They share stories from the studio, tips for aspiring loopers, and insights into why this small community is so important to every production. 🎤 In This Episode:
- What is looping, and why does Hollywood rely on it?
- How loopers are cast and directed
- The difference between looping, ADR, and Foley
- How voice matches work
- Why looping is hard to break into—and why it’s worth it
- The impact of AI on this specialized craft
- Tri-Booth — The ultimate portable vocal booth
- Austrian Audio — Making passion heard
A big shout-out to our sponsors, Austrian Audio and Tri Booth. Both these companies are providers of QUALITY Audio Gear (we wouldn't partner with them unless they were), so please, if you're in the market for some new kit, do us a solid and check out their products, and be sure to tell em "Robbo, George, Robert, and AP sent you"... As a part of their generous support of our show, Tri Booth is offering $200 off a brand-new booth when you use the code TRIPAP200. So get onto their website now and secure your new booth... https://tribooth.com/ And if you're in the market for a new Mic or killer pair of headphones, check out Austrian Audio. They've got a great range of top-shelf gear.. https://austrian.audio/ We have launched a Patreon page in the hopes of being able to pay someone to help us get the show to more people and in turn help them with the same info we're sharing with you. If you aren't familiar with Patreon, it’s an easy way for those interested in our show to get exclusive content and updates before anyone else, along with a whole bunch of other "perks" just by contributing as little as $1 per month. Find out more here.. https://www.patreon.com/proaudiosuite George has created a page that is strictly for Pro Audio Suite listeners, so check it out for the latest discounts and offers for TPAS listeners. https://georgethe.tech/tpas If you haven't filled out our survey on what you'd like to hear on the show, you can do it here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ZWT5BTD Join our Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/proaudiopodcast And the FB Group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/357898255543203 For everything else (including joining our mailing list for exclusive previews and other goodies), check out our website https://www.theproaudiosuite.com/ “When the going gets weird, the weird turn professional.” Hunter S Thompson
00:00:00
Get ready. Be history. Get started.
00:00:01
Welcome.
00:00:02
Hi. Hi. Hi.
00:00:03
Hello, everyone, to the pro audio suite.
00:00:06
These guys are professional and motivated.
00:00:08
Please take the video. Stars.
00:00:10
George
00:00:10
Wisdom, founder of Source Elements Robert
Marshall, international audio engineer.
00:00:14
And Robin
Roberts. And global voice and repeaters.
00:00:17
Thanks to tribal Austrian audio lighting,
passionate elements.
00:00:21
George the tech wisdom and Rob Irwin
APIs international demos.
00:00:25
To find out more about us.
00:00:26
Check the Proteas
sweetcorn line up. Ready?
00:00:30
Here we go.
00:00:31
I'm me and welcome to another pro
audio suite.
00:00:34
Thanks to tribals.
00:00:35
Don't forget the new tribals.
00:00:37
The memo and Austrian audio
making passion heard.
00:00:41
Now today
we have a couple of special guests.
00:00:43
Ryan Bartley and Justin Shinjiro.
00:00:46
And the reason we've got them
is because George was out one day.
00:00:49
I was outside. Concert and heard them.
00:00:52
Talk so loud out of my building,
and I was well into that building.
00:00:57
I think it's because the doors are open.
00:00:58
They couldn't stop me from walking in.
00:01:01
No, I was sitting there.
00:01:01
I went to see a client and friend
in our industry here.
00:01:05
Debbie Dairy Berry
and her really funny, fun acoustic group.
00:01:11
They call themselves honey Pig.
00:01:14
And apparently you guys know Debbie, too,
because you were there.
00:01:17
Yes. Yeah.
00:01:19
Well, yeah, I met Debbie,
right before that, actually,
00:01:23
at a, convention,
like an anime or a guest.
00:01:27
Just a pop culture convention.
00:01:29
That we were both guests at,
00:01:32
and, and I went up to her to meet her
because she is one of the people
00:01:36
I've always looked up to,
and she was so warm and welcoming,
00:01:39
and she gave me, I wanted,
like, a one of her, her prints, you know,
00:01:44
with her headshot and her characters
and all that to hang in my studio.
00:01:47
And she was so happy to give that to me.
00:01:50
And I also wanted to tell her
00:01:51
she had, made appearances on the picket
line during the video game strike.
00:01:56
Yeah.
00:01:57
And I just thought that was setting
such a good example.
00:02:00
And, you know,
so many of us in the next generation,
00:02:04
we all look up to her, you know,
and I wanted to tell her that in person,
00:02:07
that that really meant a lot
to see her out there.
00:02:10
And and,
marching alongside us and everything and.
00:02:14
Yeah. So.
And then she invited me to her show.
00:02:17
So I had to make an appearance at this.
00:02:19
But then it turns out that she's playing
with one of my other friends,
00:02:22
one of the other actresses, because it's,
three voice actresses in this band.
00:02:27
Debbie Dewberry and Brenda lasted,
and Stephanie Sullivan and Stephanie
00:02:30
and I were friends already.
So that was nice.
00:02:33
I got, you know, an excuse to see
all of them play, and they were wonderful.
00:02:37
They did such a good job.
How about you, judge? Excellent.
00:02:40
Well, that's a very cool story.
00:02:42
Way more than my story. I loved it.
00:02:45
I've actually known Debbie
for a long, long time.
00:02:48
She was just a guest on my podcast,
which you can check out of drops July 4th.
00:02:52
Established in the 90s, were all about
nostalgia and kind of the 90s decade.
00:02:57
And Debbie and I worked on a cartoon
many moons ago
00:03:00
called life with Louie, which was on Fox.
00:03:03
I played, a bully character
and Louie Anderson's best friend.
00:03:07
It was based on kind of Louie Anderson
as a kid, the comedian, who's hilarious.
00:03:12
And Debbie was in the cartoon, too.
00:03:14
So we've worked together for years
and known each other, and she's
00:03:17
just an absolute love and so brilliantly
talented, so funny and so great.
00:03:21
So yeah, I was just there
00:03:23
like Ryan supporting her and her band and,
you know, showing her some love.
00:03:27
Excellent. Nice.
00:03:27
Now the question is, of course,
because we were talking George
00:03:30
actually sent us all an email saying,
I've met these two guys,
00:03:34
that do a lot of looping.
00:03:35
They've been doing voice acting since
they were kids and all this kind of stuff.
00:03:39
So I don't know who wants to go first,
but what is your background
00:03:43
and when did you start? You.
00:03:45
I feel like you should go first. Me?
00:03:47
Yeah. Oh, wow. All right. Well.
00:03:50
I started at the ripe
old age of five and a half.
00:03:53
Wow. And,
my first commercial was for Mattel,
00:03:58
and I actually was flying in a harness,
which was a lot of fun.
00:04:01
So I got to fly.
00:04:03
And then when they'd say cut,
I'd run over to the craft service table
00:04:06
and take as many Chips
Ahoy cookies as possible,
00:04:10
which is great.
00:04:11
So yeah, I started back
then as, as an older fella and kind of
00:04:16
did the trajectory of most actors
when they're starting commercials.
00:04:21
And then I got into voiceover
and then I got into
00:04:24
on camera through guest spots reoccurring.
00:04:27
I did a couple series regulars
and TV shows and have done some films.
00:04:31
So been in the business
for a long, long time.
00:04:34
And also very fortunate to do looping
and just love it.
00:04:39
You know, we as actors,
we wear many hats and we direct, we write,
00:04:44
we have podcasts, we do voiceover,
we do it all. Yes.
00:04:47
Especially nowadays, you know.
00:04:49
That's right.
00:04:50
I mean, I don't.
00:04:51
Before we get to Ryan,
I want to ask you, like,
00:04:53
just from a very personal perspective,
00:04:55
my daughter pretty much bailed on it
about the age you started.
00:04:59
So she started as a baby.
00:05:00
Was she a Gerber
baby? She. Well, she could have been,
00:05:04
Not quite.
00:05:04
We submitted her.
00:05:05
I think she was one and a half.
00:05:06
And then we submitted her again when she
was, like, three, three and a half.
00:05:09
And they accepted her, and she was doing
print commercial,
00:05:13
you know, that kind of stuff.
00:05:15
But it was the
00:05:16
it was the getting shuttled around town,
and my mom's on, her mom's unconditioned,
00:05:20
air conditioned car listening to her mom
complain about traffic
00:05:25
and just the the the whole thing
of being at that whole process.
00:05:29
What do you remember of that? At that?
00:05:31
Oh, it's a schlep.
00:05:32
I remember exactly what you just
described, but, yeah, it was,
00:05:36
but you made it through somehow.
00:05:37
I mean, you're but I. Enjoyed. It.
00:05:40
Yeah, like with my mom and dad. Got me in.
00:05:42
And then, unfortunately,
my dad passed away when I was young,
00:05:44
and so it was just
my mom taking me to auditions
00:05:48
and taking me to acting class,
and she was amazing.
00:05:51
Wow. And. But it was a schlep.
00:05:52
I mean, we lived in Redondo Beach,
which is like an hour
00:05:55
and a half from where all the auditions
are in Hollywood and Burbank.
00:05:58
And so I do my homework in the car,
get to the audition,
00:06:02
you know, finish my homework on the way
back, we'd maybe stop at the hard rock
00:06:06
when the hard rock was big and get
a burger and a milkshake and some fries.
00:06:09
So it was.
00:06:10
Yeah, right after school,
from about 315 on
00:06:13
to getting home at about 7:38 p.m.
00:06:16
pretty much every day.
00:06:18
And,
that was at school, sports and acting.
00:06:22
The hard Rock cafe.
00:06:23
You really are a 90s child, aren't you?
00:06:25
Oh, yeah.
00:06:26
Full 90s.
00:06:27
Lots of hard rock it was.
00:06:29
Now, it's not even.
00:06:30
There used to be the Beverly Center in LA.
00:06:32
And now I think it's like a,
you know, a clothing store.
00:06:35
Sydney, that used to be a Planet
00:06:36
Hollywood and a hard rock,
and they're both gone, so. Yeah.
00:06:39
Oh, yeah.
00:06:39
I had some stock in Planet
Hollywood that went to stupid.
00:06:43
Yeah. Who gave you that team? Right.
00:06:45
Yeah.
00:06:46
Not not
it wasn't Stallone. Let me tell you that.
00:06:53
We did it.
00:06:54
We did the opening wife
did the opening of, Planet Hollywood.
00:06:58
What? Disco planet?
