Sound Design

‘I confirm that the attached assessment is all my own work and does not include any work completed by anyone other than myself and sources have been appropriately referenced.’‘

WHY SOUND DESIGN IS SO IMPORTANT – Visual Tone (visual-tone.com)

From looking at the link above, sound design is important because adding it to a scene can create an emotion and will help viewers know what mood the scene is expressing.

Why is Foley so important? — Sound Surfers

When looking at the link above, I have learnt that Foley is important because when Foley artists go to a recording studio they create unique noises that synchronises with the scenes because it makes the quality of the sound more enhanced.

Sound Design, Foley and FX in Horror Movies – Electronic Music Collective

The difference between them both is that a sound designer creates sounds that only the audience can hear but not the characters/actors but a Foley artist recreates a sound that only the characters/actors can hear during the movie.

Foley Artist

A Foley artist uses objects in a recording studio that will sound similar to what the characters are using in a scene of a movie, when recording the noise of what they’re doing with the object they then add it into the scene and synchronize it with the scene but makes the noise more enhanced.

Sound Designer

A sound designer recreate sounds during the scenes are being shot. Only the audience will be able to hear the sound.

Examples of Foley sounds and how they’re create

A horse running

Foley artists have 2 halves of a coconut and click them together to create a realistic noise that a horse would make when galloping, prancing and trotting. Getting to halves of a coconut and click them together next to a noise recorder will enhance the noise on the scene.

Soldiers Marching

When soldiers are marching in a scene the Foley artists use a handful of keys on on key chain and rattle them in an up and down motion which creates an identical sound as to how marching would sound in real life.

Fire burning (environment)

Foley artist cut up pieces of plastic bag into strips and burning them will create a convincing crackling noise because of the plastic melts and dripping. They occasionally use this method when a scene of a bonfire is in a movie.

Walking

When a character is walking in a scene the Foley artist needs to experiment with different flooring, shoes and speed of the walk to create a sound effect that’ll suit the scene and will give the audience the mood that they want them to feel.

Foley Sounds created in my favourite movie

From my favourite movie Harry potter and the order of the phoenix it shows a scene when Dumbledore’s Army are practicing their Patronus charm spells and all of the Patronus are animals, the animals all made their typical noises as they were casted by the characters wands. This was created simply by using the artists mouth and try to mimic the chosen animals sound of their noise and sound effect artist change the tone to make the noise a lot similar as to what that animal sounds like.

Pitch Control

The pitch control adjusts the speed of the platter not the pitch itself. Frequency is related to the pitch sound and when lowering the frequency it will also lower the pitch too.

Reverb

Reverb is the most versatile effects when it comes to mixing because it is used as a utility and creative tool. It gives a sense of depth, fatness and intrigue that glues your mixes together like glue. I can be used for when a singer sings a song and their voice is only creating long and sustained notes because it can create contrast and make the song more exciting for listeners to listen to. You shouldn’t use reverb too much in a song because it could make the song a little messed up and listeners won’t be able hear the instruments in detail and wouldn’t be fun to listen to.

Silence

When using silence within a soundtrack it can create suspense and can make the listeners more intrigued as to what will happen next. Using Silence can be really important when it comes to soundtracks because without silence the song could lose its meaning and wouldn’t create the suspense when the audience are listening.

Ambience

Ambience is completely opposite of silence and is more focused on sounds of the atmosphere and can be used as background music.

Acousmatic

Acousmatic can be used in music and it is when audience cannot see what is happening in the song but can only hear what is happening instead.

Dissonance

Dissonance can be used to describe a harsh and inharmonious noise.