November 20, 2019 • 16 mins
In the third episode of our podcast, we interview Louis Elman on the subject of ADR, or Automated Dialogue Replacement. Listen now to find out about the history of the technology and the skills required for this vital voiceover role.
Presenter: David John
Producer and editor: Emma Samuel
Created by: Neil Conrich
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
David John (00:00):
So hi everyone, again.
If you're coming back to us andlistening to the Squadcast
again, welcome back.
If you're new, this is thepodcast of London voice agent,
Voice Squad.
Whatever your connection is tothe voice over world, to audio.
This is here really to give youan insight into the workings of
a voice agency and also lots ofdifferent areas of the audio
(00:21):
industry.
We focus on different areas oneach podcast- today it's going
to be ADR.
We'll come to that in a minute.
My name is David John.
I'm professional voice over anaudio artist.
Also a dubbing director thesedays, and the Equity Audio
Counsellor.
This week we're absolutelydelighted to have the don of
ADR, Mr Louis Elman.
(00:42):
Welcome! Of course, we've workedtogether for many years
ourselves, but Louis goes backan awful long way in this
industry.
He's been casting, producing,directing- directing dubbing and
ADR, and of course now training.
He's decorated has worked onmany award-winning productions
including getting aninternational Emmy award for Das
(01:03):
Boot, which was dubbed intoEnglish from the German.
He's also worked on lots of topmovies.
Most recently, I guess Dunkirkis a big one.
The Imitation Game and many topTV series including Game of
Thrones.
So you name it, Louis's workedon it! So welcome- and good to
see you Louis!
Louis Elman (01:22):
Thank you Dave.
Nice to be here.
David John (01:24):
You've been, well you've been working for at least
40 years-
Louis Elman (01:28):
Does make me feel very old! Started uh, in the 60s
at a company called De Lane Lea.
David John (01:36):
Ah yeah.
Famous company.
Louis Elman (01:38):
And I got the job as a runner and assistant to the
founder of the company, WilliamDe Lane Lea, who was known in
those days in the industry asthe Major'cause he was still
active as an officer in militaryintelligence.
David John (01:55):
Wow.
And what year was that?
More or less Louis?
Louis Elman (01:57):
Sixty?
Sixty-one?
And he was basically anengineer, a mechanical engineer,
not a sound engineer.
David John (02:04):
Right.
Louis Elman (02:05):
He was the first man to synchronise a gramophone
record to film.
How he did it, I don't know.
David John (02:12):
Incredible.
Louis Elman (02:12):
Then he invented the Rhythmo-Band System when he
worked in France under the nameof Lingua Syncro and the Band
System was projected under themain screen and showed the
dialogue written in sync to thepicture so that the actor didn't
(02:32):
have to look at picture or haveto read a script.
You just read the band.
David John (02:36):
So this is specifically for dubbing?
Louis Elman (02:40):
Yeah.
David John (02:41):
So is that kind of going back to the beginning?
Is that how you then moved intowhat we call ADR?
Louis Elman (02:47):
Well he introduced me to actors.
I'm writing a book at the momentcalled Living with Actors,'cause
- my whole life has beeninvolved with actors and I have
the highest respect for actors.
I really do.
So I got the job as a traineewith him and learned all about
working with actors and thesynchronization of dialogue.
David John (03:08):
So what we now often call Automated Dialogue
Replacement.
When did that start becoming abig thing?
Louis Elman (03:16):
Well, in the old days we called it post
synchronization- post sync.
And there was no such thing as acomputer.
It was all done on 35 millimetrefilm or 16 millimetre film.
So when an actor had to come inand redo his dialogues because
of bad sound, we had to chop upthe film into loops.
(03:38):
Thus where Loop Group comes fromand together with the picture
loop, we had to make a magnetictape the same length and they
used to run together.
So you would record onto themagnetic.
And then years later theAmericans invented what we call
(04:00):
Rock& Roll.
And you didn't have to chop upthe film anymore.