00:06:59
What planet Hollywood, down
at the casino in Melbourne.
00:07:02
And still I'm out for it.
00:07:04
And it was so funny
because he's so freaking short,
00:07:07
and there was a huge crowd.
00:07:08
All you could see was a light light bulb
running through the crowd
00:07:12
that was filming him. Because you could.
00:07:15
See Sylvester Stallone somewhere.
00:07:17
Yeah, absolutely. That's cool.
00:07:20
Come on, Ryan, give us your story.
00:07:21
Yeah, yeah.
00:07:21
So, I started acting as a kid doing,
like, theater productions.
00:07:27
I did a lot of community.
00:07:28
I started with community theater,
you know, and I used to take dance classes
00:07:33
and, singing, and I played guitar
and mandolin as a kid, and and I just.
00:07:37
I liked performing, you know, so, I,
00:07:42
I kind of started
00:07:44
doing voiceover
because I had an agent for on camera work,
00:07:47
and I was I was based in Texas,
00:07:51
and, and I started getting some voiceover
00:07:54
auditions from my on camera agent
and thinking, oh, this is kind of fun.
00:07:58
Like, this is, you know, kind of cool.
00:08:00
And I don't think at the time I was yet
aware that, you know,
00:08:04
oh, there's cartoons and there's
all these different types of voiceover
00:08:07
because it started with sort of commercial
voiceover work, as I remember.
00:08:12
And I, I auditioned to be on Radio
Disney Radio.
00:08:15
I don't even know if Radio Disney
still exists.
00:08:17
I don't think it does, actually.
00:08:18
But,
they used to use real kids to do their on
00:08:22
air promos,
and it would be like Radio Disney.
00:08:25
We're all ears.
00:08:26
Like,
they're little, like, you know, 98.7.
00:08:29
And they would have these kids,
these real kids do it.
00:08:31
And promoting things
that were on like like
00:08:34
The Cheetah Girls this Saturday
at the Honda Center, you know, like that,
00:08:37
like promoting those sort of spots
locally for all over the country.
00:08:42
But they had a big office in Dallas.
00:08:44
And so I auditioned a few years in a row.
00:08:49
I remember,
like not getting picked several times.
00:08:52
And they would have these open calls
at like, like one year it was at a movie
00:08:56
theater, one year it was at the Texas
Rangers baseball stadium.
00:08:59
So they'd be at like these public places,
you know, where you could come out
00:09:03
with your whole family
and try to be on Radio Disney, you know?
00:09:06
And it took me like a couple of years
to get this job, and I really wanted it.
00:09:10
And then finally I got picked and,
and then I kind of fell and I
00:09:15
that was kind of around the time
00:09:16
I decided, like, I want to do voiceover,
you know, I like this.
00:09:20
I'm having a lot of fun doing this.
00:09:22
And I'm starting to get jobs doing this.
00:09:25
And I started taking classes, in
animation, like, not to be an animator.
00:09:30
I mean, like voiceover classes
for voiceover in it, in animation. And,
00:09:36
there's a teacher, a coach out here in LA
00:09:40
named Tony Gonzalez that specializes
in teaching children voiceover.
00:09:44
And he teaches all the kid stars
on all the things that kids are stars
00:09:50
of, you know, and, has a lot
of really successful clients.
00:09:54
And he was one of my first voiceover
coaches.
00:09:57
And I think he was coming back
00:10:01
and forth between Texas and L.A., like,
he would do workshops in Texas sometimes.
00:10:05
And I was coming out to LA from Texas
for pilot season and episodic
00:10:09
to audition for at the time,
on camera work as well as voiceover.
00:10:13
But, he helped me,
00:10:16
find my first representation
in voiceover.
00:10:19
And, and he then I was
I was auditioning for voiceover.
00:10:23
Even when I wasn't in LA,
they would send me these auditions
00:10:27
and I would record myself and
and send it back.
00:10:29
Or I think at the time I would,
00:10:31
you know, have to go to Dallas
to rent a studio
00:10:33
or something to record myself
because we didn't even have
00:10:36
the the home microphones
or anything like we do nowadays.
00:10:41
But anyway, I was basically
00:10:42
doing these auditions from Texas thinking,
if I book something, I'll come to L.A.
00:10:46
and do the job, you know?
00:10:47
And I did booked a little bit
as a as a, like, as a teenager,
00:10:51
a couple commercials here and there.
00:10:52
You know, it's always slow starting out
and, just dreaming
00:10:56
of working in animation,
you know, and I just kept at it.
00:11:01
I took a lot of classes for many,
many years.
00:11:03
I went to an arts
magnet high school in Dallas,
00:11:06
Booker T Washington High School
for the Performing and Visual Arts.
00:11:09
Really,
really great, arts magnet high school.
00:11:12
And then I graduated early
and moved to LA to pursue acting.
00:11:17
And I took a look like what would have
been my senior year of high school.
00:11:23
Took it off, tried to tried to audition
and, you know, be on that grind.
00:11:26
You know, like I went to USC film school,
like when I would have normally,
00:11:32
if I had gone to high school
all four years.
00:11:37
So I went to USC, went to film school,
00:11:39
and, continued to pursue acting
00:11:43
and do voiceover auditions,
while I was in college,
00:11:47
and it was still really slow
to start getting jobs.
00:11:51
But eventually, you know,
I just kept at it
00:11:54
and kept making connections
and taking classes and getting better.
00:11:57
And you're too. Stubborn. You're just.
00:12:00
Yeah.
00:12:00
So now you know,
00:12:01
now I have a career full time in voiceover
and I do a lot of anime dubbing.
00:12:06
I do a lot of,
loop group work with Justin,
00:12:10
which I'm sure we'll get into,
but I do a lot of video games
00:12:13
and, I'm in the Sonic
the Hedgehog franchise now.
00:12:16
It's one of the latest Sonic games,
wrote Doctor Robotnik.
00:12:21
Eggman, Sonic's nemesis,
has developed himself an AI daughter.
00:12:24
Her name is sage,
so I'm now in the in the Sonic I.
00:12:28
I'm his daughter. Yeah.
00:12:29
Can I make a confession?
00:12:31
When you talk about Sonic the Hedgehog?
Yeah,
00:12:34
I was out in the garage on the weekend,
and I found my old Nintendo 64.
00:12:37
Do you know what I was doing last night?
00:12:39
I was playing
Sonic the Hedgehog on my 1992 Nintendo 64.
00:12:44
That is very cool.
00:12:45
You get a lot of Gen
Z people very jealous.
00:12:48
I also love that,
I love that, that's very cool.
00:12:52
Well, now I'm in the Sonic the Hedgehog
franchise, which is a dream come true,
00:12:56
but I'm in also.
00:12:57
I'm in so many things
that I'm proud to talk about.
00:13:00
I'm in the hello Kitty friend
00:13:01
I'm pump pumper in, which is one of
Hello Kitty's friends is the Yellow Dog.
00:13:05
And we have a series called
hello Kitty and friends
00:13:07
super cute adventures that send.
00:13:08
It's like, I want to say 11th
or 12th season or something like that.
00:13:12
Yeah.
00:13:14
And then,
and then I'm just so happy to be in
00:13:17
lots of cool things that I'm really proud
about and happy to talk about.
00:13:21
But we're here to talk about looping. So.
00:13:23
Hey. I've got a serious question for you.
00:13:26
Yeah, yeah.
00:13:26
You talked about like,
you know, how difficult it was to get in.
00:13:30
And there's a lot of people who listen
00:13:32
to our show who want to be voiceover
artists and want to get more work.
00:13:35
Yeah.
00:13:36
How important is tenacity
in terms of never giving up,
00:13:40
never going
oh well look I'm not going to get there.
00:13:42
How important was that
to get you where you were today?
00:13:45
I mean, I have you have to you have to
truly believe that you can do this.
00:13:50
And it takes it really does take years.
00:13:52
I remember even when I was training with,
the person that I mentioned, Tony
00:13:57
Gonzalez, that,
you know, teaches kids even back then,
00:14:00
he told us it takes about ten years
to get established in this.
00:14:03
And he was right.
00:14:04
I mean,
00:14:05
it did can really take quite a long time
because the people that do it are so good.
00:14:09
I mean, it's an incredibly competitive
industry to, to break into,
00:14:14
and there's no egos.
00:14:14
You can't get an ego.
Everyone's very replaceable.
00:14:17
Everyone that's working is very,
very good.
00:14:19
So everyone's very down to earth
and every, you know, you you have to
00:14:23
just kind of be be good to work with,
be solid, be good at what you do.
00:14:27
And, you know, just keep at it.
00:14:30
Like it's just that's kind of the thing.
00:14:31
I just saw an interview with Seth Rogen
where he was saying, you know,
00:14:34
this is an industry where
if you keep at it, you might make it.
00:14:39
If you don't, then you won't.
00:14:40
And that's like, that is that's the bottom
line is like given enough time,
00:14:45
if you try really hard,
this is a thing that's achievable.
00:14:48
You know, and you also have to
I mean, there is the factor of luck,
00:14:53
but I oh, you know, it's
one of those things where the harder
00:14:55
I work, the luckier I get, you know,
I mean, that's
00:14:58
so I always try to be prepared
for whatever's coming, but, but
00:15:03
it's a wild West out there, you know, it's
it's it's a pretty crazy industry, but,
00:15:08
you know, I'm thankful to be in it,
and I wouldn't want to do anything else.
00:15:12
This is, you know, this is my dream. Oh,
there might be might be hope for me yet.
00:15:15
36 years as an audio engineer. I'm like.
00:15:16
Yes, any day now.
00:15:20
Good good good good.
00:15:21
No, it's interesting
because it is fueling them, isn't it?
00:15:23
You're right.
00:15:24
Absolutely. Yeah.
00:15:25
You just bang,
bang, bang, bang into one of them.
00:15:27
But it also never stops.
00:15:28
I mean, you know, like I said, 36 years
as an audio engineer, I mean, I,
00:15:32
you know, I didn't last that long
because I didn't sit.
00:15:34
I just sat and rested on my laurels.
00:15:36
It never stops the whole, you know.
00:15:38
And it doesn't get easier.
00:15:40
Like I tell people all the time, like, I'm
we still have to audition all the time.
00:15:44
It's not like
00:15:45
the next job is necessarily easier just
because you have established yourself.
00:15:49
Finally, you know,
00:15:50
every single time you're going up
against the best of the best, you know?
