Narration: Recording During a Dub
If you record narration ‘to picture’ you will record when the final edited version of the picture has been finalised and the other soundtracks have been prepared. You should record before you mix the other tracks together, making the commentary recording on a reel of new stock. The commentator can sit in a soundproof commentary compartment in the dubbing theatre. This time he can see the edited version of the film projected on a screen in front of him and he will have to read at exactly the right places. You can cue him for speaking by using a cue light and by listing the footages of the film alongside the paragraphs of his script. There is always a film footage counter under the screen in a dubbing theatre. This method of recording during a dub is widely used. It is a great time saver and, if the commentary writer is used to writing the correct number of words for a set period of time, there should not be any problem. For optimum accuracy it is best to pre-record and edit.
Dubbing procedure
When you have prepared all the different soundtracks you need you must make out a dubbing cue sheet, and take the tracks into a dubbing theatre so that they can be mixed together. The equipment in the dubbing theatre usually consists of a projector, locked to a number of sound reproducing channels and to one recording machine recording on 16mm magnetic stock. The various machines are synchronised to run together. They will normally run forward or in reverse, and remain in synchronism. When you dub, your cutting copy will be laced on the dubbing theatre projector and the separate magnetic soundtracks you have prepared will be laced on the various sound reproducing machines. A reel of new perforated magnetic film stock will be laced up on the recorder. The output of the tracks you have prepared will be fed to the recorder via a mixing console equipped with volume controls and sets of filters for each track. The man on the console (the dubbing mixer) blends your tracks together. He will take his cues from the picture projected in front of him, from your dubbing cue sheets and from a film footage counter under the screen. The various soundtracks he mixes together are recorded on one single track — the final mix master sound recording.
In a dubbing theatre magnetic recording machines which will reproduce your separate magnetic sound tracks (A) are linked to a projector (B) which will show your edited cutting copy. A footage counter (E) is also locked into the system. Output of the tracks is fed to a console (D) where the sound mixer adjusts the pitch and volume of each track and mixes all the tracks together to make a final master recording on perforated magnetic film (C).