The former Saint Teresa of Avila Church at 435 New Scotland Ave. in Albany is a 1930s-era Gothic Revival deconsecrated building designed by architect Andrew Delehanty. The last Mass was held in 2009. Overit renovated the space and started recording there in 2012.
Paul Grondahl/For the Times Union
Adam Clairmont, director of studio operations at Overit Studios, worked on ADR, or automated dialogue replacement, for the record-shattering animated feature film “Zootopia 2.”
Paul Grondahl/For the Times Union
Adam Clairmont has completed automated dialogue replacement, a post-production method to clean up sound glitches during filming, for dozens of TV shows and feature films and has worked with actors Parker Posey, David Strathairn, Gaby Hoffman, James Franco and Jon Hamm.
Paul Grondahl/For the Times Union
Dan Dinsmore, founder and CEO of Overit, a media and recording studio, calls the speed of change in his business “terrifying.” He has created a steady revenue stream recording dozens of distinctive voices of people for a vast audio archive to be used for artificial intelligence applications by a major tech company.
Paul Grondahl/For the Times Union
ALBANY — The road for the $1.27 billion international box office juggernaut that is “Zootopia 2” ran through New Scotland Avenue in Albany.
It’s the highest global animated opening of all time, the fastest PG-rated movie to surpass $1 billion (17 days), half of it in China, and is the highest-grossing film of 2025.
Article continues below this ad
“It was just a hoot that we got to work on it,” said Dan Dinsmore, founder and CEO of Overit, a media company and recording studio that has carved out a niche in film and television post-production services.
Overit Studios is an approved audio facility by SAG-AFTRA, the labor union representing actors and media professionals.
Overit completed automated dialogue replacement, or ADR, for the animated animals of “Zootopia 2.” Human actors voiced the furry characters in a state-of-the-art recording studio that transformed the altar area of the former St. Teresa of Avila Church.
Make the Times Union a Preferred Source on Google to see more of our journalism when you search.
Add Preferred Source
The Overit folks dubbed the deconsecrated Roman Catholic house of worship “the church of audio.”
Article continues below this ad
Think of ADR as the equivalent of a mulligan, or do-over, in golf. During film production, a call for “quiet on the set” sometimes fails. Even after multiple takes, recordings can be corrupted by almost imperceptible noises: electronic hum, traffic noise, coughing, door closing, wireless microphone scratching on an actor’s clothing, and all manner of unwanted sounds.
These audio glitches can be corrected through ADR.
“There’s nothing automated about ADR. It’s the most technically difficult thing we do,” said Adam Clairmont, director of studio operations at Overit. ADR can also stand for additional dialogue replacement.
It’s an intense, high-wire human act at the knobs of the sound board for Clairmont. It requires nanosecond precision. Pretty good is not an option.
Article continues below this ad
“When you’re working on a Disney film with the best in the business and you do poor work, you’re toast,” said Clairmont, 43, of Halfmoon, who came to Overit in 2012, shortly after the media company moved into the former church.
Two things have worked in Overit’s favor: reputation and location.
“Actors are on the move between projects and if they’re anywhere near Albany and need to record some ADR, we get the call,” Clairmont said.
Their ADR film and TV work includes “Nightmare Alley,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “CODA,” “Transparent,” “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “The Gilded Age” and many more.
Article continues below this ad
“It’s a logistics thing,” Clairmont said. “We’re easy to get to. The actors don’t have to deal with New York City traffic. We have a cool vibe in this old church.”
The Gothic Revival church was designed by Albany architect Andrew Delehanty. The last Mass was held there in 2009. The 12,000-square-foot building has been reimagined as creative space: a confessional became an office, the sanctuary is an open production floor, oak from the pews was repurposed as desks and baseboards, the altar graces the entranceway and stained glass windows are accentuated with contemporary artwork.
Overit benefits from a growing cohort of TV and film actors who live in Hudson Valley towns, including Woodstock and Rhinebeck, a short drive to Albany.
Dinsmore said the deciding factor is the quality of recording talent from Clairmont and senior sound designer David Parker. “Adam and Dave are insane creative geniuses,” he said.
Article continues below this ad
Dinsmore and Parker started out as professional musicians in rock bands that toured and recorded. Clairmont moonlights in sound production at major sporting events, including the Super Bowl and the World Series.
Overit also gets a lot of voice-over recording work for television commercials, which is less technical than ADR.
Jon Hamm recorded a series of voice-over ads for Mercedes-Benz at Overit.
“He’s a really nice guy and such a pro that he finished about 20 Mercedes radio and TV spots in a few hours,” Clairmont said. Hamm chose Overit because he was headed to MASS MoCA in North Adams for a project and Albany was an easy stop on the way.
Article continues below this ad
Overit has worked with actors Parker Posey, David Strathairn, Gaby Hoffman, James Franco and others. Some are chatty. Others say little.
“I read the room. Some like to hang out and talk and others just want to get in and out as fast as possible,” Clairmont said, noting they occasionally are heading on vacation and have kids or family members tagging along.
Each recording session gets their best effort. Agents and actors compare notes and one bad experience could destroy Overit’s reputation.
Clairmont often finds himself recalling lessons learned from his mentor, Joel Moss, the Grammy-winning recording engineer from Saratoga Springs who died on Sept. 15 at 79 after suffering an aortic dissection.
Article continues below this ad
“Joel taught me everything I know,” Clairmont said.
The quality of work at Overit Studios has earned the firm repeat business from Amazon, Disney and Netflix. “It’s great to associate ourselves with those brands. It brings prestige,” Dismore said.
Dinsmore said film and TV jobs are not enough to support Overit’s 40-person staff. A year ago, he secured a large and steady volume of work recording dozens of people with a range of distinctive voices for a major technology company (Dinsmore is not at liberty to divulge the name). They are developing a vast audio archive for artificial intelligence applications. Overit is one of the only studios in North America that met company’s stringent sound quality control requirements.
“For better or worse, AI is here. Eventually, it’s going to take over,” Dinsmore said. “The world of our business is changing so fast it’s terrifying.”
Article continues below this ad
He added, “The only thing I’m banking on is that our little pirate ship of creatives will survive because of our imagination. It’s the most important thing we have.”
Paul Grondahl is the Opalka Endowed Director of the New York State Writers Institute at the University at Albany and a former Times Union reporter. He can be reached at grondahlpaul@gmail.com