00:15:53
So it is something you have to keep sharp
and keep proving yourself over and over
00:15:57
and over again.
00:15:58
Yeah.
00:15:58
Even though and. You have to
you have to make sacrifices as well.
00:16:01
Like big sacrifices.
00:16:02
You know, the voices of,
like, really like, iconic characters
00:16:05
who you think these
this is the voice of that character.
00:16:09
You know, I think of Bob Bergen and Porky.
00:16:11
Yeah. He he loses that role sometimes.
00:16:15
He doesn't get that role automatically.
00:16:17
That's not how it works.
00:16:18
Yeah.
00:16:19
I know he still has to audition
for guaranteed. Yeah.
00:16:22
Nothing is guaranteed.
00:16:23
Yeah, there's a new one.
00:16:24
I think, actually, I forget the.
00:16:26
His name, I.
00:16:27
Believe, is the fellow Eric. Is his name
Eric? Yeah.
00:16:29
Eric Bauza.
00:16:31
Yeah.
00:16:31
Yeah, he's kind of become the new one.
00:16:34
Kind of of of, Looney Tunes.
00:16:38
He just has that gift
00:16:40
and they're like, if we can hire one guy
that's cheaper than hiring two.
00:16:44
Yeah, that's right.
00:16:45
My wife sent me a video last night
on Facebook.
00:16:47
The guy who does the voice of Tigger
in Winnie the Pooh,
00:16:50
and he had
he had his grandson, like, baby, like,
00:16:53
you know,
six months old, sitting on his lap.
00:16:54
And he was talking to him in Tigger voice.
It was so. Fun.
00:16:57
Oh, it's one. Of those ones. You just go,
oh yeah, yeah.
00:16:59
Yeah, it's Jim Cummings.
00:17:00
Wow, that's really cool.
00:17:01
Yeah. Jim he's he's done okay. Yeah.
00:17:04
All right.
00:17:05
Yeah yeah yeah.
00:17:07
Audition.
00:17:07
I'll tell you I get emails from him
I Scarlett doesn't work.
00:17:11
No, I'm not kidding.
00:17:13
He's on it.
00:17:13
Scarlett. Really?
00:17:15
Yeah. Wow. Jesus.
00:17:17
You think he could do a bit better
than that? Wouldn't there?
00:17:19
Maybe pay too much?
00:17:20
Whatever it takes.
00:17:21
It's sometimes simpler. Is better.
00:17:23
As he always tell me he's Amish,
so you have to think like an Amish guy.
00:17:28
Absolutely. So. So you. Got to feel.
00:17:30
Sorry I take out.
00:17:31
What was that I was.
00:17:32
Going to say,
if you're Amish, good luck with that one.
00:17:34
Exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:17:36
You got a pedal, pedal, pedal
your bike to power up source connect.
00:17:42
So, guys, you you're you better feel.
00:17:44
I seen the reason you're here is because
we wanted to talk about looping. So.
00:17:47
So for the uninitiated, give us a 52nd
rendition of what looping is all about.
00:17:52
All right, so if you see Spider-Man
flying across the sky
00:17:55
and you hear all the pedestrians below
going, whoa, what was that?
00:17:58
Did you see that? Look up there.
00:18:00
All of that in every movie,
every TV show we're talking,
00:18:03
every group crowd scene, every courtroom,
every mall, every food court.
00:18:08
All the noises that you hear in
every movie and TV show is done
00:18:11
in post-production
by voice actors called a loop group.
00:18:14
Because on the set,
you know, you've heard quiet on set.
00:18:17
They can't let these extras talk
00:18:19
because they're recording principal
audio of the celebrities you know?
00:18:23
So it's quiet on set.
00:18:25
All the things you hear
are done in post-production.
00:18:26
And that is what's called a loop group.
00:18:28
It's voice actors,
and we're brought in to fill in all that.
00:18:30
It can also be all sorts of other random
things, including fight efforts,
00:18:35
kiss noises,
because a kiss like the smack,
00:18:37
like a noise doesn't pick up on the mic
when, like when the actors are on
00:18:42
set doing that.
00:18:42
So we're just making out with our hands,
making that noise.
00:18:46
They, you know, with a loop group.
Not with Foley.
00:18:48
No. They basically vocal Foley
by the sounds.
00:18:51
Yeah, we we do.
00:18:52
Well it can be. Yeah.
00:18:53
That part of it, you know.
00:18:55
But and then I don't know
if Foley artists also
00:18:58
sometimes do it,
I don't know I know that we do it.
00:19:01
I know we do it sometimes in loop group.
00:19:03
They, they do the sheets.
00:19:04
And then it's also things like you,
like you.
00:19:06
Yeah, they probably do.
00:19:08
It's like they clean. Also things.
00:19:11
I was going to say also for anybody
listening, not watching this because we're
00:19:15
seeing each other on the video,
when Ryan's head making out with a hand,
00:19:20
like you said.
00:19:20
In hand. Yes.
00:19:21
Just to be.
00:19:22
Yeah.
00:19:22
Yes. They,
But we also do, it can be things like,
00:19:27
PPAs, over intercoms and hospitals.
00:19:31
Yeah, it can be police radio.
00:19:33
Any police radio that you hear in movies,
it can be, airline clean up
00:19:38
edits for, say, they're going to put this
R-rated thing on the air
00:19:42
on some airline, you know,
and they need you to pick up a line.
00:19:46
So, like, for example,
I got into this part of voiceover
00:19:49
by being cast as a voice match for,
00:19:52
on camera, teeny teeny bopper
celebrity, basically.
00:19:57
And she couldn't come in
to do whatever pick up they had.
00:19:59
So they they needed a voice match.
00:20:01
And the person that cast
that ran a loop group.
00:20:04
And that's how I got,
into into that world.
00:20:07
So it's also the people that would hire
the voice matches sometimes.
00:20:11
Our loop group leaders. So.
00:20:14
About particular stuff like, so like,
say there was,
00:20:18
I don't know, like a hostage movie,
and you don't you never see the character,
00:20:21
but there's a dude that's always on the,
the, the, the two way.
00:20:25
Is that a loop group
or is that someone that
00:20:27
they specifically cast,
or is it depends on the director?
00:20:30
How does that sort of.
00:20:30
Stuff depends on the director and depends
how many lines it is.
00:20:33
So if it's not,
if it's not a ton of lines,
00:20:35
they might trust the loop group leader
to bring in people on the day that do that
00:20:39
are going to be in the loop group anyway,
and they will have that.
00:20:42
A few different men do alts, of that.
00:20:46
So a few different people
try takes of that.
00:20:48
And then maybe the director wants
to decide who they're going to use later,
00:20:51
when they're editing it.
00:20:52
But if it's scripted in,
it's a lot like it's a bigger role then.
00:20:55
Yeah, it could be
then like an actual role that is cast.
00:20:59
And sometimes if it's just a voice over
role, a loop group leader might be in
00:21:03
charge of casting that role.
00:21:06
So but yeah, it's
00:21:07
it kind of depends on the director's
preference sometimes.
00:21:10
And then also,
how much are we talking about?
00:21:12
Because if it's more than a couple lines,
they have to pay you more to set that up.
00:21:16
At that point
00:21:17
they're probably going to cast someone
and, you know, have auditions and stuff.
00:21:20
Yeah sure.
00:21:21
Okay.
00:21:21
So how many times do you do
00:21:24
you fit in a goofy line
there, like make a conversation?
00:21:27
It's like all this big wallah
and then you're like,
00:21:30
oh my God,
did you see the zit on her face?
00:21:32
Look at the size of this.
My God, that's massive.
00:21:35
Yeah, yeah.
00:21:36
Just do you want to take that? Like.
00:21:38
Not too often because we want. You must.
00:21:40
Yeah.
00:21:40
Come on Justin, you look like our point.
00:21:43
Our our purpose is to blend
in, not seek out.
00:21:46
You know what I mean?
00:21:47
So it's like we have to it's almost like
it's it's all improv for the most part.
00:21:50
Every once in a while,
there's a scripted line.
00:21:52
They call that a specific.
00:21:54
Or, you know, they might tell you
we have a scripted moment, right?
00:21:57
But a lot of it is improv.
00:21:58
But your job is basically to do
unfunny improv.
00:22:02
This is like,
don't draw attention to yourself.
00:22:04
Like, keep it neutral, keep it nerdy.
00:22:06
It's nondescript, you know, and blend
into the world so that you don't.
00:22:10
Cause when you you want it, if it's good,
you won't notice it,
00:22:14
that it's one of those kind of things.
00:22:15
So it's like if it if it pokes out,
then you're maybe not doing it right.
00:22:19
That's what she said.
00:22:20
Like, do.
00:22:20
You almost find that if you literally
don't use real words, you can
00:22:24
you can go more into the background
than if you are real?
00:22:27
Well, they call they have
there's a name for that.
00:22:29
It's called Chomsky.
00:22:30
And it's like where your mush mouth like,
well, is here
00:22:34
or mine and I quite like it.
00:22:35
And some peop,
some directors actually prefer that.
00:22:38
Believe it or not, there's some,
00:22:39
there's some shows stylistically
they prefer that sound.
00:22:44
What's, what's it called again
Chomsky. Chomsky.
00:22:46
What is it?
00:22:47
Justin Chomsky chatter. Chomsky.
00:22:50
So it's more like a wala as opposed to
actual specific words that you're saying.
00:22:54
You just kind of mama.
00:22:55
It's like, yeah, it's like,
00:22:56
imagine if you had marbles in your mouth,
so you're not fully making out the words.
00:23:00
So it's just really good
to kind of blend into the background.
00:23:03
And that doesn't fight the dialog so much.
00:23:06
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's like speaking in words. Yeah.
00:23:08
But not quite as And I mean,
speaking in tongues and tongues.
00:23:12
Right, right, right. Speaking in tongues.
Speaking in tongues.
00:23:15
But I was going to say it's speaking.
00:23:17
I don't do that person.
00:23:18
It's kind of like. A mush mouth for. Sure.
00:23:20
We're all, I'm wearing one of our choir.
00:23:22
Or like, it's kind of that thing.
00:23:25
Yeah. It's like talking to my.
00:23:26
Teenage, like me on the weekend.
Yeah. Okay.
00:23:30
So fun that the question comes for me
then.
00:23:31
Are you doing this in studio
or are you doing this in location?
00:23:34
Like if it's Spider-Man
on the side of the building,
00:23:36
are you in an alleyway somewhere,
00:23:38
or is it all done in studio
and then sort of matched up later?
