Where to place the microphone when recording ADR?

[Rob Thomson]

Hi,

 

I've got a rode videomic and I need to dub/adr some lines, and I was wondering, what are the best conditions for doing this, short of having your own private recording studio?

I've just started learning Adobe Audition in preparation for sound mixing, but I'm sure the placement of the microphone and the conditions of the room you're recording in are going to play a big part in quality, so any advice would be mucho appreciated.

 

Thanks,

Rob.

[Alessandro Machi]

I'd be careful about recording directly into the computer if you are using consumer grade audio software applications. You might want to consider a test where you hook your microphone up to a portable recording device that you trust, record your audio, then input the audio via line in into the computer (ideally XLR inputs), versus making an audio recording that goes directly into the computer and see if you notice a difference between the two, and which one you like better.

[Nigel Smith]

You want the mic as close as possible to the talent, and a room that is acoustically as dead as possible.

A room with maximum soft furnishings and minimum large hard surfaces.

You can add room tone and you can add reverb, but you can't take it away.

[Marcus Joseph]

Yeah you will have to EQ the dialogue, but make sure it's a very noiseless room with little echo and the levels are just about right. In a proper studio, they often put up multiple mic sources (boom, right up close) to match it all properly and with the original recording.