You left it in real form and youjust ran the whole reel and just
picked out the scenes youwanted.
You would mark up, with cues,the scenes that you wanted to
record, so it became mucheasier.
They would have their text on asheet- an ADR sheet- well then
(04:22):
it was a post-sync sheet- andthey would listen to their voice
on earphones from the film andthey would then repeat the line
in sync.
And in many cases, good actorswould use the opportunity to
improve their performance orthey thought, oh that's good,
I'll just do it again the same.
(04:43):
Or they complained that, why didI say that line so quickly?
'Cause it was difficult topost-sync or to ADR it.
David John (04:50):
Yeah.
So your company now, youobviously still work in ADR,
automated dialogue replacementand also the lip sync-
Louis Elman (04:59):
We should explain the ADR is just another term for
post sync.
David John (05:03):
Yeah, absolutely.
Louis Elman (05:04):
You know, post synchronization or looping.
David John (05:06):
There's basically the post- production thing of
which most members of the publicare not aware of, is all the
sound is put on after the day ofrecording.
Louis Elman (05:15):
That's right.
The footsteps and the movementsand the atmospheres and what
have you.
Because in the end, uh, whatpost-production houses achieve
is what we call an internationalsoundtrack with everything on
it, your footsteps, youratmospheres, your music, your
dialogues.
Everything separate so that whenyou hand over to a French
(05:37):
company to make a French versionor a German version or Italian
version, they have all theelements.
All they have to do is take outthe English dialogue and replace
it with their own language.
That's why it's done.
But we in fact have been busysupplying actors to form loop
groups as you know.
And you're one of them.
(05:58):
Thank goodness you are'causeyou're one of the best!
David John (06:00):
Always a[pleasure]!
Louis Elman (06:01):
And we create additional dialogue for scenes
lacking in ambience known asautomated dialogue replacement.
We in fact have been running anAcademy for the last six years
training actors who areinterested in this type of work.
David John (06:15):
Yeah, that's interesting because you
obviously want actors to come inwhen you hire them for a
session, to come in and knowwhat they're doing.
Louis Elman (06:22):
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
David John (06:24):
What does the training involve?
What is the day like for actors?
Louis Elman (06:26):
Well we actually put them through a proper
recording session that anyprofessional would have to have
to do.
And from that we can see whetherthey are creative- their
enthusiasm, their talent as anactor.
'Cause I think that the mostdifficult type of acting has got
to be voice work.
(06:46):
An actor doesn't have theadvantage of his face to create
a facial expression or bodymovement.
You have to act solely with yourvoice.
And I think that is the mostdifficult part of[voice] acting.
You're an actor, you tell me!But that's what I believe.
So the course teaches them theart of synchronising dialogue to
fit a particular situation in ascene.
(07:08):
It may entail creatingappropriate dialogue for police
chat, forensic ambulance crews,doctors, nurses, or we might be
adding battle cries or marketcall-outs for something like
Game of Thrones, which we'veworked on for several years as
you know.
And all this without a script!
David John (07:26):
Yeah.
Louis Elman (07:26):
[The] actor has not only to be a damn good actor,
but also to be very creative.
And improv is so, so important.
They have to write the dialogueand they don't get paid for
that.
David John (07:38):
Yeah, that's an added extra! Yeah, yeah.
That's a very good point.
That the improvisational skillis, is right up there.
Louis Elman (07:46):
If you can't think of something to say- if it's a
barman serving a pint of beer ina pub and we need to put
something in his mouth.
Someone's got to come up with arelevant line and make it
believable-
David John (08:00):
And you want three or four versions or options.
They want people to come up withnew stuff all the time.
Louis Elman (08:04):
Absolutely.
David John (08:05):
You've got to think quick, haven't you! What are you
looking for in an ADR actor?
Louis Elman (08:11):
Confidence I think is number one.
David John (08:13):
Very important.
Louis Elman (08:14):
Enthusiasm.
Creative skill.
And of course to be a very goodactor.
David John (08:21):
So let's think about some recent projects that you've
worked on.
