I’m talking about actual fully fledged dubs where the original voices are completely gone and replaced with matching voice actors, NOT voice-over dubs where they lower the volume of the original audio and have someone speak over the video in a different language.
I’ve always wondered how the original voices were removed and separated from the rest of the ambient sounds. I know for animated shows, everything is recorded on separate tracks, for example for a scene where two characters are having lunch in a busy restaurant,
the conversation would be recorded on its own track,
the sound effects the characters make ( picking up forks and knives, glasses, drinks being poured, footsteps etc…) would be on a separate track
and the ambient noises (other customers talking, distant traffic sounds from the road etc…) would be on a separate track.
Now for the same scene being filmed instead of animated, wouldn’t all of these end up on the same track? The actors would be talking while creating their own sound effects by moving plates, pouring drinks and all that, the background actors would be talking in real time around them and everything so wouldn’t the microphones pick all the sounds up at the same time?
I’m rambling but I guess my question is, how are they able to isolate and remove ONLY the voices of the actors talking and leave the sounds of everything else around them intact?
Again sorry for rambling but I’m terrible at explaining
In: Technology
Everyone else has explained it pretty well.
Basically every sound you hear is added in post. The fork hitting the table, the water being poured, the car engine, the footsteps… all added in post, either by a sound designer or by a dedicated “foley” artist. It’s mind boggling and literally insane.
Check this out for a little explainer: https://youtu.be/0GPGfDCZ1EE
A lot of the dialogue is also re-recorded in a studio, for various reasons – cleaner recording, wrong intonation, etc.
Distributors such as Netflix request all the music, effects, ambience, etc to be delivered separately so they have flexibility when dubbing. They can mute just the voices, and leave all other sounds in.
Source: work in post production on tv shows and films.
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