--- On Thu, 4/26/12, Roderic G Stephens <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

From: Roderic G Stephens <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Movie sound ( was Re: [ARSCLIST] "Life" IN recordings (or lack thereof),
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Thursday, April 26, 2012, 10:02 AM

Having "looped" (dialog replacement) quite a number of different actors on the TV series "Combat" as an assistant editor at MGM, the actors would come to loop stage where sound editors had delivered the prepared loops.  Some loops were sound only where the actor would just listen to the track before recording it "wild", but most loops were with picture with streamers cueing the incoming line.  Some actors would never be able to lip-sync well, and that was when I had to do sprocket edits later (four sprockets per frame) to make them fit the picture.  In tribute, Vic Morrow would always do them in one take.  Most of the looping was done to replace dialogue that had been recorded on location on the back lot where exterior sources of sound would ruin the track (ie., planes, cars, trucks, etc.).  Then, there were
 times when the actor didn't give the reading that the director wanted, so they'd have to make a new track.  Of course, I know that in some features, a foreign actor was unintelligible, so all of their lines would be replaced with another actor.  As far as recording on a sound stage (that's why they were called that), when I started at Desilu, Glen Glenn Sound was doing a lot of the recording on 1/4" tape machines parked outside the stages, but later on, they had direct lines to the sound department for dialog recording.  In some of the foreign Italian features that Selmur, the "Combat" producing company bought to release here, we redubbed them on the MGM mixing stages, adding additional wild tracks and correcting the Italian loop lines for better synch.  But, those lines always sounded phony and lifeless.  I think our loops were more carefully recorded and made to sound more like what the original should have been.  Also,
 if time permitted, the sound recordist on location would ask to make a wild track if he knew that a track was "dirty".  Then, they'd wait for a quiet moment to record.  That track would always be better because it was the same acoustic condition as all the other good tracks recorded with camera.  However, as I mentioned, some actors were better at doing it as close to the original as possible.  And, I always had my butt splicer at hand to fix them.  In my experience, the Nagra became the recording deck of choice whether on location or on sound stage, because of its small size, excellent fidelity and dependability.

--- On Thu, 4/26/12, djwein <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

From: djwein <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Movie sound ( was Re: [ARSCLIST] "Life" IN recordings (or lack thereof),
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Thursday, April 26, 2012, 7:30 AM

As far as I've read, due to low budgets, EVERY Soundie had the music
recorded first and then the filming was lipsynched to the playback - it's
pretty obvious in a lot of them, as the singers often don't manage to match
up their lips to the recorded performance. 

Dave Weiner

-----Original Message-----

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
>