M&E minus D? Why?

[Mubeau]

Dear all,

I did a mix of a documentary which was also sold to Japan /Indonesia/ Canada etc...

Basically I deliver non dipped stems for that (D, M, E, Voice Over), additional to the original Version (english in this case)and a "normal" M&E so every country may do whatever they think they need to do .
And production companies and TV Stations felt happy about this, sofar.

But this time I was asked to do a Stereo Mixdown WITHOUT "interviews" .
And i really ask myself: perhaps it is common to dub Interviews in some asian countries, completely and leave not a single original sound????

Can anyone agree with my idea, or is this just a misinterpretation of a production company who doesnt not what a M&E for Documentaries means

Thanks for your ideas!

Mubeau

[spoons]

Well they may still feature the interviews at the top and tail of each interview but dip out for the translation. A combination of a dipped M and E + your dial stem seems like a good quick option for a mix. With your undipped stems just in case they need to dig something out.
A lot of re versioning is mixed at quite a pace.
Then of cause there is the difference between the 'US' M and E and euro M&E.

[Leverson]

Spoons has it right, usually international markets don't re-dub on-camera documentary interviews, but they will dip them and record spoken translations over the top as an alternative to subtitles (think of newscast footage when they are interviewing in foreign countries).

It's also common for documentaries to request a 'mix minus narration, undipped', where only the voiceover is removed so it can be dubbed and replaced (so you don't dip the music where the VO used to be), but the rest of the dialogue will remain.

I always ask for clarification though when getting an M&E spec for a documentary, often times the distributors are just sending out the same specs for their fiction films, sometimes they are clueless, usually a simple conversation helps sort things out. I've worked on some vérité films with no narration or voiceover or direct interviews that didn't require an M&E in the end as the distributor chose just to subtitle, and I've worked on some films where I've had to create a total M&E package, I've also had to separate out the interview dialogue from the archival dialogue, etc. Everyone seems to want something a little different.

Another important area to inquire/push for is how 'fully-filled' they want the M&E. Often times they are just looking for a 'filled as much as possible' or a 'documentary filled M&E' which keeps all the sound effects and as much production sound as possible, but they aren't looking for total foley replacement of every single cloth sound etc removed from the dialogue like a fiction film. But that's an important thing to check and clarify so you aren't on the hook for it at the very end if it is indeed needed.

[Mubeau]

Hi, thanks for your info!

The question is:
Why do i have to remove ALL ORIGINAL Dialog and Interviews also???
For documentaries this is really strange!

As I said, perhaps they dub (replace) all Dialog/VO/INT completely???

- I´ve been to taiwan, where they definately "voice over" original interviews, as everywhere else in the world...

So can someone clear this why i have to do a M&E minus D and VO for documentaries ???

Cheers!
Mubeau

[Kasper]

As said by others, just ask them what they want.
Of course, they might not know

Depending on the styles of the doc, they may want to see what is needed to replace (AMB, Foley) when all the d-log is removed.
(I see Leverson beat me to that idea)

kasper

[Leverson]

Originally Posted by Mubeau

Hi, thanks for your info!
So can someone clear this why i have to do a M&E minus D and VO for documentaries ???

I thought this was already answered, but I'll try again:

You remove the dialogue from the M&E and provide it in a separate dialogue stem so that they have control over dipping the dialogue to record over it without also having to dip the music and the sound effects.

You don't want the ENTIRE soundtrack to dip under the spoken translation, just the original dialogue. And because each foreign language has different timings they need separate control over both the dialogue stem, as well as everything else minus the dialogue (the M&E).

[Mubeau]

Dear leverson,

:) Thanks, but I know all this,
and yes they also received the D, VO, Music and FX stems,
as I did over the last 15 years.

My question is: what is a M&E mixdown without any Interview,
used for if its a documentary?

Yes I asked the production company days ago,
but thats what they really want and they even dont know why they need it...

But I just want to check perhaps its a cultural thing that i dont know,
and want to ask if some of you guys know this...

Thanks again,
Mubeau

[Kasper]

Originally Posted by Mubeau

...

My question is: what is a M&E mixdown without any Interview,
used for if its a documentary?
...

Music + Effects .... that's why it's called Music + Effects.

kasper

[nucelar]

Hi,
We work a lot dubbing docs into Spanish and for the low-budget ones we only receive the Mix Minus Narration and original Full Mix. Yes, when we dip the interviews, the background music and ambience gets dipped, too.
For high budget docs (cinema release) we often receive the stems Music, effects and camera sound.
It would make no sense to create an M&E for the camera sound.
Anyway I have never heard of a "pure" M&E for a doc.
An exception would be if the doc includes dramatized scenes. Then you would need the M&E for that scenes.
Cheers

[Mubeau]

Originally Posted by Kasper

Music + Effects .... that's why it's called Music + Effects.

kasper

:) good one !