Hi Don:
I know for a fact that what you are saying is NOT true. Some movies have most or all dialog
re-recorded separately from picture shoot, but others have most or all dialog recorded as the scenes
are being shot. My late friend and mentor Bob Eberenz began his career as a dialog recordist in
Hollywood. In those days (post-WWII 40's), many pictures were recorded live-action using a boom mic
on a "fishpole." These mics were directional and the skill of the dialog recordist was being able to
flip the mic in sync with a conversation. Boom mics were typically ribbon types, RCA and Western
Electric each made models for this use. Later on, it became possible to "plant" mics around a set to
pick up dialog. If you read articles about movie-sound today, sometimes recordists plant many mics
and record many tracks to capture a scene live. In the olden days, according to Bob Eberenz's
recollections, when dialog was filmed live, the set was declared "quiet," and everyone had to shut
up and sit still when film was rolling. The film camera was in a silencer box, and boom equipment
was kept well oiled and was designed for quiet movement (but, as I said, the mics were highly
directional). The sound recordist typically sat at a "cart," which contained the mic preamp and
usually built-in dialog EQ and sometimes a peak-limiter. The line-level signal was fed to the
machine room, which could be blocks away at a large lot. Soundstage inputs were patched to dubbers
for recording in the machine room.
My bet is that most non-soundstage footage was dialog re-recorded in a controlled environment, but
it was definitely possible to capture audible dialog in the field. One thing I've always wondered is
if many or most "Soundies" (jazz shorts) were recorded live-sound or "lip-sync'd" to a soundtrack.
-- Tom Fine
----- Original Message -----
From: "Don Cox" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2012 5:54 AM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] "Life" IN recordings (or lack thereof), (was EMI, opera and 35mm?)
> On 25/04/2012, Roderic G Stephens wrote:
>
>> As far as "
>> micro-editing" is concerned, I made many one sprocket edits/splices to
>> get a wild track or loop line recorded after the production wrapped to
>> fit the lips of the actor, so you can be very precise using 35mm mag.
>>
> Am I right in thinking that the dialogue in classic Hollywood movies was
> almost always recorded separately - that is, not at the same time as the
> images were recorded ?
>
> Regards
> --
> Don Cox
> [log in to unmask]
>
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