Louis Elman (08:25):
You mentioned, you mentioned in your introduction,
Dunkirk.
David John (08:30):
Yeah.
Which was, which was won, acouple of Oscars, didn't it, for
sound?
Louis Elman (08:33):
It did win an Oscar.
They even filmed us doing somestuff- some of the work was done
on HMS Belfast.
Because Richard King,Oscar-award-winning Richard
King, the sound editor, Wantedthe real, real sound of the
interior of a boat.
(08:54):
And we had actors running up anddown the boat shouting and
screaming.
And it was really, it wasbeautifully recorded.
And in the end, the soundtrackwon an Oscar.
David John (09:01):
I did go and see that it did sound absolutely
fantastic.
Louis Elman (09:05):
Brilliantly done.
And recently Peter Jackson'sdocumentary, They Shall Not Grow
Old.
Absolutely brilliant! They cameto me and asked for voices.
I think you play one of thesoldiers.
David John (09:19):
I did, I did do a bit of that.
Louis Elman (09:20):
And we did that.
Nobody ever knew- again- thatwe'd added voices to it.
So that, that was an honor towork on.
David John (09:26):
It was, and it was extraordinary to work on because
it was, unusually, it was realpeople and it was history.
Louis Elman (09:31):
It was real people.
That's why we had to have damngood actors who give a natural
performance and not make itsound like a, like a
performance.
David John (09:42):
Yeah.
And that's key, isn't it?
It's got to sound natural.
Got to be authentic.
So you kind of briefly mentionedthe voice tests on the phone.
Yeah.
Um, what are the other majorchanges that you've noticed
since you started back in thesixties to now?
I mean, it's been an incrediblejourney for you.
Louis Elman (10:01):
Incredible journey, to go from film to what is known
as protal computers.
I'll tell you, when I woke upand knew the industry had
changed.
I was working on 1492 directedby Ridley Scott.
And I always did the Post-Syncor ADR for Ridley.
Ridley didn't like going intothe studio with the actors, and
(10:24):
he said, you do it Louis andI'll come and see at the end of
the day what you've done.
And in 1492, he had a scene in amonastery and he asked me to- he
said, Louis, I'd like to hear, amonks choir in the background
(10:45):
rehearsing, and making mistakesand stopping and starting.
And I said, Oh my God.
I said, okay, okay.
We'd love to, I'll see what Ican do.
Anyway, to cut a long storyshort.
We found a soundtrack of amonks' choir.
It's a beautiful, beautifulsound.
And, digitally, this engineer,Robin and I sat there.
(11:09):
He made the track stop.
He made the choir make amistake.
He made the choir sing out oftune.
He made them start up again.
All on the computer.
Now had we attempted that onfilm?
It would have taken weeks.
He did it in about four hours.
(11:29):
And then we overdubbed with thelate John Ball who spoke Spanish
as the Maestro, as the choirmaster tapping his bat on the
podium and shouting at them inSpanish that they were doing
something wrong or were out oftune and we completed the whole
track and I really just couldn'tbelieve, I couldn't believe the
results.
(11:50):
But you couldn't have done thaton film.
I mean, you could have, but itwould taken weeks.
David John (11:54):
Yeah.
And when was that?
1492...
that was kind of nineties,wasn't it?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Louis Elman (11:58):
And that's when I knew.
David John (11:59):
By then.
It had changed.
Everything had moved on.
Louis Elman (12:01):
[Now] when an actor turns up to work for me, he
doesn't turn up with a paperscript, he turns up with an
iPad.
I know.
Things have changed a greatdeal.
David John (12:12):
Great.
So I think we've got a reallygood picture of the loop ADR
world.
What we usually do at thispoint, we ask a few quick-fire
questions just to-
Louis Elman (12:25):
Nothing about my wife, I hope!
David John (12:27):
Only if you decide to choose to mention your wife!
So first one is, are you a catperson or a dog person?
Louis Elman (12:33):
Definitely a dog person.
David John (12:34):
Dog.
