that was, you know, more so for, for just voiceover.

Anne: Got it.

Pilar: So what's ironic is that, you know, the Sennheiser, it was originally a mic used on sets, but generally for dubbing, you know, they have their own extremely high powered mics. I mean, I was in a session the other day, and I was standing very far away from the mic technically 'cause here I'm, you know, I'm standing pretty close to the mic, and that mic picks up everything. I mean that mic picks up a burp. That mic picks up a little breath, and it's, it's just amazing. So yeah, they generally want you to go into the studio, and so you get there, you walk in. And of course now with all the protocols, everything is, you know, sanitized and wiped down. And usually you're asked to bring your own headphones. You go in and you watch a piece of copy, and the dubbing director will explain. And there's also the engineer.

Anne: You mean you watch a video?

Pilar: Yeah. You watch a piece. Yeah. So you've got the mic in front of you. You've got the video. And so you're seeing it in the original language. So you get to see it -- now, here's the thing. Out here in LA, you actually get a dress rehearsal. The majority, I would say 99% of the time when I lived in Miami, I didn't get a dress rehearsal. It was just like --

Anne: Oh wow, go. That's tough.

Pilar: Get out of the stable and go. Yeah.

Anne: Because you have to match the lip.

Pilar: Right. And you don't know what's coming. So when you're doing a character, but because I was doing so much of it, what I learned to do is after like an episode or two, I would see what that actor's rhythms were. So then I could mimic and kind of go with her breaths and where she did sighs and where she stopped because I was always looking at her lips. But I also -- see, that's the thing. That's why I brought in the analogy of the drummer. So what are you doing when you dub? You are watching the screen. You are acting because you're doing what the other, what that character in front of you is doing. You are voicing, you're reading, and you're adding your own breaths. So you're also usually seeing the -- I mean, at least that, that was the case in Miami, not so much out here, but you're seeing the script for the first time.

Anne: Right, right.

Pilar: So you're doing all these things. You're employing more than one sense, and you're doing it without a dress rehearsal.

Anne: Wow.

Pilar: It's kind of intense.

Anne: That's a lot. And I remember my class was just like that. I mean, we did not even really know the copy that was coming up when it was coming up. And we had not really, we did not have a dress rehearsal, so it's a lot of things to do at once. And so what are the prerequisites for you as a voice actor that wants to get into dubbing? What sort of things should you do if you want to make this part of your career to get good at it?

Pilar: So the most important thing is listening, and observing, and putting yourself into that character's shoes for however long you are in the booth. So I played this character a while back, and it's out on Netflix now. And it's a terror series. It's literally terrifying. I said to my mom, listen, I'm going to give you the times that my character is there because I don't want you to see anything else because it's so terrifying. It's so, so scary.

Anne: Oh, I'm gonna assume that you just did this one and that you had a dress rehearsal. So you had an idea of what the whole show was about. Right? And I think that that helps, right?

Pilar: Well, rehearsal means you. Yeah. You get to see the scene, but you don't really know what you're getting into because you haven't seen the moments before. You're just looking at when you are speaking as a character.

Anne: Got it, got it.

Pilar: So it's up to you to --

Anne: Understand the vibe.

Pilar: And not just that, but that's what I mean by you really have to be completely on because you are looking and you're listening at the same time. You're evaluating what that character is doing at that moment and why --

Anne: What happened.

Pilar: -- are you doing it, right.

Anne: And what might've happened beforehand so you can act, right?

Pilar: Exactly. Yeah. And then you have to do it and you only get one dress rehearsal. So you have to be very acutely aware. You have to be present in the booth. So what they do is you'll do a scene on, they'll give you a pass of the entire scene and then you'll go back. You'll do another take or you'll do pick-ups. They do give you headphones. But if you have really good headphones, it's great to bring those with you. 'Cause you have to hear every nuance with that character -- where are they breathing?

Anne: Now, are they doing sentences at a time? Or just periods of time when this character is talking? Is there back and forth between dialogue from other characters?

Pilar: Oh yes, absolutely. Yes.

Anne: They will do an entire, let's say three minutes of the characters going back and forth? So you have to also watch the other character and then react. Right?

Pilar: Absolutely. Yes, exactly. And so here's the thing. Back in the day, I used to get pieces of paper, and then they switched to the monitor, and now there's this thing, that's, it's a band. And it was, I think it was invented actually in France, if I'm not mistaken. And it's a band that goes at the bottom of your screen, and most of the companies that I've worked for, the studios that I've worked for, they all use this. So it's a band, and it's in your specific color for that episode. So like my character, Anna, Anna's lines are going to be in green. They're going to have the highlight green. But then I'm also listening to the other characters and their lines are there as well.