00:23:41
How do they do that?
00:23:42
Yeah, they're not
they're not paying for this on set.
00:23:43
And yeah,
this is like on it on a soundstage.
00:23:47
But I have been asked to go outside
for certain cues,
00:23:50
depending on the,
the editors preferences.
00:23:53
I was going to say as an editor,
this like outside stuff recorded outside.
00:23:57
Sometimes they do.
00:23:58
So I worked on, Joker two folly, ladoo
00:24:01
or and we did record a few scenes outside
00:24:04
because we were recording on the lot
on Warner Brothers and weird.
00:24:08
You know how there's mob scenes and Joker,
all these people outside
00:24:11
chanting and stuff. So, yeah,
we did a couple cues out.
00:24:14
I don't know if what we recorded
made, made if that version of those
00:24:18
takes made the cut, but yeah,
but yes, it's a stylistic choice.
00:24:21
It depends on what the sound
designer want.
00:24:23
It's just because it's so hard.
00:24:25
It's so hard to make something inside
sound outside.
00:24:28
Absolutely.
With the best sound stages. Yeah.
00:24:30
But at 9999%,
you're shooting at a stage.
00:24:36
Yeah. And because it's. Controlled,
that's the thing.
00:24:38
You've got your airplanes
going over old car horns or whatever.
00:24:41
Yeah that's right.
00:24:42
It's fine.
00:24:42
When we do go outside,
it's like you're taking a field trip.
00:24:46
It's like,
oh, now we're doing something different.
00:24:48
Like,
this is kind of exciting and different.
00:24:49
They have to get a boom, you know?
00:24:51
Now bring your lunch, kids,
and bring your.
00:24:52
Bring your water bottle. Yeah, yeah.
00:24:55
Do you guys milk
because of the sun. Yeah. Is it like, oh
00:24:59
no. No
00:25:00
we I mean I think we leave that
for like the end of the day kind of thing.
00:25:04
Yeah, yeah.
00:25:05
So come on Namedrop both of you.
00:25:06
Anything, anything big that we know.
00:25:08
No, no,
not that we heard you in. But what?
00:25:10
You know, where would I. Want to hear?
00:25:12
Yeah.
What are some of your coolest ones? Just.
00:25:14
Yeah. Come on, let's go.
00:25:15
I have I have a fun one.
00:25:17
I was in, I actually,
this is way back in the day.
00:25:20
I got called to come in to do
good Will hunting, and.
00:25:24
Oh, just because Gus Van
Sant was directing it.
00:25:27
And I was actually a,
you know, a huge fan of of him.
00:25:30
I didn't know the any of the actors in it
because they were just beginning
00:25:33
and we had to audition.
00:25:35
It was Eric Von Denton who
00:25:37
I don't think works anymore,
but he was a very pretty big 90s star.
00:25:41
It was myself and like six other actors
who auditioned on the stage,
00:25:45
which is very rare.
Usually you go in, you have the job.
00:25:47
We had auditioned for Gus Van Sant
and he chose Eric and I,
00:25:51
and we went on the stage
and we performed in this scene.
00:25:55
I don't know if you remember the movie,
but it's, takes place on a basketball
00:25:58
court, and we played the kids in one end
who run over and are yelling,
00:26:03
you know, with these other kids
to beat the hell out of Matt Damon.
00:26:05
So we had like, Boston accents
and were cursing and yelling.
00:26:08
And Matt Damon came up to me
00:26:10
and I didn't know who Matt
Damon was or Ben Affleck was.
00:26:12
I thought they were possessed
because they looked so young.
00:26:15
Eddie.
00:26:16
He came to me and he said, hey, thanks
so much for for, you know, coming on.
00:26:20
And I said, yeah,
of course, I'm thrilled to be here.
00:26:22
I was 16 and he's like,
can I get you anything?
00:26:24
I was like, a cappuccino would be great.
00:26:26
Yeah.
00:26:27
And so Matt Damon brought me a cappuccino.
00:26:30
Oh, wow.
00:26:31
Yeah. That's right.
00:26:32
And then, you know, suddenly,
00:26:34
nine months later,
I was watching them win the Oscars.
00:26:36
So that was fun. Wow.
00:26:38
The 40 year old. Virgin was really fun.
00:26:40
I got to work with Seth Rogen.
00:26:43
Kind of going back to
what Robert was saying.
00:26:45
You know, usually 99.9%,
just like Ryan mentioned, were very.
00:26:48
And blend in the background.
00:26:50
No cursing. You don't want to stand out.
00:26:53
But Seth, who was in the film
and produced it, was there with us
00:26:57
and he wanted us to go buckwild.
00:26:58
So he's like,
I want you to curse up a storm.
00:27:01
I want you to go wild.
00:27:03
And we were just it was like the nastiest
bathroom humor you would ever imagine.
00:27:09
One of the most fun days I've ever done.
00:27:11
Looping scene was that.
00:27:12
Oh, it was like half the movie.
00:27:14
Oh, okay.
00:27:14
So movie. The whole bunch of him. Yeah.
00:27:16
We we were cursing.
00:27:17
I'll give you a decent last one.
00:27:19
So can you ever pick yourself out
when you watch the movie?
00:27:22
Yeah, sometimes because I have kind of,
oh, a little bit of a distinct voice
00:27:25
you can hear, but
00:27:26
I did B-movie a lot with Jerry Seinfeld,
I did ADR, I'm all over that movie.
00:27:30
But, there was another movie that.
00:27:33
Partially.
00:27:34
And I'll tell me about B-movie
because that's one of our favorite movies
00:27:37
in the house with the kids.
00:27:38
Oh, really?
00:27:39
So I played one of the beekeepers in ADR.
00:27:41
They got caught in.
00:27:43
Yeah, I worked on it for like, three days
every day.
00:27:45
Jerry Seinfeld did a different
course that he'd show up in.
00:27:48
Of course.
00:27:49
Yeah. He's cool. Yeah, he was cool.
00:27:51
I'll give you a last story,
which Frank Marshall directed.
00:27:54
You know, he was a massive film director,
and it was one of those movies I forget.
00:27:58
But it was, you know, how they would have,
like, the Valentine's Day movie,
00:28:01
and they were all.
00:28:02
They put all these stars together,
like the July 4th movie.
00:28:05
And I think it was a Valentine's
Day movie, and it was on a film.
00:28:08
A lot of times,
they'll have a lot of bloopers.
00:28:11
They're not so much anymore.
00:28:12
But back in the day,
there'd be like 18 of us or 22.
00:28:15
Well, Ryan,
00:28:16
I, you know, typically work on TV shows
now where there's like four people
00:28:20
or six people, maybe eight.
00:28:21
But back then they had, you
know, a lot of folks who would show up.
00:28:24
And there was a kissing scene.
00:28:26
And like Ryan mentioned earlier,
you know, you take your your hand and
00:28:29
you kind of kiss into it.
00:28:31
But Frank Marshall's, assistant
00:28:34
and one of the assistant editors
they threw into the group
00:28:38
because in what we do, it's a lot of like,
00:28:40
we're pros, but you get a lot of friends
or cousins or nephews.
00:28:44
They get thrown into the group with us
or must hires, which is always fun.
00:28:48
That's another story.
00:28:49
So what happens is
there's this kissing scene and it's the
00:28:53
and it's these two folks
who have never done looping in their life.
00:28:57
And I yell out, well, really?
00:28:58
Lay one on
or you really got to kiss her fully.
00:29:01
And he had no idea.
00:29:03
She had no idea
because they'd never done it before.
00:29:06
So we hear beep, beep, beep,
and he turns to her, grabs
00:29:09
her and gives her a full kiss with tongue.
00:29:15
Tie. Everybody was laughing so hard.
00:29:19
Oh my gosh,
that was one of the funniest moments.
00:29:21
That's awesome.
00:29:22
That's awesome.
00:29:23
Yeah, that's that's a classic.
00:29:25
So yeah, I've told this story before.
00:29:26
I've told the guys this story before,
I think.
00:29:28
But talking about like ADR
or picking up lines, it was a movie.
00:29:32
Russell Crowe had done a movie,
I think it was called Pearls or something.
00:29:37
I've never seen the film anyway,
so I get sent in an audition from my agent
00:29:42
and say, we need to do a pick up line
for Russell Crowe.
00:29:45
I'm like, okay, it's cool, I can do that.
00:29:48
So and they sent me a bit of the dialog
with Russell Crowe.
00:29:51
No, it wasn't the go.
00:29:52
Remember that Russell Crowe
is actually from New Zealand,
00:29:55
but he's sort of seen as an Australian.
00:29:57
So you kind of go, okay,
well that'll kind of work
00:30:01
tonally.
00:30:01
Yeah I can do that. Let's say that's fine.
00:30:04
But then I played the dialog
that the actual film
00:30:07
that I was actually dropping into
for the ADR, and it's Russell Crowe,
00:30:12
who's a New Zealander, grew up in
Australia playing an American Irish guy.
00:30:18
You always
00:30:19
I'm like.
00:30:20
I you can.
00:30:22
Yeah, I.
00:30:23
That's a lot of layers. That was. Said.
00:30:25
There's a lot of layers.
00:30:27
Obviously I didn't get that.
00:30:28
But luckily.
00:30:30
Ryan's laid down some of your faves.
00:30:32
Oh, yeah. So,
00:30:34
well, I'm, I'm very honored to have gotten
to work on a lot of the Marvel movies,
00:30:39
including Infinity War,
00:30:43
all of the the new Spider-Man, movies.
00:30:47
Oh, what is it?
00:30:47
I think far homecoming, far from home
and no way home.
00:30:51
A few of the latest X-Men movies.
00:30:54
Apocalypse and Dark Phoenix.
00:30:58
Some really cool,
00:30:58
animated movies like Boss Baby,
Captain underpants.
00:31:03
What else?
00:31:04
Oh, I have, a cool little line.
00:31:08
A moment in the new Lilo and Stitch.
00:31:10
Oh, nice.
00:31:11
The new live action. Lilo and stitch.
00:31:13
It's me that's the aardvark
looking alien that says something like.
00:31:17
In 12 hours, he's expected
to land on a planet called Earth or so.
00:31:22
And so on. That I mispronounced Earth.
00:31:25
Typecast in a classic.
00:31:27
Moment that's also in the animated film.
00:31:29
But in the live action,
the new live action one, it's me.
