"Looping" is done fairly frequently when making movies. This is sort of the opposite of lip-synching and it's not easy to do. Looping is done when it's discovered that after a scene is shot, a line, or several lines haven't recorded well. Maybe the whole scene. And rather than go to the expense of setting up the scene again and reshooting it, they have the actors come in to re-record the dialogue while watching the film. And trying to match the words (emotions and all) to their own lip movements on film is damned hard to do! But you see lot more of that than you realize.

One of the reasons for cobbling recordings by doing umpteen takes or sometimes splicing a couple of takes together is that, in live performance, a slight boo-boo (and no performer, no matter how good, can lay down an absolutely perfect performance every time—or even most of the time) may go by unnoticed, or if noticed, easily forgiven. But if you hear the boo-boo every single time you listen to the CD or watch the DVD, it becomes more and more noticeable. Like an ugly wart on an otherwise beautiful face. It's hard to keep your eyes off of it. Since the boo-boo can be eliminated with a little judicious editing or splicing, that's standard operating procedure, and everybody's happy. But if the editing is sloppily done, that becomes a boo-boo in itself.

The live performer gets only one shot. Before being too critical, try recording something perfectly. Then note how many takes are required to get it absolutely perfect.

Don Firth