Anne: But not in green, obviously.

Pilar: No, they're like in purple or whatever, but I have to be very aware of who's speaking when.

Anne: So you have to look at the bottom of the screen, which has the band. Plus you also have to understand where the lips are happening and when they're saying it, so you've got to go, you've got to look from the bottom of the screen to the lips.

Pilar: Yes, ma'am.

Anne: And so that is fast focusing I'm sure.

Pilar: Totally.

Anne: And total focus and it's got to be exhausting. I can't imagine like when you're doing a dubbing session, how long are you doing a dubbing session for? An hour, two hours, five hours?

Pilar: The standard time is two hours.

Anne: Okay. But that has got to be an exhausting two hours sometimes.

Pilar: It can be exhausting, but it's really exhilarating because you're in the booth, and I always stand.

Anne: I can't imagine sitting when you have to be that focused and on top of things.

Pilar: Exactly. Yeah, exactly. You have to use the whole body. But I rest, like when they're doing, when they're trying to decide between the dubbing director and the engineer, you know, do we do this? Do we do that? Um, and they're rewinding and they're trying to sync it up and everything. So, so that's when I can just take a little break, drink some water. They tend to be generally two hour sessions. I've done, you know, up to four. You know, it's, it's, it is work. It's a lot of work.

Anne: But so now that you have the band that's running on the screen, right, do you have a copy as well of the actual script at all in front of you?

Pilar: No, nope.

Anne: Because I remember when I took my class, I had both. I had the script that was down in front of me, but I also had to keep my eye on the screen as well and the lips of the actor that I was dubbing. So it was a lot, but when they were doing whatever work they needed to do in the studio, I was kind of looking at the script coming up next so I could get a little familiar with it.

Pilar: Yeah. It actually depends on the studio because there was a studio that did the paper. I don't know if they still do because you know, things have evolved in the past couple of years. It kind of depends. But sometimes you do, sometimes you do get a paper, which in a way is actually worse because you have to look farther down. I'd rather have it on the screen.

Anne: Yeah. Yeah. I agree.

Pilar: But whatever it is that you're doing, whether you have a piece of paper in your hand, or you're looking at it on a monitor, or you're looking at the stuff on one screen and the script on another screen, 'cause that also happens, whatever it is that you do, you have to learn to read quickly.

Anne: Yeah.

Pilar: And so you're basically constantly evaluating and looking at getting the information. So then you can spit it out --

Anne: Yeah, right.

Pilar: -- and then move on to the next moment that that character has.

Anne: So dubbing is going into the studio and having the band and checking the lip movement of the actor that you're replacing, right, that you're dubbing. Now what's looping then. So that's dubbing. What's looping then?

Pilar: Looping, technically it's called ADR, which is additional dialogue replacement. Like, so for example, let's say there is a scene where there are two people in a restaurant, and they're outside in a cafe, in a little restaurant cafe in New York. And you know, there are people going back and forth, and there are people walking on the street, and there are people inside. And then there's the person at the bar. All that noise, all that noise gets put in, in post. None of that is real because basically what they figured out, and sometimes you can get it, but there's so much incidental noise. So you're going to get a honking of a horn or somebody shouting that they can't control all those extra elements. So what they do is that they come back, and once the scene is done and it's ready -- or let's say the actress spoke really low. So she was looking at her food saying, "I don't love you anymore." So it's like, they didn't get that. They didn't get that from the mic, the boom that was hanging, you know, five feet above her. So the actors come back. So basically it's like background extra work but for voices.

Anne: Is that not also called Walla Walla?

Pilar: So Walla Walla is a type of ADR. Walla Walla is kind of like, you're just kinda like talking and it's like --

Anne: So many terms.

Pilar: -- rhubarb, peas, and carrots, rhubarb, peas, and carrots. This is what I used to do on stage. You know, when you, when you weren't speaking, but you had to look like you were talking sure. Then there's something called call-outs where you say -- so each character sits there and says, "hey, I'm going to the store. I'll see you later." And so it's like, you're literally having like a pretend conversation. And so ADR has, you know, so many different -- ADR has its own genres too.

Anne: So dubbing is not necessarily related to ADR and looping.

Pilar: ADR, I would say it's like a, it's like a third cousin, second or third cousin, because there are aspects of it. So for example, I did a movie last year, which came out, I guess it came out at Christmas? It was called "Eternals". It was a Marvel movie. And of course, you know, when you sign up for something like that, you sign NDAs up to an inch of your life, and you can't say anything. And so the only reason I'm saying it is because I asked them --

Anne: Now you can.