And you own a dog?
Louis Elman (12:36):
Oh yes.
Sydney's our Labrador retriever.
A rescue from Ireland and he's alovely dog.
Beautiful dog.
Love him.
Love him dearly.
David John (12:47):
Lovely.
And what's your favourite icecream?
Louis Elman (12:50):
Choc-ice every time!
David John (12:52):
We'll order one of those for you! Okay.
Here's a good one.
Favorite movie of all time?
Louis Elman (12:58):
That's difficult.
Because there's so many! I'dlike to say any James Cagney
film, and probably some of yourlisteners won't even know who
James Cagney is! But a wonderfulfilm called White Heat.
I was a great fan of SpencerTracy and a wonderful script
called Who's Coming to Dinnerwith Sidney Poitier and Spencer
(13:21):
Tracy and Katherine Hepburn.
And- not because I worked on it-but Four Weddings and a Funeral.
I loved that movie.
I thought it was fantastic.
David John (13:29):
But you did work on it?
Louis Elman (13:30):
Yes, we do.
Yeah.
Yeah.
David John (13:32):
Okay.
Have you been to the theatrelately?
If so, what have you seen?
Louis Elman (13:34):
Well, I have to say, Dave, that the last
production I saw was an amateurgroup.
I like to support the localamateur drama group.
And the last show we saw wasFiddler on the Roof and it was
brilliantly done.
And also, I look out for newtalent and if I think they're
good enough, I'll alwaysapproach them afterwards and
(13:56):
say, look, if you're interestedin, uh, being a professional
actor-
David John (14:01):
You can point them in the right way.
Louis Elman (14:02):
I can point them in the right direction.
If they'd like to join theAcademy and learn about voice
recording, they can.
But I like to support localgroups.
David John (14:11):
Where's that?
Where's your local group?
Louis Elman (14:12):
Chesham and High Wickham.
David John (14:13):
Great.
Yeah.
Okay.
So London, what's your favouriteplace in London?
Louis Elman (14:19):
Because I love fish and chips, I have to say Muswell
Hill.
David John (14:23):
Okay.
Muswell Hill!
Louis Elman (14:25):
Muswell Hill.
David John (14:26):
Because there's fish and chips.
Louis Elman (14:27):
You must go to Toff's.
David John (14:29):
I've been there.
Yeah.
Louis Elman (14:31):
There's number one fish and chips.
And I like Muswell Hill.
I like the ambience of MuswellHill.
A lot of actors live in MuswellHill.
David John (14:37):
I'm not too far from there myself.
Only a mile up the road.
Okay.
Brilliant! Thank you Louis.
Louis Elman (14:44):
Well, I hope I've been of some help!
David John (14:46):
Definitely.
Very interesting stuff.
Thank you.
We know it's a very niche world,but it's a very interesting
world that people don't oftenhear a lot about.
A secret part of the industry.
Louis Elman (14:58):
If you can get into that world, it can be- if
business is busy- it's quite alucrative way of earning money.
David John (15:08):
And there's always work.
There's ADR on everything thesedays.
Yes there is.
Yup.
Yup.
We'll be back next week withanother Squadcast and we'll be
talking about radio- audiodrama, radio drama.
We will have the wonderfulactress who Louis knows very
well, and has worked with a lot,Alison Dowling.
Louis Elman (15:28):
Oh God yes- she's wonderful.
David John (15:29):
She's fantastic.
She's best known as a ElizabethArcher in The Archers, but also
she is, well, I among otherscall her the Queen of ADR
because she's absolutelybrilliant at ADR as well.
So we'll get her perspective onradio, drama, audio drama, as
well as a bit more ADR as well.
Do subscribe to the podcast ifyou've enjoyed this and you're
(15:51):
interested in hearing more aboutthe audio world.
And rate us wherever you listento your podcasts.
So this was the Squadcast.
It's a Voice Squad Ltdproduction hosted by me, David
John, devised by Neil Conrich.
It's produced and edited by EmmaSamuel.