00:31:33
And, and, yeah, some TV shows like,
00:31:37
I was a big fan of the original sex
and the city I got to work on.
00:31:42
When they rebooted it, as it's called.
00:31:45
And just like that,
00:31:46
and I got to do some of that,
which was really cool for me personally.
00:31:49
I love Sex. City.
00:31:51
I love the show.
00:31:51
You know, if similarly,
I got to do a little bit of the Dexter
00:31:55
New Blood and I was a big fan of
the original Dexter, so that was exciting.
00:31:59
And then I also,
I also got to do the Gossip Girl reboot.
00:32:03
So, you know, a lot we're in like reboot,
you know, sequel ville.
00:32:08
So it's a lot of those.
00:32:09
But it's cool
when it's like something that
00:32:10
you worked on
or that you watched in the day.
00:32:13
It's like, oh, now it's back
and I get to work on it.
00:32:15
And then, a couple others are like.
00:32:17
Like I do what the boys and Gen V,
so yeah, just like a lot of cool random.
00:32:22
And those are shows that I would watch.
00:32:24
Like these are great shows that I enjoy.
00:32:25
I enjoy the boys is pretty violent,
but but like,
00:32:29
these are shows that I, you know,
I they're very critically acclaimed.
00:32:33
They're really cool shows and I
and when we work on them, we get,
00:32:36
you know,
we get to see it before everybody else.
00:32:39
I so it's, it's cool if you like
the behind the scenes of movies.
00:32:43
I went to film school.
00:32:44
So I love seeing the different stages
00:32:47
of a film, and we're seeing it
when it's pretty close to being out,
00:32:51
because this is something this is one
of the last things, the last minute stuff.
00:32:54
Yeah, this is. After the audio
mix. Is done.
00:32:56
So it's like, you know, it's already
for the most part pitcher locked.
00:32:59
They've made some
00:33:00
some decisions and they're feeling one way
or another about the product.
00:33:04
But you know by this point
they're either nervous or they're excited.
00:33:07
Sometimes they know they've got gold
and sometimes they're nervous.
00:33:10
And and you get to see that, you know.
00:33:12
And so it's just it's fascinating from
like the behind the scenes perspective.
00:33:15
And then just some like a couple of,
you know, moments that stuck with me.
00:33:20
I will say that sometimes
00:33:22
if it's a director that's really hands
on, maybe it's their first movie,
00:33:27
their first feature, or,
they're just young and hungry.
00:33:31
They will actually sometimes
be there in the session.
00:33:34
And that has been really cool
when when people have made appearances,
00:33:38
like for Y2K, Kyle Mooney came
and he was a delight to work with.
00:33:43
He was so funny and like,
willing to experiment and like,
00:33:46
he was just laughing
at what we were giving him.
00:33:48
And he loved our improv.
00:33:50
And, you know,
he was pitching us things to say.
00:33:52
And we were pitching him back ideas,
and he was just cracking up,
00:33:55
and he was just a delight to work with.
00:33:57
And then another one
that really stuck out was,
00:33:59
I don't know if I'm saying her name.
00:34:00
Right, Emerald Fennell, but she, Yeah.
00:34:03
A young female director who did,
00:34:06
I worked with her on Promising
Young Woman, but I think she also did
00:34:10
Saltburn and some other things that,
they're very, highly acclaimed.
00:34:14
And and she was really cool, like,
00:34:16
because you get to see what they're going
for like this, like,
00:34:19
like if they're really hands on like that
00:34:21
and they care enough
to show up the directors, then it's
00:34:24
because they're using the sound design
in a very effective way that they want.
00:34:29
They want to capture some sort of tone
or flavor
00:34:32
that's like really important
to their overall theme or vision.
00:34:36
So if they care enough to show up
like that or then, you know, it,
00:34:39
it's, it's going to be a cool experience
to get kind of inside their head like, oh,
00:34:43
what are we going for?
00:34:44
I can give you a really good example of
that actually.
00:34:46
Just quickly,
00:34:48
are you guys aware of the movie
hunt for Red October?
00:34:51
Of course is fantastic.
Yeah. Okay. So yeah.
00:34:54
So that if for those who don't know, it's
about a Russian
00:34:57
submarine that they have developed
a silent drive for the submarine.
00:35:01
So effectively the worst
part of the movie, it can, it can park
00:35:04
nuclear missiles,
you know, 100 miles offshore of LA.
00:35:08
And no one would know if the.
00:35:09
Captain, the captain of the doctor,
they he sees.
00:35:12
Sean Connery. Is a Scottish Russian.
00:35:14
Yeah. That's right.
00:35:15
So anyway, that the story goes
and I've had this confirmed
00:35:18
by a couple of people that the movie
was actually pretty much finished.
00:35:22
Right.
00:35:22
But the reshoot
00:35:23
the director had was that obviously
you can't have nothing in a movie.
00:35:27
You can't have complete silence.
00:35:28
You have to have a sound
for the silent drive.
00:35:31
And the director was never happy.
00:35:33
Every time they sat him down in a in a
seated and showed him the real weather.
00:35:36
The first time the submarine engaged,
silent diving was like, no, no, no, no,
00:35:40
it's too noisy or it's, it's
not this or it's not that, blah blah blah.
00:35:43
And this went on for weeks.
00:35:44
And finally
they had a showing for the director.
00:35:48
And again, it was like,
no, there's this one.
00:35:50
And the sound designer guys go, fuck this.
00:35:53
You know, this is just bullshit.
00:35:54
So I can storms out of the room, goes up
the stairs and is sitting on the roof
00:35:58
smoking a cigaret, and there's an air
conditioning vent next to him
00:36:01
and it's wrestling is going to know
dong dong dong ding dong dong ding
00:36:04
dong dong dong dong ding dong.
00:36:05
He goes downstairs,
the director's leaving.
00:36:07
He says, give me 20 minutes.
00:36:09
Just go and have a coffee.
Come back in 20 minutes.
00:36:11
He went upstairs with the location
recorder, recorded this thing,
00:36:14
took it downstairs, spun it around,
slowed it down, blah, blah.
00:36:18
Did this, did
that. Threw it into the same director.
00:36:20
Comes back and goes, that's the sound.
00:36:25
Yeah, there's a separation.
00:36:27
There was also the other thing
00:36:28
with remember Red October, that story
about the submarine
00:36:32
where there was not enough height
to have a boom.
00:36:34
Yeah. So the guy was live mixing.
00:36:37
They just they had mix all three cabins
and they were recording.
00:36:41
Yeah.
00:36:41
So as he's walking,
then that's his switch.
00:36:44
He can't do wireless
as much in a submarine or.
00:36:47
No, they. Can't do anything.
00:36:48
I just have to have all these mics
all the way down through the cabin.
00:36:51
He was like, was in a submarine
or was it a set?
00:36:53
It probably wasn't like an actual medal.
00:36:56
But instead of a submarine.
00:36:57
Yeah. Yeah, it was no real good.
00:36:59
Thanks. Thanks, Lorenz. Anything?
00:37:02
Yeah.
00:37:02
The lunar cowboys when the pandemic.
00:37:05
You guys, that was it.
00:37:07
A freak out moment for the two of you,
or did you already have a well-established
00:37:12
home studio?
00:37:13
And you're like, hey, we're ready to rock.
00:37:14
Well, what was that like? Yeah.
00:37:16
I think it was.
00:37:18
Yeah, it was fine for us, fortunately.
00:37:20
I mean, work definitely slowed down
00:37:21
initially because it was kind of like,
what is going to go on?
00:37:25
How long is this going to last?
Are we going to be back on stage?
00:37:28
And then once they kind of settled
in that know this is how it's going to be?
00:37:32
I mean, I'm pretty sure, you know,
Ryan's got a pro set up and I had a fine
00:37:36
set up previously
because we've been auditioning
00:37:38
for voiceover
remotely for years at this point.
00:37:42
I mean, we used to always going
to audition at our agents for voiceover
00:37:45
auditions, and that's gone away for,
you know, quite a long time.
00:37:49
But did you guys consider your studio
though, a audition studio,
00:37:53
or were you doing
work, work at home on a regular basis?
00:37:56
I was not. Yeah, that's a good point.
I was not either.
00:37:59
It was mostly auditioning.
00:38:00
Yeah.
00:38:01
I there was like,
there was a time where, you know,
00:38:05
when Covid hit where everyone had
to figure out how to do this,
00:38:08
how to do this remotely,
something that really benefits
00:38:11
from having all the actors
together on a soundstage.
00:38:14
So there was like a period
of a couple months
00:38:17
where people were kind of
like figuring it out.
00:38:20
But once we all learned how to do it
this way,
00:38:24
and got used to the new recordings,
you know,
00:38:28
different websites that we were using
to log on and some, some editors
00:38:32
actually kind of liked it better
because now they have everyone on ISO
00:38:36
and they can they can make it
what they call, denser or thin it out.
00:38:42
So it's like if we're doing a crowd scene
00:38:44
and there were too many voices,
everyone's on ISIS
00:38:46
and now you have a little bit
more freedom.
00:38:48
And there's a problem.
00:38:50
Not everyone's in the same room,
though. So.
00:38:51
So you also have this this blending issue.
00:38:54
Yeah. Benefit. And, it's harder. It's.
00:38:57
I think harder work for them
to put it all together
00:38:59
and to make everyone sound
like they're in the same room.
00:39:02
But if you're
if you like the control, then,
00:39:05
which I and I'm still working on, a show
that the editor likes, the control.
00:39:10
Like that's how they,
they prefer it that way.
00:39:12
So they never, I don't know, they didn't
go back to in studio for the show.
00:39:16
So yeah. So
it just depends on the preference.
00:39:18
But but before the pandemic, I did have
00:39:21
this booth
and I was only using it for auditions.
00:39:25
This was my seat.
00:39:26
And auditioning is a big part of our job.
00:39:28
So I was using it a lot. Yeah, but.
00:39:29
But not I did not necessarily
have have to have my audio quality.
00:39:33
To audition as a group. No.
00:39:35
For animation,
for commercials, for different stuff.
00:39:38
Okay. Yeah.
00:39:39
We just normal auditions for cartoons
and animate
00:39:42
whatever other random auditions,
you know. So.
00:39:44
But but that's a lot of our job.
00:39:46
I mean, I auditioned every day, and like
Justin said back, you know, ten years ago,
00:39:51
we used to go into our agencies
for auditions
00:39:55
and that kind of
we kind of phased out of that.