Pilar: - I asked them, yeah. Now you can, and now it's out. And so, you know, the person who hired me was like, yeah, it's okay. 'Cause I always check. And that's something that's really important. Whatever it is that you're doing, when it's like dubbing or, or ADR, they're going to make you sign NDAs. So in fact, at one studio, they make you put your cell phone in a little box before you walk in and lock it up because they don't want any kind of --

Anne: That makes sense.

Pilar: You know, they bought the rights, it's their property.

Anne: Absolutely.

Pilar: And so to have some actors sit there and go, oh, I was at this studio and I was dubbing look at me is just, I mean, come on. You know, you've just ruined all their hard work. So --

Anne: Exactly.

Pilar: -- in the world of dubbing, they're very, very demanding on that. You know, you can't say a word.

Anne: Well, that makes a lot of sense. And I'm glad that you brought it up because how many times have we seen a voice actor, either bragging on social media, or here's a picture of me leaving and just thinking that nobody will see that, that is a big, big, big no-no. So yeah, that makes a whole lot of sense that you don't want to give away any, any secrets until they're revealed. I get that.

Pilar: Because basically when you are an actor, you are lending your voice. That's what you're doing, or you're lending your acting to the project. The project isn't yours. You don't own the project.

Anne: It's a great point.

Pilar: You know, I remember one time I did this commercial. Magic, the big basketball player, Magic Johnson. I mean, I'm seeing him right now. And all of a sudden I had a brain fart in his name. So it was a commercial and he was, he's so adorable and he's so nice. And so we were all gathered around, and of course at the end they let us take pictures. And so of course I took my picture and I had it in my phone. And then literally a couple of weeks later, I see this actor post and like, "hey yeah, I got, I was, I was," and I was like, what are you doing?

The commercial isn't out, that's not yours. That's their material. Somebody owns that material. And you have to respect that this is a situation. So for something like a Marvel movie, you know, you sign NDAs up the wazoo.

Anne: Oh yeah, I've seen people get fired.

Pilar: Yeah. And --

Anne: Hard. Fired Hard.

Pilar: To be honest, I, I can't blame them because it's like, it's, it's not my material to come -- to go out and play with. So with ADR, and this all changed in the pandemic too, because with ADR, what you would do is that you would go with a group of people, and you would be in the same room with them. So that's where you have these things called donuts, which is you walk around and you do these sort of loops. And you talk as you pass by the microphone. And then the call-outs where you're "hey, let's go get some ice cream" kind of a thing. And "Dr. George Michael to line one in, you know, room 222," that kind of a thing. So that all went away. And so now when you go to a studio, we were all separated. So we were in the same studio, but we were all in different booths. So that's the difference. So it's all, you're not together.

Anne: Right, during the pandemic.

Pilar: Right during, yeah, exactly.

Pilar: So they had to kind of change that the way that, that happens.

Anne: Also, so not just that, there's also, if you need to replace a line, right. If they couldn't get the actor, if they couldn't get the line or they changed the line, and they could get the actor back in, sometimes there's just a line replacement.

Pilar: Yeah. Right. Exactly. And that will happen, let's say, with a specific actor, but when you're talking about ADR, like when you're in that scenario that I said about the coffee shop, there are people talking. So you need to have, let's say, if you're doing a cop show, you need to have the lingo all ready to go, you know, and they encourage you to bring -- paper makes noise, but like iPads. And then you have your "Adam 24," you know, that kind of a thing or "nurse code blue," you know? So all the different genres have different language. So you have that ready. And then when you're called on, because you're just basically, it's like, okay, who wants to do this? And you just get up and you do it, and you do it in front of your mic. I don't know if it's gone back to the grouping. 'Cause I, I did something recently, and we were still in separate booths. So I don't know if that's actually gone to the group thing again, but ADR basically takes care of all that sort of subtle murmuring that goes on.

And so whatever it is that you do -- and there's, there are a lot of rules. Like, you know, you never want to say, have anything to do with God. There's a lot of, since it is all improv, because you know, it is, you know, as we had mentioned before about, you want to be positive, that's another thing. That's another big thing; you want to be positive. You don't want to be negative. So there are, there are a couple of different rules you don't necessarily want to talk about the time of day. You don't want to say people's names or the actor or the characters' names in the movie itself.

Anne: That makes sense.

