Hey all!

I really love writing these posts about film making! It's kinda a dream to do some videos on film making to branch out more about these topics. There are so many things that pop up, it's a treasure trove!

So, for today's post, we're checking out Audio! ooooh! lol.

Audio is a very broad topic, so I'm gonna narrow it down to the title - it has to make sense. This applies to every category of audio in film.

Let's talk about foley. Foley is a broad term that refers to the creation of sound effects by performing them using various objects and techniques that make everyday objects sound like epic stuff you can't just normally do. Silly example, I LOVE the sea, so because I didn't have the chance to properly record it (ie, we were there before I ever learned how to), I wrote my own version of the sea's roaring with MIDI. While not considered typical foley, it still works! hehe.

Another example of foley is to use a one for one copy - ie doing the same thing as the clip, but simply recording it, ie someone walking on wood with boots, so you walk on wood with boots. The goal is to do it in a dead space (no reverb) to get a clean sound so you can edit it for a reverb rich space or any other space.

Performing these things and writing them is fantastic, no doubt about it, BUT, we have to make our sound make sense. So how?

Already hinting at this, it's incredibly important to make sure your foley (or found resources) fits the shot. So, let's say we have a cowboy walking into a saloon. If the saloon is empty, the steps will reverb. If the saloon is full, but quiet, it will still reverb, but very little if any. Why? Because there is very little flat or hard surface for the sound to bounce right back. So, you'll season your resources with the appropriate amount of reverb to fit the shot. Feel free to push it a smidge for the sake of dramatic effect (like a shoe close-up for example - it will amplify the tension in the scene if the reverb is over the top).

This comes back to the initial step of performing or sourcing. You have to make sure that what you're using makes the most sense. If a character is flying a plane, you can't use a Porche engine, unless the actual plane engines sound identical, you know. If a car door is slammed, you can't use a room door. They simply do not sound the same and it will throw your audience off. IF you do this for comedic effect, it can be hilarious, but it should NEVER be done if you simply can't find what you want. In those cases, you have to make due. For example, I needed an elevator door opening and closing. I've ridden my share of elevators, so I know how the door mechanism sounds, so I looked for something similar. Turns out, a dumpster cover sound from YT's audio library, sounds pretty much the same. Not 100%, but close enough. It has to be a metallic sound and it had to have some kind of gear mechanism bang sound - BINGO on the dumpster! hehe. I did have to edit it a smidge to get the right feel for it.

One thing that is a particular pain, is to sync footsteps or rapid fire, but if you get it right, OH is it a work of art!!! So worth the effort!

When you perform footsteps or check out stock gunfire, you will notice that very few people walk at the same speed, guns don't fire at the same speed and recorders do not always faithfully record sound sync to a T, so you sometimes have to break it up to sync it up. Please please please always be prepared for this kind of step. If you are, you will not feel sunk if you need to do it.

This one is fascinating to me. I learned that for doccies, nature doccies especially, the sound is actually recreated! I was stunned!! Had no idea!

They go through so much effort to give you a "realistic" experience of the sounds that they even make sure that the birds they use are plausible for that footage for that time of year and that location. INSANE! LOVE IT! Do the same! If you need to use a specific sound, especially animal sounds, make sure what you're using makes sense. You can't just add a moose in a basement, because you're trying to cover reverb from something else - it has to make sense. Obviously, I don't think you would, but extreme examples are funny, lol, moose in a basement, hehe.

When in doubt, opt for realism rather than going too far. Always always always ask for opinions of your work afterward. Ask about the sound and ask them if there is anything they would consider doing differently or if they felt something sounded off. Often times, if it's successful, they will say they didn't even notice the sound - that's what you're hoping for. Of course, sound people will be much more vigilant, but in general, most people will only notice if it DOESN'T fit.

This one relates to genre and psychology. When I made my first big audio drama, I wanted to approach it like film. You can't... I don't know why, but the human mind does NOT want a million sounds thrown at it, amongst the listening to voices. I had to limit my total sound effects at the same time to like 3 or 4. Anything more and it became a total distraction. Watch out for stuff like that.

Sound is also rarely as straight forward as we might think. You need to listen like a mic and take not of your subjective listening patterns. When we listen like a mic, we hear everything going on around us. Not specifically, but the ambience. You'll quickly notice that we live in a VERY noisy world where our subjective hearing cancels out the noise.

If you combine these two listening techniques, you can produce quality audio reconstruction that still lets you hear your speakers, without jarring your audience with too many layers.

Example, let's say you did an interview at the mall in a movie. That means, that mall would have been so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Now you come back and you add reverb, crowd noise, steps and even some electronic sounding toy gizmo music and some background music (if the malls where you shot it typically play something). BUT, you control the levels now, not the environment!

See? You listened like a mic and got what you needed to reconstruct the atmosphere, but you can hear the person, because the levels are adjusted to.

Finally, music is a big deal when it comes to putting that final punch to a shot - DO NOTE that not every shot needs music.

When you add music, listen to the song and imagine that piece playing over your scene. If you can't feel them "syncing" or matching, I'd strongly suggest moving on to the next piece. As you practice, you'll learn how to combine sound design (ie, what kind of music) with the type of mood you wanna create (fast, slow, romantic, angry, comical, mysterious, etc.). Music isn't often labeled the same way as your scenes, so you have to kind know what that would sound like, and search accordingly with whatever labels you do get.

In closing, I'd like to invite you to check out two videos of mine that relates to this topic. Both are functional example of finished pieces where these techniques were applied to create a mood and tell a story:

Arthur Conan Doyle's That Little Square Box (long intro with whistle)

and

5.1 Surround In Blender and Audacity (demo at the end) - link has time code

And that's it for today - always make sure the choices you make has their basis in reality. Don't ever do something just because so and so did it - use it only because it makes sense to and adds value to the story or process. You do you!

Have a super day!

GOD bless you!

Know JESUS yet?