00:39:58
And then if anyone was still doing that
during,
00:40:00
you know, when the pandemic hit, it
definitely put an end to that
00:40:03
because they were not allowing, clients
to come in in person.
00:40:06
So it was like,
figure out how to do it from home.
00:40:09
And those of us that already had
booths were really lucky because,
00:40:12
you know, we had kind of already
been starting to do it from home.
00:40:15
But,
there was an adjustment period for sure.
00:40:19
And, now everyone that like,
I feel like if you're
00:40:22
if you're working a lot, you're probably
pretty proficient at recording yourself
00:40:26
from home at this point, because now
it's like it's expected, you know?
00:40:30
But it wasn't like that before, for sure.
00:40:32
I got a couple of questions
I was going to ask at one one.
00:40:35
Firstly, who were your agents?
00:40:38
Justin? Who was your agent that you.
00:40:39
Oh, well, I've had a few.
00:40:40
I used to go in all the time at ICM.
00:40:43
And then I was a WME
00:40:46
and then during the pandemic,
WME shut down.
00:40:49
So then I switched over. I'm
an innovative.
00:40:51
Wow. Right now.
00:40:53
So yeah, I've been an innovator
for probably six years.
00:40:57
But yeah, there's,
00:40:57
you know, there's a handful
of really good kind of voiceover agents.
00:41:00
Yeah, yeah yeah yeah yeah.
00:41:02
I'm with Atlas talent.
00:41:04
I won't take you
through the whole history
00:41:06
because I've been with a lot of agents,
00:41:08
over the years, but,
but I actually, believe it or not,
00:41:11
have never physically been into Atlas
because I signed with them.
00:41:15
I think maybe 2020, early 2023
or something like that.
00:41:21
I want to say I forget, but
00:41:22
but it was after I was already
used to recording my auditions from home.
00:41:27
So when I met with them,
00:41:28
about representation, I think it was just
a short conversation over the phone.
00:41:33
And then I sent them all my demos
remotely, and we never had a face to face.
00:41:37
Conversation.
00:41:39
And it has been fine.
00:41:40
Like, they know what, they know what
I sound like, they hear my auditions,
00:41:44
they know how to pitch me. They book me.
00:41:46
It's all good.
00:41:47
Like, I just, I have never had to
go over to their office, and,
00:41:52
who knows if I ever will.
00:41:53
You know why?
00:41:54
Like we handle
00:41:54
so much of our business over emails,
and I'm recording my own auditions.
00:41:58
But, yeah. Yeah, we.
00:42:00
But this is, I think,
00:42:00
the first agency I've been with that
I that I have that relationship
00:42:05
with where I have never been into it
because before I was,
00:42:08
I was recording auditions from agents
from all my other agencies.
00:42:14
And then the last one before,
00:42:16
Atlas,
I was the one where I stopped going in.
00:42:19
I, I was going in,
and then I decided, it's
00:42:22
a long drive, and I'm getting better
at using my own microphone in my own,
00:42:26
you know, home setups.
00:42:27
I'm just going to start recording myself.
00:42:28
And then you never go back.
00:42:30
Once you start doing that,
you learn, you're comfortable,
00:42:32
you get into the groove
and you know your own process.
00:42:34
And yeah, then you kind of fall
into auditioning only remotely.
00:42:39
Is funny with Atlas because,
Atlas moved a few years ago.
00:42:44
See, I would not know.
00:42:45
Yeah, they're old building was funny
because I'm friend of mine, lived
00:42:48
just behind their old building.
00:42:50
And, in that building on the top
floor is a nightclub called Soho House.
00:42:55
And he said, do you want to let's
get this out of the house for a drink?
00:42:58
I'm like, okay.
00:42:59
So we walk up the back line from his house
into the car park with Lyft. Is
00:43:04
around.
00:43:05
And I said, I've been here before,
00:43:08
and I couldn't work out
why I'd been there before
00:43:10
is because Atlas used to be in that.
00:43:12
Now, the right over here
on the west side there.
00:43:14
And he said, here we go. Yeah.
00:43:17
And they had a booth and they didn't.
00:43:18
They moved the building
and they put the booth together
00:43:20
and they never used the booth
and they sold it.
00:43:24
I probably, Dean Pinero
probably keeps his dogs in the booth now.
00:43:27
Yeah. So so here I have a question.
00:43:30
Do you ever have to do accents
from within the crowd?
00:43:34
Yeah, yeah, it comes up okay.
00:43:36
Sure.
00:43:37
Even though you're blending, there's
still that that kind of detail or that.
00:43:41
Well, usually it's done separately.
00:43:42
Usually you'll do like, like,
kind of a, an accent track separately.
00:43:47
So I mean, I was just working on a show
last week.
00:43:49
We were doing Chinese and Russian.
00:43:51
So, you know, they're going to
they're going to not typically
00:43:54
do the English pass in the same way.
00:43:56
That way they can I show it out
or mix it the way they want it.
00:43:59
But yeah, we do
English accents and, accents
00:44:02
from all around the world
all the time and languages too.
00:44:06
I mean, as a looper,
00:44:07
I speak a couple of languages,
a lot of Looper speak many languages.
00:44:11
Okay. Wow.
00:44:12
Yeah, I was I was going to say,
because sometimes I've found this trick
00:44:16
and so I, I do commercials and
I never have the luxury of having a group.
00:44:21
So I'm always rummaging through the sound
effects library.
00:44:24
And one of the tricks I use is
I will like I love like a Dutch crowd
00:44:30
in an English spot, because then there's
no words that pop out.
00:44:34
It's all like, what?
00:44:35
What? It's
basically what you were talking about.
00:44:38
Yeah, right.
00:44:39
So I'll specifically go like, hey, give me
like some other language here because.
00:44:43
We're going to lose just in one minute.
00:44:44
Just, Oh, sorry, Liz,
before we go, anybody who wants to
00:44:50
who would like to become a looper
or thinks they could do it,
00:44:53
a bit of advice and and should they.
00:44:56
Even should you move to L.A. to. Do it?
00:44:58
I mean, we're very fortunate to work in
looping.
00:45:01
It is an incredibly small niche,
00:45:04
group of of improvisers
and voiceover actors to do it.
00:45:08
But kind of I would
I would go back to what Ryan said earlier.
00:45:12
If you're passionate
and hungry about something
00:45:14
and you really feel
that you have the talent,
00:45:16
you want to do it, then I would
I would say it's absolutely possible.
00:45:19
There are some, looper loop group leaders
who have classes that they teach,
00:45:25
and I would highly recommend
if you are a total novice, that
00:45:27
that would probably be a good way
to try to get your foot in the door.
00:45:30
But it's it's definitely a small group
of actors that do most of the work.
00:45:37
And it's it's very hard to break in.
00:45:39
It would have to be age diverse,
though, wouldn't it.
00:45:41
Like, yeah,
00:45:42
you'd have to have a huge age group
because, I mean, you could be very
00:45:45
specific in terms of what you wanted
in terms of your loop too, right?
00:45:49
Yeah.
00:45:49
I always tell people to,
00:45:51
to take their voice matching audition
seriously because that's how I got in.
00:45:55
And it's not it's not necessarily
a glamorous job to be the airline
00:46:00
version of an edit for a famous person,
you know what I mean?
00:46:03
But like, that's how I, that's how I,
00:46:07
I met made those connections
was, was book booking a voice matching job
00:46:11
for a live action movie
that no one will ever know that I did that
00:46:15
one line, you know what I mean?
00:46:17
But it it led to other things for me.
00:46:19
So just taking every opportunity,
seriously and trying your best and,
00:46:24
you know, being pleasant to work with and,
reliable and,
00:46:27
you know, that's that's
how that's how it happened for me.
00:46:30
So that's what I tell people.
00:46:32
That's a great answer.
00:46:33
I got to pop because I'm, you know, I'm
taking the standup comedy class
00:46:36
because I'm not funny.
00:46:37
But it's just
we always got to be studying
00:46:40
and adding more tools to our toolkit.
00:46:42
This was great.
00:46:43
Ryan is amazing.
00:46:45
You know, you continue with her.
00:46:46
I'm. I'm in the back seat anyway.
00:46:48
And thanks for having me on.
00:46:49
This was a lot of fun. Just choose me.
00:46:52
So, Ryan, I'm interested to know.
00:46:55
Obviously they have ideas
about what they're looking for,
00:46:58
but at a very specific in terms
of what they'll ask for.
00:47:01
Or is it some of it left up to you guys?
00:47:03
Yeah, I mean, it it depends on the movie.
00:47:06
It depends on the team.
00:47:07
But,
most of them care very deeply about what
00:47:10
they're doing, and they're very specific
about what they're looking for.
00:47:13
That's why, you know,
they're they're spending money and time,
00:47:18
on this part of post-production
specifically.
00:47:22
And this is a serious thing like this.
00:47:25
They want the best of the best,
00:47:26
and sometimes they have very specific
things in mind that they're looking for,
00:47:30
and they're not going to like.
00:47:32
Phone.
00:47:32
Them in on a multi, multi,
multi-million dollar movie like this.
00:47:36
You know,
like every stage of this has to be good.
00:47:38
They're not going to fumble
00:47:40
that close to the end zone.
00:47:41
You know when you're talking about like
one of the last parts of post-production.
00:47:46
So they're pretty precious
about some of these depending on the,
00:47:51
high profile ness of the project or,
00:47:55
you know, I've, I've even had cues where
00:47:59
something very secretive happens
in one of those really big movies
00:48:03
like that, the Marvel type movies where
it's like this really secretive project
00:48:07
where they actually won't show you
the picture, they tell you
00:48:11
what, they tell you a vague
description of what's happening
00:48:14
because they can't even literally tell you
what's happening, because it's so
00:48:18
NDA and it's such a high profile thing
that they give you just a description
00:48:22
of something similar enough
to get to get from you what they want.
00:48:27
And that would only happen in cases
where it's like,
00:48:29
this is the twist of the movie.
00:48:32
This is the climax. Like,
this. Is why I'm your. Father.
00:48:35
Yeah.
00:48:35
Like those really and those really,
really important moments where they cannot
00:48:39
trust to get to let this out at all
because like, the, the whole.
00:48:43
Franchise. Like.
00:48:44
Turn your cell phone in. Oh, yeah.
00:48:46
When you walk into the place. Yeah.
00:48:47
They have detail
that they will wrap around it.
00:48:50
No I haven't seen some studios so. Yeah.
00:48:52
So so that's happened before.
