# How Do They Add Sound to Movies. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 21, 2006, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-add-sound-to-movies/349320 "2006-03-21T18:54:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-add-sound-to-movies/349320/21 "2006-03-22T06:06:19Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > Is this something actors have to practice alot to get good at? Or is it easier than I think? It does take practice, but again, usually only a minority of the dialogue is looped. You get as many tries as it takes to get it right. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-add-sound-to-movies/349320/22 "2006-03-22T06:47:07Z")
And most of that time, it’s a long shot and/or the character’s back is turned. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-add-sound-to-movies/349320/23 "2006-03-22T11:23:23Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > It does take practice, but again, usually only a minority of the dialogue is looped. Whereas **realitychuck** and **gotpasswords** seem to imply that “on-camera” dialogue is rarely used. Which is true, or does it entirely depend on the movie? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-add-sound-to-movies/349320/24 "2006-03-22T11:40:42Z")
> [@bubastis](#): > > What is meant by “Looping” and “ADR”? Just thought I’d add: the term “Looping” refers to when the small section of film that they’re trying to recreate the dialogue for, is replayed over and over and over, in a “loop”. It’s still referred to as that by most people, even though ADR is the technical term. And on a tangentially related note, “Foley” was named after a man, Jack Foley, who pioneered the technique of recreating sound effects artificially. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-add-sound-to-movies/349320/25 "2006-03-22T13:03:31Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Whereas **realitychuck** and **gotpasswords** seem to imply that “on-camera” dialogue is rarely used. Which is true, or does it entirely depend on the movie? Almost all dialogue in scenes shot on sets in a movie studio is recorded on camera. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-add-sound-to-movies/349320/26 "2006-03-22T15:46:12Z")
Is ADR also the method they use to change “Fucking asshole” to “Freaky imbecile”? For TV broadcast, I mean? IS this normally done in post, or is it done months or years later specifically for TV? ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-add-sound-to-movies/349320/27 "2006-03-22T16:30:18Z")
If you’re lucky, the actors will do a “sanitized” version on the looping stage so the line, while not as originally intended, will at least be in their voice for the ABC Family Network version and not sounding like someone grabbed the nearest stagehand to say “darn” and dubbed that in for a TV release. The TV version of _The Blues Brothers_ comes to mind as a really bad example of dubbing in someone else’s voice to say things like “shoot” and “fudge.” Nothing automatic about it - in this case, it sounds like someone just did a punch-in/punch-out audio edit with minimal care. If they were any worse at it, they’d be heading into Saturday afternoon kung-fu flick territory. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-add-sound-to-movies/349320.md?page=1)