If you've got any questions atall about the show, the podcast
(16:12):
you've just listened to, or anyof the others, please visit our
website.
If you have any specificquestions, please drop us an
email.
Thank you.
So hi everyone, again.
If you're coming back to us andlistening to the Squadcast
again, welcome back.
If you're new, this is thepodcast of London voice agent,
Voice Squad.
Whatever your connection is tothe voice over world, to audio.
This is here really to give youan insight into the workings of
a voice agency and also lots ofdifferent areas of the audio
(00:21):
industry.
We focus on different areas oneach podcast- today it's going
to be ADR.
We'll come to that in a minute.
My name is David John.
I'm professional voice over anaudio artist.
Also a dubbing director thesedays, and the Equity Audio
Counsellor.
This week we're absolutelydelighted to have the don of
ADR, Mr Louis Elman.
(00:42):
Welcome! Of course, we've workedtogether for many years
ourselves, but Louis goes backan awful long way in this
industry.
He's been casting, producing,directing- directing dubbing and
ADR, and of course now training.
He's decorated has worked onmany award-winning productions
including getting aninternational Emmy award for Das
(01:03):
Boot, which was dubbed intoEnglish from the German.
He's also worked on lots of topmovies.
Most recently, I guess Dunkirkis a big one.
The Imitation Game and many topTV series including Game of
Thrones.
So you name it, Louis's workedon it! So welcome- and good to
see you Louis!
Louis Elman (01:22):
Thank you Dave.
Nice to be here.
David John (01:24):
You've been, well you've been working for at least
40 years-
Louis Elman (01:28):
Does make me feel very old! Started uh, in the 60s
at a company called De Lane Lea.
David John (01:36):
Ah yeah.
Famous company.
Louis Elman (01:38):
And I got the job as a runner and assistant to the
founder of the company, WilliamDe Lane Lea, who was known in
those days in the industry asthe Major'cause he was still
active as an officer in militaryintelligence.
David John (01:55):
Wow.
And what year was that?
More or less Louis?
Louis Elman (01:57):
Sixty?
Sixty-one?
And he was basically anengineer, a mechanical engineer,
not a sound engineer.
David John (02:04):
Right.
Louis Elman (02:05):
He was the first man to synchronise a gramophone
record to film.
How he did it, I don't know.
David John (02:12):
Incredible.
Louis Elman (02:12):
Then he invented the Rhythmo-Band System when he
worked in France under the nameof Lingua Syncro and the Band
System was projected under themain screen and showed the
dialogue written in sync to thepicture so that the actor didn't
(02:32):
have to look at picture or haveto read a script.
You just read the band.
David John (02:36):
So this is specifically for dubbing?
Louis Elman (02:40):
Yeah.
David John (02:41):
So is that kind of going back to the beginning?
Is that how you then moved intowhat we call ADR?
Louis Elman (02:47):
Well he introduced me to actors.
I'm writing a book at the momentcalled Living with Actors,'cause
- my whole life has beeninvolved with actors and I have
the highest respect for actors.
I really do.
So I got the job as a traineewith him and learned all about
working with actors and thesynchronization of dialogue.
David John (03:08):
So what we now often call Automated Dialogue
Replacement.
When did that start becoming abig thing?
Louis Elman (03:16):
Well, in the old days we called it post
synchronization- post sync.
And there was no such thing as acomputer.
It was all done on 35 millimetrefilm or 16 millimetre film.
So when an actor had to come inand redo his dialogues because
of bad sound, we had to chop upthe film into loops.
(03:38):
Thus where Loop Group comes fromand together with the picture
loop, we had to make a magnetictape the same length and they
used to run together.
So you would record onto themagnetic.
And then years later theAmericans invented what we call
(04:00):
Rock& Roll.
And you didn't have to chop upthe film anymore.
You left it in real form and youjust ran the whole reel and just
picked out the scenes youwanted.
You would mark up, with cues,the scenes that you wanted to
record, so it became mucheasier.