00:48:54
So they take this all very seriously.
00:48:56
Like they definitely,
want a certain vibe.
00:48:59
And this is not like phoning it
00:49:01
in, even though it sounds like
this is background noise.
00:49:03
This is mumbo jumbo in the background,
doesn't it?
00:49:06
Doesn't matter.
00:49:06
I promise you
it does matter for Spider-Man.
00:49:09
Yeah.
00:49:10
Homecoming.
00:49:11
He goes to a, science magnet school.
00:49:14
He goes to a tech high school technol
a technology high school.
00:49:18
So they and they they even
they told us before the session, they said
00:49:22
when he's in one of his classes,
00:49:23
they're teaching Bauhaus
theory of the atom on the board.
00:49:26
So look up that.
00:49:27
So we had to be in his classroom sharing
notes about Bauhaus theory of the atom.
00:49:31
It's that specific.
00:49:33
It's not like it's they don't tell you.
00:49:34
They don't say, you know, classroom stuff.
00:49:36
They tell you what subject,
what is actually on the board
00:49:40
in the background,
and they want you to research that.
00:49:43
They're a bunch of nerds.
00:49:44
Bring it content for nerds.
00:49:45
You got to be accurate here.
00:49:47
I mean, something you would never notice
if you watch the movie, right?
00:49:50
You know, you barely notice.
Next time you watch it, check it out.
00:49:52
You know, that's really that. Oh, yeah.
That's what they're studying.
00:49:55
And that's what that's what the loop group
was talking about in that clip.
00:49:58
Even if it's just little whispers
to someone next to you in class, you know.
00:50:02
But we
we had to be like referring to that.
00:50:05
That was what was happening in that world.
00:50:07
So it gets really specific
and they want it to be as accurate to what
00:50:11
what it would would be really happening
in that moment as possible.
00:50:14
Did you watch have you watched
any of the studio on Apple TV?
00:50:17
I have, yes.
Yeah. Did you want to watch it?
00:50:20
Laughed you watching cringe do you think?
00:50:21
Oh I love it, do.
00:50:22
Love it,
00:50:23
I love it, I love it, but I also have only
seen the first I think 3 or 4 episodes.
00:50:27
So if they.
00:50:28
Yeah, if it gets into sound design,
I haven't gotten there yet.
00:50:30
No, not really,
but it's just you know Warner.
00:50:33
The Warner. Yeah. Yeah.
The one I mean it's great.
00:50:35
And a lot of those
even notwithstanding that
00:50:39
episode, a lot of the scenes are very,
very long shots.
00:50:42
It's beautifully shot.
00:50:43
I mean, as someone that went to film
school, I'm eating it up.
00:50:46
So like, I'm
so digging the cinematography on that.
00:50:49
So inside.
00:50:50
Baseball, it is, it is.
00:50:52
But it it makes total sense to us.
00:50:54
You know, it's like
this is the life that we actually live in.
00:50:57
We you know, but it's it's the beats,
the comedy beats are so great too.
00:51:00
It's just a really tight show.
00:51:02
You guys haven't seen.
I find a clip of it.
00:51:04
So if you're going to watch an episode
because you just want to dip in,
00:51:08
just what's the one called the.
00:51:10
One or the one or.
00:51:12
Just watch the. Studio?
00:51:13
What's it on Apple studio TV?
00:51:16
Yeah, it's Seth Rogan's new show.
00:51:18
Yeah it's great.
00:51:19
I would like to loop on that.
00:51:21
I don't, I have never worked on that one.
00:51:23
There you go. You need to put your head.
00:51:24
Yeah I would, I would love to be a P.A.
00:51:26
you know because it's like
and one of the things that I did
00:51:28
get to work on was,
being the Ricardos, and, Yeah.
00:51:33
Which was nominated for Best Picture.
00:51:34
My, my dream is truly to loop on something
that wins Best Picture.
00:51:37
I worked on a couple things
that got nominated.
00:51:40
I worked on a complete unknown,
and I worked on, Being the Ricardos
00:51:44
and Being the Ricardos is cool because
it took place in that Hollywood era.
00:51:48
It took place in that, in that,
00:51:50
that, that same era
that I studied a lot in film school.
00:51:53
And I got to actually use that and use
those sorts of terminology and stuff.
00:51:58
So that was really cool.
00:51:59
But, but working on the studio would be
like, oh, that would be really neat.
00:52:03
Is there an Academy Award for best Looper?
00:52:05
Yeah. No there's not.
00:52:06
No. So you need to put your hand up.
00:52:08
Most most unnoticed. Thank you. Yes.
00:52:14
It was
00:52:14
sound design, which, like I said,
I worked on a complete unknown
00:52:18
and that was actually nominated
for Best Sound Design last year.
00:52:22
So that that's the closest
we'll ever get to.
00:52:25
Where we're in there. We're part of that.
That's pretty good, though.
00:52:27
That's awesome.
00:52:28
You consider the loop group
like part of part of like sound design.
00:52:32
And it's kind of in this like.
00:52:33
Very, very.
00:52:34
Slowly more sound design realm.
00:52:36
Yeah,
yeah I agree. Yeah, yeah. Ryan. Yeah.
00:52:39
It's been amazing.
00:52:40
Yeah.
00:52:40
It's definitely something I was like,
I knew it happened, but I never realized
00:52:45
how deep it actually went.
00:52:46
I just thought like grabbed him,
00:52:47
walked around a lot,
grabbed a bunch of people
00:52:48
and threw them on the soundstage
and said, right, we need you to do this.
00:52:51
This beats me.
So I never realized it was so involved.
00:52:53
Such a specialized. Thing.
00:52:54
I thought they used more, more
00:52:56
the sound effects,
like you and I suffer through,
00:52:58
and they only bring you guys in
00:52:59
when it's kind of absolutely precise
that they need to get.
00:53:02
But as you said,
00:53:03
they have multimillion dollar budgets
and they're not going to the that close.
00:53:07
Yeah, they're serious about it.
00:53:09
It's funny.
00:53:09
So now so now when they say
00:53:10
like Hollywood sound effects library,
we know it's total B.S.
00:53:13
right. Like that's right.
You're always using. Those.
00:53:15
These are yeah.
00:53:16
These are live groups
and and I have a big bite.
00:53:19
Like, we all have to research
so many different things.
00:53:21
So I have a big binder full
of every all the rules of all the sports.
00:53:26
That's a given.
00:53:27
You know, every sport, like fake
sitcom scenes, because they always have,
00:53:31
like a TV on in the background
where they need a fake sitcom.
00:53:34
We have every, like, subject.
00:53:36
Of course, you know, Bauhaus
theory of the atom is in there now.
00:53:39
But I looped on, for example, I looped on
a show about girls skateboarding.
00:53:43
It's called Betty.
00:53:44
Betty or Betty's a Betty, I think on HBO.
00:53:47
It's all skateboarding.
So I have the anatomy of a skateboard.
00:53:50
I have like I have dissections of like,
00:53:53
every animal, frog, cow, you know, worm,
00:53:56
because they always do dissections
in movies, especially horror movies.
00:53:59
They love to do
dissection scenes in high school.
00:54:02
So I think that one was from
maybe Slenderman or something.
00:54:04
I think it was Slenderman
00:54:05
that that I had to research,
you know, in my first dissection.
00:54:09
But now I have every animal and it's like,
00:54:11
so we have this just giant binder,
basically of research of like,
00:54:14
incredible, crazy amount of random things
that you would that come up in movies.
00:54:19
And there's some things,
like I said, dissections,
00:54:22
sitcoms on TV in the background.
00:54:24
There's some things that come up
all the time
00:54:26
prison police, radio cop, police,
you know, police radios,
00:54:30
emergency responders on site,
you know, EMTs,
00:54:34
all that kind of stuff comes up in, like,
every TV show and every movie.
00:54:38
So we have a lot of that.
00:54:39
But it's a lot of research.
00:54:40
Like that's that's part of our job is.
00:54:43
Look, so do you.
00:54:43
What do you watch
a lot of cops to research.
00:54:45
Yeah. Police.
00:54:46
Police right. Yeah.
00:54:48
Sort of stuff.
00:54:48
Is that how you do it?
00:54:49
We even we were like one of
my coaches is like,
00:54:52
you know, listen to police radio scanner
so you can listen to it's a public,
00:54:56
you know, there's an app.
00:54:57
So we are expected to literally be
00:55:00
getting accurate stuff
that would really be said on the police.
00:55:03
Troop decision.
00:55:04
Even gets down to like, we have to know
the codes ten for whatever.
00:55:07
You know you're being and and
and we also know like it's some
00:55:11
there's some specialty things
for different major cities.
00:55:14
So it gets us specific I have maps
every borough of New York City.
00:55:18
I have maps of so that I can say,
you know, he's in midtown,
00:55:22
right now, like so like.
Names and stuff, pull out.
00:55:24
Street names, pull out,
you know, areas and stuff like that.
00:55:27
And they'll tell you, they'll say,
00:55:28
this is Greenwich
Village Village in this scene,
00:55:30
and we'll flip to our Greenwich Village
notes, you know, so
00:55:33
it's it's that it's that specific.
00:55:35
So it's a lot of research
and this is they're.
00:55:38
They're relying on you to do a lot. Yeah.
00:55:40
That's incredible. Give you.
00:55:42
Yeah.
00:55:43
Tell you say a bunch of these words within
here like make it up and here's your
00:55:47
that's interesting.
00:55:48
Yeah I yeah it's a lot of them.
00:55:50
You find. That true.
00:55:51
It's like like weatherman
and it's like sometimes trying to find
00:55:55
the right little piece of nothing
that's on
00:55:56
the TV in
the background is really annoying.
00:55:59
And I've done it a bunch.
00:56:00
I've gone into the booth
and just said whatever it is,
00:56:03
like trying to be like a little
because it's like,
00:56:07
you know, you're you're searching through
the sound effects library for 40 minutes.
00:56:10
You're like, what is going right.
00:56:11
Right, right. And it's easy.
00:56:13
We haven't
we haven't been a slide into oblivion yet
00:56:16
because, yeah,
00:56:17
it's still harder to dig around and find
just the right library thing than it is to
00:56:22
just get your fresh thing
from a real actors
00:56:24
that are going to make it custom
for your movie or film or TV show.
00:56:28
And another thing that
comes up all the time is QVC.
00:56:32
I don't know what.
00:56:33
Yeah, yeah, like
00:56:34
like selling watches on the, on the TV,
you know, it's like someone.
