What is Sound Design?
Sound design is part of the post-production process where the audio elements of a piece of media, like the dialogue, music, and sound effects, are manipulated to enhance a scene’s potency.
Why is it important?
Audio is spatial. The visuals are confined to the four corners of the screen. But sound design can create a sense of off-screen space. There might be more happening beyond the edges of the film, and audio gives your audience a greater sense of what’s going on in the larger world, making the environment you’ve built more fully realized. Adding echoes to voices in a scene in a canyon, for example, can inform your viewers of its expanse, even when the camera angle doesn’t.
We hear emotions. Good sound design makes us feel like we’re with the characters on screen. Sound can accentuate their feelings. Horror movies are an obvious example. Think of how suspenseful music and menacing sound effects shape your experience as you watch a character hide in a closet.
Sound maintains the illusion. Done right, sound design for film gives an otherwise flat, two-dimensional picture layers of authenticity. Filmmaking is the art of illusion. When making a video, your job is to feed your viewers’ senses, make them believe what you’re telling them, and make them think that what they’re watching is real. Sound, and the manipulation of sound, are crucial to this end.
What is ambience, Foley, Audio effects, voiceover and music?
Ambiance is the background noise that sets the scene and the foundation of your soundtrack.
Foley sounds were named after Jack Foley, a sound effect designer who worked with Stanley Kubrick, Foley sounds are reproductions of everyday sounds added in post-production to make a scene feel more natural.
Audio effects are manufactured sounds that don’t occur naturally and can’t be recorded solely with a microphone, it must be done with a computer.
Voiceover is a post-production recording technique in which an unseen voice, or the voice of a visible subject or character, speaks over the video’s main soundtrack to provide additional context or express unspoken thoughts.
Music is a score that sets the tone to elicit emotions and raise tension.
What does a sound designer need to be good at?
A sound designer needs to be good at Creativity, Storytelling, Using software, Communication and Organisation.
Creativity: Be able to imagine a soundscape that doesn’t exist yet, translate ideas into sound, create bespoke sounds to enhance the storytelling.
Storytelling: Have a good understanding of the characters and the story and design sounds which communicate these well, understand the importance of timing, if sound design is necessary or not.
Using software: Record sound, have extensive knowledge of ProTools and other audio design software.
Communication: Understand the director’s vision and be able to articulate creative and technical ideas, have productive discussions and address constructive feedback, work closely with the dialogues and always keep the music in mind.
Organisation: Be able to work to tight deadlines in post-production.
What is like being a sound designer?
As a sound designer, you might create sounds to be recorded for TV, film or radio, or live sounds using physical objects in a theatre production. You might even produce sounds to be used in video games.
You could work in a studio imitating sound company to be used in a battle scene or use synthesizers to produce noises that a UFO might make. You might also be involved in foley, which means recreating everyday noises such as doors slamming or glass breaking.
If you work as part of a theatre production, you’d be backstage waiting for your cue to play pre-recorded sound effects or music to create an atmosphere.
How were sound effects in "A Quiet Place" made?
They used Foley sounds for what humans or monsters mad in this film.
They used the Foley in a quiet environment where they put the video up on-screen and record using the microphones in sync with the video.
They had to get creative to create other sounds such as breaking crab legs to create the sound of a monster walking, crushing celery to create the sound of a monster's ear opening and grain dropped on a car door to create the sound of someone being dragged out of kernels.
They slowed down a sound of a stun gun to make it sound like a monster.
They didn't have a Foley for a baby crying, instead one of the editors recorded their baby nephew crying.
What is layering?
Layering gives you complete control over each component that’s part of a sound. It’s like taking the same approach you use for an overall mix and then condensing it down a few levels.
Layering is the process of mixing and arranging a collection of files into a single, effective sound. Each layer adds something unique to the final product.
If you work in film audio, you might be giving a voice to fantastical creatures (or undead ones) and building a believable sound that brings each scene to life.
Audio layering is something audio engineers use when mastering music.
When it comes to audio layering, think about how you use EQ (emotional quotient.)
It is the most important tool for sound designers in film and video games, as the foley sounds are layered to build a sonic landscape of where the film takes place.
For example:
The dinosaurs in Jurassic Park
The projectiles in Star Wars
The monsters in A Quiet Place
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