Week Two: Sound Design, The Sound Department and Critical Listening

Regarding Assignment One (due week 3 friday)

Reminder to make recordings for assignment one: 24bit / 48khz in .wav format

Plan for two days of recordings at minimum

Adobe Audition is the required software we’ll be learning in this unit

You can use music in assignment but it won’t be marked on and will be muted

What is sound design?

The organization and shaping of sounds for any purpose (creative, corporate, etc.) with many
disciplines (films, games, etc.)

Linear Sound Design vs Interactive Sound Design - This unit focuses on linear sound design

Interactive Sound Design example triggering a sound when something happens in a video
game

Linear Sound Design is a bit more self-explanatory

After watching the first video clip, discussion about the clip ensues:
What were the notable elements of sound design in that clip?

Reverb
Acoustics
Scale
Onscreen / Offscreen Sound
Articulating items (materiality of miniature)
Mixing (diegetic sounds)
Non-diegetic sound (Kitchen Scene)
Sounds have feelings and emotions
Context matters (choosing one floorboard over another can have an impact)
Stylised
Using sound design to create sonic worlds

The various elements of a soundtrack:

Dialogue
Foley
Sound Effects
Atmosphere and Ambience
Music

Don’t think of ambience as just one ‘background’ layer, think of it more like a ‘tapestry’ with
layers of ambience to place us in a world. Typically, it will be fairly low in the mix but this can
obviously change with context.

After watching a film clip from Snowpiercer

What is the sound design doing?

Creating an atmosphere (before and after the wreck)

Perspective - volume difference (removing high end when zooming out of the avalanche rumble)
Smaller rumbles and crackles to create suspense before the wreck happens (scale)
–
The Sound Department and Different Roles

Principal Production
Sound recordist (typically dialogue and performance recording) (called a production sound mixer in USA)
Boom operator
Sound effects recording (studio recording of things like ambience, something that isn’t foley eg. explosions,
large wooshing, etc.)

Post Production
Dialogue editor (noise reduction, room fill ensuring clean dialogue, etc.) (room fill is recording the ambience of
the room before/after the dialogue
ADR editor (automatic dialogue replacement, eg. re-recording dialogue in a booth if something goes wrong)
Sound effects editor (mixing and editing things like ambience, something that isn’t foley eg. studio explosions.
also sourcing from sound libraries)
Foley artist & foley editor (focusing more on the subtle detail and raw sounds, creaks, footsteps, rustling,
etc.)
Re-recording mixer (also called a sound editor / lead sound editor / designer, the final point of contact) (how
loud is the mix in cinemas, netflix, etc. they may add their own sounds if they feel necessary)

It is not uncommon for smaller team (eg. indie game studios) to have a sound designer who
does multiple roles as well as potentially composing the music for the project.
Sometimes sound is a replacement for a feeling.

Example: The sound of grains of sand hitting someones face is a replacement for the feeling of
what that could be like.

Assignment info below

Recap: The primary elements of a soundtrack - ASSIGNMENT ONE INFO

Dialogue
Sound Effects and Foley
Atmospheres
Music

This is all the things we will be doing in our assignment.

1 folder of dialogue/speech, foley and effects, atmospheres/ambience, music (not
graded)

Things to consider:

Atmospheres - don’t record less than 2 minutes at a time

Sound effects and foley - multiple pen drops can go into one recording instead of pen-
drop1.wav
Dialogue - label clearly

Create your own naming conventions. Tutor recommends

“snatcher_fol_jacket_being_unzipped.wav”
“snatcher_amb_parking_lot_multiple_cars_driving_past.wav”

You could even add the name of the mic used at the end of the filename
You also probably should use music
For good marks, have multiple variations of things. Multiple takes, even with dialogue.
Even if the takes are bad, you can include them.

VOICE ID is speaking at the start of a recording stating things like: Project name, Personal
name(?) Microphone name, what’s being recorded, where it’s being recorded

Document should contain ending and list of sounds.

Good estimates for this are (all theoretical, just use as a guide):

6-8 dialogue recordings, 3 if short

8 atmosphere recordings
20 sound effects

Script:

Ext. = exterior, outside

Int. = interior, inside
Busy street sounds: chatter, footsteps, traffic, café

Crossing the road: ticking sound, stop walking (dragging feet to stop), hitting the button to cross,
distant ticking sound of another crossing light (lower in the mix)

Go through each line of the script and make a list of the sounds you wanna make, list the core
sounds and work on that, just do the core sounds if there isn’t enough time but ideally you can
do all sounds you list

ASSIGNMENT INFO DONE.

Critical listening, next page.

Critical Listening

Our tool for reverse engineering sound designs and soundtracks

The means for expanding vocabulary around sound and tacit practices in sound design

It is a skill we can develop that will allow us to listen analytically to the work of others and enable
us to improve our own work

Often, we need to re-listen to things to critically listen and it can take some time as humans are
often “visual creatures”

After watching a clip from the film Amour (the scene has a naturalistic approach to sound design)
Things pointed out in the sound design choices

Dampening of the rain sound when the window was closed

Rain was loud in the mix that drowned out things like hallway ambience (melancholic atmosphere)

Distinct footsteps from the man in the scene

Domestic sounds like light switches are high in the mix, possibly to represent the ‘still’ nature of
the scene

Dialogue high in the mix as that is the main focus

Dialogue is naturalistic
–

After watching a clip from the documentary Leviathan (the scene has a grungy tone to it)
Things pointed out in the sound design choices

Intentionally low-fi and abrasive which corresponds with the uneasy visual tone

Drowned out sound (reduced hi freq)

Contrast between above and below water (below is dark and booming) (above is loud and
mechanical)

Level matching between waves scene to shower scene hard transition (textually similar)
Direct capture (mono sound) from go-pro and not a wide, stereo soundstage
After watching a clip from the film Alien
Things pointed out in the sound design choices

Multiple variations of alarm sounds, alongside the announcements which indicates intense
urgency and tension

Ticking sound of the light which adds more tension as it is reminiscent of a clock

Foley and dialogue were mixed around the same level

Sense of scale and space through reverb, and the lack thereof in the small, confined spaces