They would have their text on asheet- an ADR sheet- well then
(04:22):
it was a post-sync sheet- andthey would listen to their voice
on earphones from the film andthey would then repeat the line
in sync.
And in many cases, good actorswould use the opportunity to
improve their performance orthey thought, oh that's good,
I'll just do it again the same.
(04:43):
Or they complained that, why didI say that line so quickly?
'Cause it was difficult topost-sync or to ADR it.
David John (04:50):
Yeah.
So your company now, youobviously still work in ADR,
automated dialogue replacementand also the lip sync-
Louis Elman (04:59):
We should explain the ADR is just another term for
post sync.
David John (05:03):
Yeah, absolutely.
Louis Elman (05:04):
You know, post synchronization or looping.
David John (05:06):
There's basically the post- production thing of
which most members of the publicare not aware of, is all the
sound is put on after the day ofrecording.
Louis Elman (05:15):
That's right.
The footsteps and the movementsand the atmospheres and what
have you.
Because in the end, uh, whatpost-production houses achieve
is what we call an internationalsoundtrack with everything on
it, your footsteps, youratmospheres, your music, your
dialogues.
Everything separate so that whenyou hand over to a French
(05:37):
company to make a French versionor a German version or Italian
version, they have all theelements.
All they have to do is take outthe English dialogue and replace
it with their own language.
That's why it's done.
But we in fact have been busysupplying actors to form loop
groups as you know.
And you're one of them.
(05:58):
Thank goodness you are'causeyou're one of the best!
David John (06:00):
Always a[pleasure]!
Louis Elman (06:01):
And we create additional dialogue for scenes
lacking in ambience known asautomated dialogue replacement.
We in fact have been running anAcademy for the last six years
training actors who areinterested in this type of work.
David John (06:15):
Yeah, that's interesting because you
obviously want actors to come inwhen you hire them for a
session, to come in and knowwhat they're doing.
Louis Elman (06:22):
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
David John (06:24):
What does the training involve?
What is the day like for actors?
Louis Elman (06:26):
Well we actually put them through a proper
recording session that anyprofessional would have to have
to do.
And from that we can see whetherthey are creative- their
enthusiasm, their talent as anactor.
'Cause I think that the mostdifficult type of acting has got
to be voice work.
(06:46):
An actor doesn't have theadvantage of his face to create
a facial expression or bodymovement.
You have to act solely with yourvoice.
And I think that is the mostdifficult part of[voice] acting.
You're an actor, you tell me!But that's what I believe.
So the course teaches them theart of synchronising dialogue to
fit a particular situation in ascene.
(07:08):
It may entail creatingappropriate dialogue for police
chat, forensic ambulance crews,doctors, nurses, or we might be
adding battle cries or marketcall-outs for something like
Game of Thrones, which we'veworked on for several years as
you know.
And all this without a script!
David John (07:26):
Yeah.
Louis Elman (07:26):
[The] actor has not only to be a damn good actor,
but also to be very creative.
And improv is so, so important.
They have to write the dialogueand they don't get paid for
that.
David John (07:38):
Yeah, that's an added extra! Yeah, yeah.
That's a very good point.
That the improvisational skillis, is right up there.
Louis Elman (07:46):
If you can't think of something to say- if it's a
barman serving a pint of beer ina pub and we need to put
something in his mouth.
Someone's got to come up with arelevant line and make it
believable-
David John (08:00):
And you want three or four versions or options.
They want people to come up withnew stuff all the time.
Louis Elman (08:04):
Absolutely.
David John (08:05):
You've got to think quick, haven't you! What are you
looking for in an ADR actor?
Louis Elman (08:11):
Confidence I think is number one.
David John (08:13):
Very important.
Louis Elman (08:14):
Enthusiasm.
Creative skill.
And of course to be a very goodactor.
David John (08:21):
So let's think about some recent projects that you've
worked on.
Louis Elman (08:25):
You mentioned, you mentioned in your introduction,
Dunkirk.
David John (08:30):
Yeah.