00:56:38
Someone. Yeah.
00:56:39
Someone falls asleep in
00:56:40
front of the TV that it happens
in, like, every horror movie.
00:56:43
It's like, well, you know, sound effects
guys can only use the Wilhelm screen
00:56:47
so many times. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
00:56:49
I find a way to put on everything, like.
00:56:51
Yeah, but it's never going away.
00:56:53
Yeah. Thing
that will always be around there.
00:56:55
Yeah.
00:56:56
Yeah, well I won't,
I don't think I'll ever watch a TV show
00:56:59
or a movie the same now I think. Yeah.
00:57:02
Listen closely.
00:57:03
So much for your time.
00:57:05
You guys know.
00:57:06
Real education is. Such a delight.
Thank you for having us.
00:57:08
We we had so much fun
getting to chat with you guys.
00:57:10
And I love seeing it
from your perspective too.
00:57:12
It's fascinating
and I'm glad to know that it takes
00:57:15
you time to dig through those libraries,
because we don't want to be unemployed.
00:57:19
We are.
00:57:20
You know, I,
00:57:21
I would say it's it's not just a luxury,
but actually it would save time.
00:57:25
But one question I had is, as
you guys are on a flat rate, there's no.
00:57:29
Residuals. There are. I'm assuming. Yeah.
00:57:32
Oh cool. Wow. That's cool.
00:57:34
Yeah. Like there.
00:57:35
So so all the TV and all the films.
00:57:38
So, Let's see why
why don't sound designers get residuals?
00:57:42
I know, that's right. I totally.
00:57:44
Know. And we're very grateful for that.
00:57:46
I mean, it's a scale day rate.
00:57:47
And we get residuals.
00:57:49
So, this is how a lot of us qualify
for our health care through the union.
00:57:53
And, we feel very blessed.
00:57:56
That's why we're scared
that we're going to be replaced.
00:57:58
And, you know, that's
why it's such a tight knit community.
00:58:01
Is because this is going.
To be a long time before that happens.
00:58:03
This is a thing that we feel
very, very blessed and grateful to have.
00:58:06
And we really hope it doesn't go away.
00:58:09
But, you know, we'll see.
00:58:10
We do not take it for granted.
00:58:12
I think that we,
we kind of think that they're going to try
00:58:15
to ai us out of existence,
but I think they're going to fail.
00:58:20
Like, it just
it seems like they're going to try
00:58:22
and then they're going to realize
that took too much time.
00:58:24
And that was harder than just hiring.
00:58:26
People like the sound effects library.
00:58:27
Yeah, it's going to be more expensive.
00:58:29
So much time, and you're going to get
better results faster.
00:58:32
With artists than you are.
00:58:33
I hope so, I hope so,
from your mouth to God's ears, I hope so.
00:58:36
That's the hope.
00:58:37
And I think so far,
I mean, look, AI is not new.
00:58:40
And I still I had a loop group
gig this morning today remotely.
00:58:43
We're still doing it remotely.
00:58:45
And I did it from home,
with a group based in New York.
00:58:48
And, and, you know, that's it.
00:58:52
So it hasn't replace us yet.
00:58:53
It still is not there.
00:58:55
But we don't know.
00:58:56
I mean,
we are not taking anything for granted.
00:58:58
We feel very thankful
to be still doing it.
00:59:00
But of course, we're very aware
that that could end.
00:59:03
We just don't know, like,
is I going to get that?
00:59:06
Get that good or not?
00:59:08
I don't think so, because I have
I have to think that.
00:59:11
I'll say this.
00:59:12
It's been good at multiplying you.
00:59:14
So there's like for instance,
the they'll do this already.
00:59:18
You have like a stadium full of people.
00:59:20
But really, you know, the stadium
is only filled with like the first ten,
00:59:23
ten benches and then software
is, like able to like, replicate it.
00:59:27
So I think that they'll be able to use
AI to double up
00:59:32
and to create variations.
00:59:35
But there's going to be a need
for initial, like setting the stage
00:59:40
and getting the basic kind of sound
of whatever environment it is,
00:59:44
and that's
where you guys are going to come in.
00:59:46
But there's going to be tools
where you're not going to be doing like,
00:59:48
all right, let's layer that eight times.
00:59:50
The software might layer
eight times for you in the in the future.
00:59:53
And just yet.
00:59:54
I mean hopefully
because that's like one of the harder
00:59:57
and more tedious parts of our job.
We'll see.
01:00:00
But I mean, there's so many thing,
there's so many cues
01:00:02
that we're talking about that
we also cover that are so specific.
01:00:06
Like I said,
01:00:06
my my line in Lilo and Stitch,
I mean, that was done in a loop group day.
01:00:11
Like, that's not that's a line,
you know, in, one of the Spider-Man,
01:00:14
Spider-Man Far From Home.
01:00:16
There's a moment where he passes
someone on the street and the lady
01:00:19
says, knocked monkey,
knocked monkey and runs off into.
01:00:23
And he's visiting Germany.
01:00:24
That's me saying knocked monkey.
01:00:26
So and so.
01:00:27
It's like there's so many little moments
that it's like, this is not like we are
01:00:31
talking about group noise and crowds
and stuff like that, quote unquote wallah.
01:00:35
But we're also talking about very specific
things
01:00:38
that need to be in basically verbal jokes,
like jokes that are like off camera from
01:00:43
or just like someone ordering or the QVC,
the, the, the radio on and the,
01:00:48
the radio on in the car, the cop radio,
the announcement in the hospital.
01:00:53
These are all like very specific
things still.
01:00:56
And that's also done in the loop group.
01:00:58
So it's like it might I
maybe will get rid of
01:01:01
some of our Wala tracks
that are just crowd noises.
01:01:04
Maybe.
01:01:05
But so much of our job is more detailed
and more specific.
01:01:08
And yeah, you know. It's.
01:01:10
You know what?
01:01:10
Like the video game side, the what I hear
01:01:13
from the video game world
is, first of all, game is expensive.
01:01:16
It's a big investment to produce
and to buy.
01:01:18
It's not something you can just download
on Netflix, right?
01:01:21
It's a big deal.
01:01:22
And the fans are extremely ravenous
about quality.
01:01:25
And if they they will detect fakery,
believe it or not, you're thinking,
01:01:30
what's a game?
01:01:31
But if they hear fake voices, they
they hate it.
01:01:33
They know it.
01:01:34
They want authentic voices
in these made up world.
01:01:38
So yeah, I mean, it's very important
to them. And they want to
01:01:42
know and they want to go to Comic-Con
01:01:45
and they want to meet the voice
of that voice, that thing.
01:01:48
And they want to take a picture of that
01:01:49
person, get a sign
that's extremely important to them.
01:01:53
You cannot replace that with, I hope
01:01:56
they'll be novelty or very unique things
that are built.
01:02:00
You know, that the AI is a
is a thing I look at,
01:02:03
you know, but I mean, it's
not going to replace the human element.
01:02:06
I keep saying that. It's
just not it's not.
01:02:08
Yeah.
01:02:09
I mean, I'm really hoping I sometimes
wonder, do these producers, whoever's
01:02:12
owns the content, the license holder,
do they know
01:02:15
that the that the actors themselves
are so important to the fan experience.
01:02:19
That's good I don't know.
01:02:21
Do they care?
01:02:22
I don't know, but I hope I have to hope.
01:02:24
I'll tell you.
01:02:25
There's directors and I tell this story
and it just warms my heart.
01:02:28
My friend was trying to do a ADR line
and the actor couldn't hit it very well.
01:02:33
At the end of the day, actor's gone
and my friend, the engineer
01:02:36
basically like goes in and fixes
it, comes up with an option using AI,
01:02:41
and he calls up the director and he says,
I got it fixed.
01:02:45
I don't think you're going to
like how I did it, but I got it fixed.
01:02:47
And the director says,
I don't want to hear it.
01:02:49
I don't want to like it.
01:02:50
I don't want to hear it.
01:02:51
And don't just forget it
like we got what we got that day.
01:02:55
It's good enough.
01:02:56
And that that was you know, they, like
some people don't even want to have any
01:03:00
anything to do with it
within their productions at all.
01:03:03
So it's. Yeah.
01:03:04
Well that's good.
01:03:05
I mean, like I said, I had a gig today.
01:03:07
So as of this moment
I am not personally experiencing,
01:03:12
you know, necessarily
a slowdown or being replaced yet.
01:03:15
But I am also acutely aware
that that could happen at any moment.
01:03:19
So, you know, I'm I'm grateful.
01:03:21
From my perspective, it has not happened.
01:03:23
The things I'm
01:03:24
working on or high enough profile
and they have the big enough budget
01:03:27
where they still want the real deal,
they still want real humans, you know.
01:03:31
But he knows.
01:03:32
I mean, I'm not going to hold my breath
because in other words, I'm
01:03:35
saving my residuals,
you know, like, yeah, we just don't.
01:03:38
And thank goodness
01:03:39
for those, you know, but,
we just don't know where this is going.
01:03:42
And we have to sort of plan for the worst,
hope for the best, plan for the worst.
01:03:46
But, but, you know, I'm
going to enjoy it while it lasts.
01:03:49
I'm grateful to be here for now.
01:03:51
If anything could could end,
you know what I mean?
01:03:54
Like, so I'm just going to enjoy it
and try to be as good as I can at this
01:03:58
while I can.
01:03:59
And I always say in terms of voiceover,
if this is going extinct, who knows?
01:04:03
I'm going down on this ship.
01:04:05
Bottom line, like this is it for me.
01:04:07
So, I will be one of the last voice
actors standing if that's what happens.
01:04:11
But as you say, I have
you have no other marketable skills.
01:04:15
Yeah, exactly.
01:04:16
Completely. I know that I'm a total bum.
01:04:21
Yeah.
01:04:22
I don't know about the skills whatsoever.
01:04:25
Yes, well, that was fun.
01:04:27
Is it over the pro audio suite?
01:04:31
Thanks to Driver and Austrian audio.
01:04:33
Recorded using Source Connect, edited
by Andrew Peaches and mixed by Robo Go.
01:04:38
Do your own audio issues.
01:04:40
Just ask RoboCop and tech support
for George the tech wisdom.
01:04:43
Don't forget to subscribe to the show
and join the conversation
01:04:47
on our Facebook group to leave a comment,
01:04:49
suggest a topic, or just say,
could I drop us a note at our website?
01:04:53
Audio as so cool.

