Category: voiceover

Catching up from a busy Father’s Day weekend with family, I was finally able to watch the replay of remote dubbing webinar with Fannie Brett-Rabault and Max Rabault, hosted by Nate Begel — and I’m so glad that I did! What a delightful and educational look at the process of remote dubbing, and I want to thank Fannie, Max, and Nate for sharing their time to show voice actors what it’s all about.

Fannie and Max are the owners of the remote dubbing company 7 Holding Media, and they developed a way to work with voice actors that eliminates delays between the actor/director/engineer/audio/visuals when working remotely to complete dubbing projects. This streamlined process allowed them to dub projects for Netflix throughout the pandemic, when they worked with projects and people from around the world. Fannie works as an actor, director, producer, and casting director, and Max handles the engineering and technical aspects of the business.

The pair demonstrated a dubbing session using the Rhythmo-Band technique, with Fannie in the role of the actor and director and Max as the engineer. They explained that a typical session would go like this: the actor watches the scene to get the mood and circumstances of the character they are dubbing. Below the video, there’s a band of color for each character that includes the dialog and directions for breath, such as a sigh or breathing in or out of the nose. This tells the actor what is expected in a given scene.

It was amazing to watch them work so quickly and efficiently. Watching the scene back after Fannie recorded her lines, they made slight adjustments, collaborating to sync the dialog with the video, with each of them making suggestions such as “two frames to the right” or “one frame left.” It was amazing to watch the speed at which they achieved this (amazing to me because I had never seen this type of work done before). Also, it was sweet to see them work together because we frequently heard “my love” and “mon chéri” as they collaborated — the affection that they have for each other and the appreciation of each other’s work is heartwarming.

During the webinar, as they discussed remote live-action dubbing, several key points stood out to me:

• Live action dubbing is more conversational, and it’s more low-key than animation, Fannie explained. Most of what we need to dub in the U.S. is drama, rather than comedy, so we need to match our energy with a natural approach. Fannie said to relax your jaw, don’t push with too much energy, and keep in mind that things should be natural and should match what’s going on in the scene.
• “It’s very conversational but it’s extremely precise,” Fannie said about live-action dubbing.
• Max said that the requirements for doing this type of work are simple: an ethernet connection (Wi-Fi can be unstable) and a monitor in your booth with the computer outside (to avoid picking up any fan noise). For a workshop or 1:1 session, not having these is OK, but in order to do dubbing work they are required.
• Fannie added that acting ability is a must, as well as delivering an organic, authentic performance. Because she has acting roots, she cares deeply about the actors that she works with, which was obvious in they way that she described her work and relationships with actors.
• “Kindness is the new currency,” Fannie said, which is great advice for anyone. She advised that voice actors be happy for their friend’s successes, be generous in referring them for jobs and they will refer you back, and to show gratitude.

With that in mind, I want to again say THANK YOU to Nate, Fannie, and Max for sharing their time and expertise! For anyone interested in participating in a dubbing workshop, Nate, Fannie, and Max will be hosting two: one on July 1 and the other on July 10. Check out Nate’s website for more details on signing up!