Which was, which was won, acouple of Oscars, didn't it, for
sound?
Louis Elman (08:33):
It did win an Oscar.
They even filmed us doing somestuff- some of the work was done
on HMS Belfast.
Because Richard King,Oscar-award-winning Richard
King, the sound editor, Wantedthe real, real sound of the
interior of a boat.
(08:54):
And we had actors running up anddown the boat shouting and
screaming.
And it was really, it wasbeautifully recorded.
And in the end, the soundtrackwon an Oscar.
David John (09:01):
I did go and see that it did sound absolutely
fantastic.
Louis Elman (09:05):
Brilliantly done.
And recently Peter Jackson'sdocumentary, They Shall Not Grow
Old.
Absolutely brilliant! They cameto me and asked for voices.
I think you play one of thesoldiers.
David John (09:19):
I did, I did do a bit of that.
Louis Elman (09:20):
And we did that.
Nobody ever knew- again- thatwe'd added voices to it.
So that, that was an honor towork on.
David John (09:26):
It was, and it was extraordinary to work on because
it was, unusually, it was realpeople and it was history.
Louis Elman (09:31):
It was real people.
That's why we had to have damngood actors who give a natural
performance and not make itsound like a, like a
performance.
David John (09:42):
Yeah.
And that's key, isn't it?
It's got to sound natural.
Got to be authentic.
So you kind of briefly mentionedthe voice tests on the phone.
Yeah.
Um, what are the other majorchanges that you've noticed
since you started back in thesixties to now?
I mean, it's been an incrediblejourney for you.
Louis Elman (10:01):
Incredible journey, to go from film to what is known
as protal computers.
I'll tell you, when I woke upand knew the industry had
changed.
I was working on 1492 directedby Ridley Scott.
And I always did the Post-Syncor ADR for Ridley.
Ridley didn't like going intothe studio with the actors, and
(10:24):
he said, you do it Louis andI'll come and see at the end of
the day what you've done.
And in 1492, he had a scene in amonastery and he asked me to- he
said, Louis, I'd like to hear, amonks choir in the background
(10:45):
rehearsing, and making mistakesand stopping and starting.
And I said, Oh my God.
I said, okay, okay.
We'd love to, I'll see what Ican do.
Anyway, to cut a long storyshort.
We found a soundtrack of amonks' choir.
It's a beautiful, beautifulsound.
And, digitally, this engineer,Robin and I sat there.
(11:09):
He made the track stop.
He made the choir make amistake.
He made the choir sing out oftune.
He made them start up again.
All on the computer.
Now had we attempted that onfilm?
It would have taken weeks.
He did it in about four hours.
(11:29):
And then we overdubbed with thelate John Ball who spoke Spanish
as the Maestro, as the choirmaster tapping his bat on the
podium and shouting at them inSpanish that they were doing
something wrong or were out oftune and we completed the whole
track and I really just couldn'tbelieve, I couldn't believe the
results.
(11:50):
But you couldn't have done thaton film.
I mean, you could have, but itwould taken weeks.
David John (11:54):
Yeah.
And when was that?
1492...
that was kind of nineties,wasn't it?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Louis Elman (11:58):
And that's when I knew.
David John (11:59):
By then.
It had changed.
Everything had moved on.
Louis Elman (12:01):
[Now] when an actor turns up to work for me, he
doesn't turn up with a paperscript, he turns up with an
iPad.
I know.
Things have changed a greatdeal.
David John (12:12):
Great.
So I think we've got a reallygood picture of the loop ADR
world.
What we usually do at thispoint, we ask a few quick-fire
questions just to-
Louis Elman (12:25):
Nothing about my wife, I hope!
David John (12:27):
Only if you decide to choose to mention your wife!
So first one is, are you a catperson or a dog person?
Louis Elman (12:33):
Definitely a dog person.
David John (12:34):
Dog.
And you own a dog?
Louis Elman (12:36):
Oh yes.
Sydney's our Labrador retriever.
A rescue from Ireland and he's alovely dog.
Beautiful dog.