Pilar: So you're constantly improvising. And so flexibility is key in ADR. So you can just get up and, you know, in front of the mic and talk about this car that overturned in a tractor trailer and this and that. And you just, and you know, you have a little cheat sheet, so you have little sentences or, or themes that you can expound upon.

Anne: So they give that to you. And you're just improv-ing off of that.

Pilar: They give you the, the scene, but it's up to you to come up with the lines. It's like, they don't, they don't give you the lines. So I took a class, my very first ADR class when I got to LA was with Johnny Gidcomb. So, you know, for anybody out there who wants to do ADR, he's fantastic. And he teaches you the ropes. So we did as if we were blooping this one show that he had done, one of the many "Planet of the Apes" movies. And so, you know, we had to sit there and see, and it was sometimes it was difficult because you didn't know who was speaking. So you had to be, you know, eagle eye on these characters saying who was speaking when and, who was loud and who wasn't. So it's like a lot of, you know, observation comes in to play when you're doing ADR as well.

Anne: And then if that's not enough, so there's the dubbing, there's the ADR and looping and Walla Walla. And then we also have audio description.

Pilar: Yes.

Anne: Audio description is something that's similar, but yet different. And that's also kind of, I feel like because there's more content out there, there's been a lot of work in this area as well with audio description. And there's just some really great instructors out there. I had Roy Samuelson is part of one of my meetups who came and talked about audio description. And there's some great groups out there that you can get involved in and learn from and lots of work out there. So let's talk about audio description now.

Pilar: Yes. Let's talk about it because I will be honest with you. I am not that familiar with it. I know that it, audio description can be used for people who have trouble seeing, that that's a lot of it, but it does have many uses, correct?

Anne: Yes, exactly. So audio description will be describing the scene. It kind of happens along with the dialogue, and that is something that will be describing the scene as it's happening. And so that is copy that is provided to you, but you know, it is a skill, and it is something that I think you have to be quick on your feet in order to do it well. And I think you also have to add in acting because you are really, for people who are not necessarily seeing the video in front of them, you are audibly describing what's happening in the scene, and you can't just be a robot doing that. I feel like you've got to bring the experience to the listener. And so there is definitely quality of acting for audio description as well. For sure, for sure.

Pilar: Yes. And I'm looking at this. Yeah. And it is definitely for people who have low vision or who are visually impaired. So you definitely have to have acting chops because you are, you are the narrator for these people who can't see. So you are providing everything, you're being their eyes.

Anne: It's like audio drama in a way.

Pilar: Exactly.

Anne: But you don't want to be overly, right, dramatic because --

Pilar: Yeah. Not emoting, right, either.

Anne: Right. Exactly. Because obviously you're not overtaking the acting that's going on that they're listening to. You are simply describing the scenes and what's happening. So while you need to act, you may not need to act as if you are a direct character in the scene. That's for sure.

Pilar: Well, and also because in -- when there are gaps in the dialogue, you will be describing visual elements. So you're going to be describing costumes, the action, the setting, the mountain in the background. And so you have to make that interesting, but you're not going to make it monotone picture. And you're also not going to go crazy talking about the mountain.

Anne: Exactly.

Pilar: You know, so exactly it has to sacrifice to be some kind of middle ground. So you're making it because you are the eyes for that person. So you have to be able to transmit the emotions that are going on.

Anne: Yeah. So I'll tell you, all of these things that we have been talking about today really require someone who has acting experience, right, or who is an actor. And I love that because that just really broadens the scope of what we can do as voiceover artists. And it really pinpoints the importance in everything that we do, that acting is a part of it. And so there's a lot of areas in which as a performer, if you want to improve and up your game, you can have these opportunities if you just keep developing those acting skills and improv skills. And I just love that we're talking about where all these skills, we just had our episode on improv, you know, how they can help you to really grow your business as a voiceover artist. So thanks so much, Pilar, for chatting with me about this. I love you've just brought so much to the table for our listeners. So thank you for that.

Pilar: No, thank you. This was so much fun.

Anne: Awesome. Well, I'm going to give a great, big shout-out to our sponsor, ipDTL. You too can network and perform like a BOSS and find out more at ipdtl.com. You guys have an amazing week and Pilar and I will see you next week.

Pilar: Ciao.

Anne: All right, bye.

>> Join us next week for another edition of VO BOSS with your host Anne Ganguzza. And take your business to the next level. Sign up for our mailing list at voboss.com and receive exclusive content, industry revolutionizing tips and strategies, and new ways to rock your business like a BOSS. Redistribution with permission. Coast to coast connectivity via ipDTL.