Music Localization

Q:  We never change our music for a commercial translation.  Is there benefit to doing so?

A:  There is great benefit to localizing music.  You can actually increase your impact on your target audience up to 100% with this simple change.  Music localization has different impacts on your various audiences.  For adverising, a 100% increase in impact is a powerful tool.  Yet almost no one uses it.  Why?  First, most producers and directors never even think of music localization - is not within their experience.  And people avoid things in which they have no experience.  For those who consider music localization, most are unclear how to select the proper localized music, and some fear that is better to make no change than the wrong change.  Because the value of music localization is determined not by the audience - as it should be - but rather by the client’s internal staff, who are notoriously fickle and afraid of change.  If you are in advertising and if you are targeting a specific population, and if you know the dialect of that population, then use of music from that dialect - almost any music! - and you commercial or spot will be received much more warmly than with no music localiation at all.  Music localization can change a ho-hum commercial that view people absorb, into an exciting experience that gains over 90% of the audience’s full attention.  Using music of a style that is beloved by the population makes audiences sit up and really take notice - to really listen to a commercial or radio spot.  Exactly what the commercial is for - attention.  It is still amazing how many people fear music localization, mostly because they simply cannot “feel” the music themselves, because they are from a different culture.  Or, their clients cannot “feel” the music for the same reason, and sadly the client’s opinion is more important than the success of the commercial.  It is amazing what a little “salza and merengue” can do for a Spanish commercial, or drums do for an Middle Eastern commercial, or lyre music for an Asian commercial.  But, hey!  Who wants to increase impact 100% anyhow?

Mixing techniques to cut costs

Q:  We’re looking for suggestions that will provide lower budget alternatives alternatives for our clients for translating vignettes and talking heads. Ideas?

When translating videos from one language to another, there are a variety of techniques.  How the project audio is edited and mixed can have a strong effect on budget.  The most expensive approach to video translation - that produces the highest “class” results, is a video translation tecnique called lip sync (aka dialog replacement).   This technique involves removing the original language voice track.  Then, translate the script, and adapt the translated script for the lip movemments on screen.  (more about this in other parts of this site).  Then, a professional voice actor, who is experienced at lip sync, records the voice track.  At this point, the audio studio editors then tweak almost every short phrase of the entire project to align as best as possible with the lips on-screen.  So, this technique is both the most effective and the most costly approach to video translation.  A lesser expensive way to handle lip sync, is not to try to replace the voices  perfectly with lip movements, but to use a mixing technique that produces the effect of a “news reportage” or “documentary style” mixing.  This is a technique in which the translated script is shortened a bit, but not adapted for the movements of the lips.   The voice talent records, and tries to time the voice recording sentence by sentence, or paragraph by paragraph, rather than word by word.  Then, during mixing,  the original spoken language is retained in the background softly, while the foreign voice is louder to the forefront.  With this “news reportage” approach, it is not necessary to try to match the lips, and the entire video translation process - from the first step of script adaptation, to voice talent recording, to editing and mixing - are all much much faster.  And, therefore, cheaper for your client.

Recording Styles Q & A: Part 1

Q:  I keep hearing terms like “U.N. style” and “CNN style” and documentary style”.  What is the difference between them?

A: They are similar, which is why the confusion. In the U.N., the CNN, and the Documentary styles, the original English is retained and plays softly in the background, while the sound of the  foreign voiceovers are audible rather like an interpreter.  However, the “U.N. style” means using a simultaneous interpreter to record, not a voice talent.  That interpreter may be interpreting “live”  on the fly, or may have practiced a little before coming to studio.  In either case, an interpreter has a monotonous performance, and should be avoided for multimedia projects whenever possible.  Both the “CNN” and the “Documentary style”, on the other hand, are perfect for multimedia projects, because they use professional talent voiceovers and the “reporter” effect is created through the mixing technique.

Q:  When is a documentary-style approach preferred to full voice replacement?  When do I keep the original English in the background, and when eliminate it entirely?

A: There are a few basics rules to decide which mixing approach to use.  If is a testimonial, the CNN-documentary style is usually better, unless that testimonial is played over b-roll, not actually seeing the person’s face as they speak.  Sometimes, subtitling is even more impressive for a testimonial.    For narration over footage or b-roll of some kind, voice replacement is always better, without exception.  If there is dialog, such as vignettes of people talking together, then lip sync is the best - a second possibility is subtitling or using foreign voiceovers mixed in documentary style, when there is a budget issue, but impact is lost that lip sync does provide in spades.

Q:  What other considerations are worth a thought for international projects?

A: You might consider music localization.  The music that appeals to other cultures is often not our corporation music choices.  For commercials, obviously, music has a monumental impact.  And for corporate sales pieces, again, localizing the music can make a big difference.  One company that provides localized music is @International Services.