Love him.
Love him dearly.
David John (12:47):
Lovely.
And what's your favourite icecream?
Louis Elman (12:50):
Choc-ice every time!
David John (12:52):
We'll order one of those for you! Okay.
Here's a good one.
Favorite movie of all time?
Louis Elman (12:58):
That's difficult.
Because there's so many! I'dlike to say any James Cagney
film, and probably some of yourlisteners won't even know who
James Cagney is! But a wonderfulfilm called White Heat.
I was a great fan of SpencerTracy and a wonderful script
called Who's Coming to Dinnerwith Sidney Poitier and Spencer
(13:21):
Tracy and Katherine Hepburn.
And- not because I worked on it-but Four Weddings and a Funeral.
I loved that movie.
I thought it was fantastic.
David John (13:29):
But you did work on it?
Louis Elman (13:30):
Yes, we do.
Yeah.
Yeah.
David John (13:32):
Okay.
Have you been to the theatrelately?
If so, what have you seen?
Louis Elman (13:34):
Well, I have to say, Dave, that the last
production I saw was an amateurgroup.
I like to support the localamateur drama group.
And the last show we saw wasFiddler on the Roof and it was
brilliantly done.
And also, I look out for newtalent and if I think they're
good enough, I'll alwaysapproach them afterwards and
(13:56):
say, look, if you're interestedin, uh, being a professional
actor-
David John (14:01):
You can point them in the right way.
Louis Elman (14:02):
I can point them in the right direction.
If they'd like to join theAcademy and learn about voice
recording, they can.
But I like to support localgroups.
David John (14:11):
Where's that?
Where's your local group?
Louis Elman (14:12):
Chesham and High Wickham.
David John (14:13):
Great.
Yeah.
Okay.
So London, what's your favouriteplace in London?
Louis Elman (14:19):
Because I love fish and chips, I have to say Muswell
Hill.
David John (14:23):
Okay.
Muswell Hill!
Louis Elman (14:25):
Muswell Hill.
David John (14:26):
Because there's fish and chips.
Louis Elman (14:27):
You must go to Toff's.
David John (14:29):
I've been there.
Yeah.
Louis Elman (14:31):
There's number one fish and chips.
And I like Muswell Hill.
I like the ambience of MuswellHill.
A lot of actors live in MuswellHill.
David John (14:37):
I'm not too far from there myself.
Only a mile up the road.
Okay.
Brilliant! Thank you Louis.
Louis Elman (14:44):
Well, I hope I've been of some help!
David John (14:46):
Definitely.
Very interesting stuff.
Thank you.
We know it's a very niche world,but it's a very interesting
world that people don't oftenhear a lot about.
A secret part of the industry.
Louis Elman (14:58):
If you can get into that world, it can be- if
business is busy- it's quite alucrative way of earning money.
David John (15:08):
And there's always work.
There's ADR on everything thesedays.
Yes there is.
Yup.
Yup.
We'll be back next week withanother Squadcast and we'll be
talking about radio- audiodrama, radio drama.
We will have the wonderfulactress who Louis knows very
well, and has worked with a lot,Alison Dowling.
Louis Elman (15:28):
Oh God yes- she's wonderful.
David John (15:29):
She's fantastic.
She's best known as a ElizabethArcher in The Archers, but also
she is, well, I among otherscall her the Queen of ADR
because she's absolutelybrilliant at ADR as well.
So we'll get her perspective onradio, drama, audio drama, as
well as a bit more ADR as well.
Do subscribe to the podcast ifyou've enjoyed this and you're
(15:51):
interested in hearing more aboutthe audio world.
And rate us wherever you listento your podcasts.
So this was the Squadcast.
It's a Voice Squad Ltdproduction hosted by me, David
John, devised by Neil Conrich.
It's produced and edited by EmmaSamuel.
If you've got any questions atall about the show, the podcast
(16:12):
you've just listened to, or anyof the others, please visit our
website.
If you have any specificquestions, please drop us an
email.
Thank you.
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