Digital Media Concepts/Sound Design

Introduction

Sound Design is the process of creating and editing sound effects for various media such as film, video games, theater, television, and sound recording. It involves selecting sounds that evoke emotions, create the perfect mood for the setting, and convey information to the audience by only sound. Sound Design involves creating and mixing sound effects, ambient noises, and dialogue to tell an enriching story and engagement in multimedia productions.

History

Sound Design goes back for ages ever since performances have existed. Many performances use sound to enhance the plays. The usage of sounds such as music, creates mood and emotion and gives the audience an idea of what they should be feeling. The usage of sound effects like bells, whistles, and horns all had cues so they could be played at the right time. Many performances used objects to recreate sound effects when the source of the sound was not available such as coconuts being used as horse gallops in the film, Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

What does a Sound Designer Do

The role of a sound designer is the create sound effects through sound editing and mixing. They create sounds in and outside of the studio depending on what sounds they need and how much budget the production company has. Sound Designers can use sounds that already exist, create original sounds, or a combination of both methods. They will then edit the sounds by using various sound mixing techniques to match what is being visualized. Currently, sound designers use technology and creative techniques to modify and integrate sounds into these multimedia projects to create immersive and emotional experiences.

Elements of Sound Design

Ambiance

Ambiance is the background noise of a setting which includes the sounds of leaves blowing in the wind, city noises like cars honking, or birds chirping. They are subtle sounds that create an atmosphere and do not distract nor grab the attention of the audience but in form and describe the setting.

Foley

Foley are sounds added to make scenes more realistic. A foley artist reproduces sounds that are happening every day and add them in post-production. Foley artists work in the studio with mics and various props and objects to make real world sounds. Like a character walking in a hallway, an artist will record footsteps on the floor material with a similarly designed shoe or record the sound of a person walking so they will record their footsteps, clothes rustling, and even objects jingling like keys.

Audio Effects

Sound effects are manufactured sounds that can not be recorded with a microphone. They are often edited on a computer and are edited by using filters and various sounds layered on top of the original source to give it some flavor.

Voices/ADR

Voice-overs or ADR (automated dialogue replacement), is where dialogue is recorded usually in a studio. The voice actors usually speak their character lines during the ADR process or if a line needs to be rerecorded. Usually the actor reads the script and matche what their character is saying in the scene.

Applications

Film

A sound designer creates and implements all the sounds in a film. They use folly to create all the natural sounds that is able to be captured in the studio. Then the sound designer or sound engineer has an ADR session to record the lines in a movie or redo any lines that were previously messed up. Finally, they put all the sounds into the project and add any additional sound effects that can only be created in post-production. They use various techniques that utilize cinema sound systems

Video Games

With video games being a highly popular source of entertainment, many video games need sound effects in order for the player to be fully immersed in the game. Sound designers for video games need skills using a digital audio workstation and audio implementation using software. They create sounds that match in-game actions and have the freedom to be creative with their sounds since there are a large variety of genres that can unleash the creative aspect of a sound designer.