Automatic Sync Technologies and Kiwa Digital, announced recently a collaboration that will deliver word-by-word synching for dubbing with new levels of speed without sacrificing quality.

Specialists in the field of closed captioning and audio description services,  Automatic Sync Technologies LLC, and Kiwa Digital, the developers of VoiceQ post-production software,  joined efforts to offer a solution workflow that gets users into the dubbing studio faster and more efficiently – without sacrificing quality.

VoiceQ is a systematized software solution that automates dialog replacement in the post-production stage of film and television production. It has a global reputation for the precision of its process and the quality performance achieved. Automatic Sync Technologies (AST) leverages smart automation and professional transcribers to power its CaptionSync closed captioning and audio description services. It is the leading video accessibility service for accuracy, cost-effectiveness, expertise and ease of use.

VoiceQ with CaptionSync

As a result of the cooperation between these two companies, the VoiceQ Navigator series has been updated to integrate CaptionSync services into the VoiceQ workflow. This creates an innovative workflow that gets users into the dubbing studio faster and more efficiently – without sacrificing quality. That’s a sign of how post-production innovators are moving quickly to take advantage of the global production boom created by tech giants such as Netflix and Amazon.

In January 2018 the team at VoiceQ undertook its own research to gain insights on ‘how to deliver on exceptional dubbing member viewing experiences’.  A key challenge to address was ‘achieving high quality lip sync (word by word) in VoiceQ efficiently without sacrificing quality’. As a result of the research, VoiceQ has partnered with Automatic Sync Technologies (AST) to create an innovative workflow to deliver “word by word sync” and significantly reduce sync and quality control time. AST is world leading provider of closed captioning services.

Developed by Automatic Sync Technologies, CaptionSync closed captioning services have been provided for over 14 years, producing more than 5 million caption files for over 5,000 customers. The AST team employs a smart balance of cutting edge automation technology and experienced professional transcribers to provide closed captions, transcripts, and video search capability, without the error rates found in speech recognition and crowd-sourcing solutions.

A 200-600% reduction in QC time

The VoiceQ system was established in 2003 to support the dubbing of New Zealand films and television content into the indigenous Māori language, making it both technically and culturally significant. Inspired by the renowned “rythmo band” system from France, and patented as a unique innovation, its workflow and software completely disrupted the industry reliance on manual dubbing and audio dialogue replacement processes. These days, The VoiceQ system is used in 150 studios across five continents, from global localization businesses to high-end independent specialists, and is scaling rapidly in response to explosive demand for media content that meets language, culture and accessibility needs.

According to Kiwa Digital, independent trials across a range of project types have demonstrated 200% – 600% reduction in quality control time, precision quality, and relative cost reduction using the innovative workflow to deliver “word by word sync”. Case studies are available online. The move is part of VoiceQ’s strategy to integrate “best in breed” workflow and collaboration tools within VoiceQ.

“The industry is calling for global collaboration and efficiencies and this can only be achieved by integrating the best tools available. AST is a world leading provider of closed captioning services. We are delighted to be working with them at the forefront of change in the industry” said VoiceQ CEO Steven Renata.

“VoiceQ’s philosophy of leveraging cutting-edge technology to make video more inclusive around the world mirrors that of AST, and we are honoured to work with them to bring this new technology to market,” said Kevin Erler, CEO of Automatic Sync Technologies.