IGLOO MUSIC LA

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The Global Dubbing Film market is anticipated to rise at a considerable rate between 2022 and 2028. The Global Film Dubbing Market Size was estimated at circa USD 3139M in 2021 and is projected to reach USD 4708M by 2028, exhibiting a CAGR of 5.96% during the forecast period.

“At Netflix, we believe that great stories are universal,” said Kathy Rokni, director of globalization. “They travel, they connect people, and that is the driver for us ... wanting to not make language a barrier and in fact make it an asset to connect those stories and those emotional moments.” Last year, Netflix dubbed 5 million minutes of programming and subtitled 7 million minutes. Consumption of dubbed programming increased 120% from 2020 to 2021, the company said.

Nonetheless Dubbing can be labour intensive and time consuming. It’s a multistep process. Using the example of an English dub. First, the script gets transcribed and goes through a literal translation into English. Second, a native English speaker assesses the fluency of the translation, taking into account some of the colloquialisms of the non-English language. Third further changes may be needed to adjust words in the script so that the dialogue matches the lip movements on screen.

The goal being to serve the creators of the project, but at the same time serving the target audience in the country where it’s going to play. In the words of John DeMita said John DeMita, a language production manager at Netflix “It’s a wonderful creative process.”

To get deeper insights into the process and the role of technology , we recently caught up with Tim Cubbison, Creative Lead and Lusine Vachents, Manager, Dubbing Operations at Igloo Music in Burbank, Los Angeles.

Can you share a little about Igloo Music the range and volume of dubbing projects you handle?

Igloo Music is an American dubbing production company based in Burbank, California. Founded in June 2000 by our owner Gustavo Borner, we specialize in multi-channel film mixes, ADR, voice-over, sound design and live music production.

With the rise of English Dubbing driven by Netflix in recent years we’ve witnessed huge demand for our services delivering over 39 Live Actions Television Series and 42 Films plus smaller volumes of Amine Films, Anime Series and Video Games.

With the significant demands on capacity, QC and shorter delivery times we have worked really hard to maintain high standards of quality. Great talent supported by great technology has enabled us to keep evolving. This has been validated and acknowledged with 29 Grammy Awards, 2 C.A.S Awards and 1 NAMM Tec Award.

Reflecting on the body of work you have delivered what dubbing technology has been transformative for Igloo Music and why?

We use VoiceQ native and cloud applications which integrate with our AVID Pro Tools suite. VoiceQ's intuitive design and ability to make on-the-fly changes, creates the perfect balance of an efficient and creative recording session.

In what specific ways does VoiceQ help you better manage the length and timing of a dubbing or ADR project?

Adapting in VoiceQ allows the writer to have a better sense of writing for sync, and therefore our script length is more accurate before starting to record. Based on the size of the script, we can measure how long it will take to record.

What advantages does VoiceQ give you in terms of overall cost effectiveness?

VoiceQ enables us to record in a much more efficient manner, cutting down our recording times and, therefore, costs.

Specifically from an engineering standpoint, how does VoiceQ compare to more traditional ways of working on dubbing and ADR projects?

VoiceQ's rhythm-board allows the actor to focus on the performance and not have to concentrate as much on sync. VoiceQ takes care of that for them.

Are there specific pressures or challenges on workflow in recent years – especially with the rise of streaming – that VoiceQ has helped you address?

VoiceQ increases the speed that we are able to record, helping us meet deadlines, and doing so with plenty of time to edit and mix. It has helped us maintain the quality of our projects during the busiest of times. You can explore our body of work on popular SVODs.

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