Sound FX
Creating Reality
Introduction
Sound Effect (SFX) Functions
The many function of SFX:
- Necessary film sounds
- car-bys
- sirens
- gunshots
- Information about the film
- location
- time period
- ethnicity
- info about story or character
- Suggests a mood
- fear
- sadness
- happiness
- Foreshadows
- tragedy
- victory
- love
- peace
- Signature sounds
- can assign a theme to a character, event, location
Types of SFX
Hard or Spot Sound Effects
Soft or Background SFX
Foley SFX
Loop Group or Walla
Design SFX
Off-Screen SFX
- Sounds that are directly linked to a visual that requires synchronization between the two
- Ex. Car door closing in a shot
Soft or Background SFX
- Sounds that do not synchronize with anything in the picture, but are used to indicate the location or setting to the audience
- AKA soft sounds, ambience, nats
- Ex. Birds chirping and kids playing at a park
Foley SFX
- Sounds that synchronize with a character's actions, and require the expertise of a Foley artist to properly perform.
- Any unspoken sounds made by the human body touching and moving something else
- Ex. footsteps, clothing, handling objects
Loop Group or Walla
- The sound of people talking in the background
- Should be unintelligible, unless called for (call-outs)
- Ex. Murmuring, gasping, laughing, clapping, etc.
Design SFX
- Sounds that have never existed and would normally not exist in nature, or that are impossible to record in nature
- Ex. Futuristic technology, alien beings, mythological creatures, dinosaurs, etc.
Off-Screen SFX
- SFX that occur off screen, such as a toilet flush or police siren
- Ex. If a character walks out of the room to get a glass of water, the audience should be able to hear the facet turn on and off before seeing the character enter back into view with the glass of water
Production SFX
Production SFX (PFX) are those that are recorded during the production of the film
- Should be recorded on a separate track from the production dialogue track
- Can either be used in post production as is, used with the enhancement of other sounds, or replaced completely with post SFX
Location SFX
SFX recorded wild on location
- Can be Hard or Soft FX
- Wild means without the camera rolling
- The importance is that since they are recorded on the same set where production dialogue is also recorded, they will blend into the final mix better
Custom-Recorded SFX
SFX created specifically for a certain film
- Needed when desired SFX cannot be found in a library or couldn't easily be created with existing sounds edited together
- Usually recorded/created by the sound editor, a SFX recordist, or during a Foley session
Foley SFX
SFX created by Foley artists in synchronization with the picture
- Tailored to the actions on the screen
- Footsteps, clothing rustle, and handling of small props
Library SFX
Pre-recorded SFX that are either licensed through purchase or free
- Many SFX databases can be found online for digital download
- Many Sound Designers have their own SFX databases of sounds they've recorded themselves
- Useful Library SFX are those that would be difficult to record yourself, such as an avalanche, an obscure animal call, or sound heard under water
The Process
Spotting
Spotting is the process of going through the film and noting at what timecode a SFX is needed
- This is done in Spotting Sessions with the director, sound editor, and music composer
- It is important that SFX and Music (MX) do not battle against each other, but work together
- Sometimes a SFX is better than musical score, other times the music needs to be prominent
- Nevertheless, the composer needs to see SFX as another instrument within the orchestra, and the sound editor needs to see the music score as another SFX
- It is important that SFX and Music (MX) do not battle against each other, but work together
Creating
Creating SFX has less to do with what an object truly sounds like and more to do with what the audience expects to hear
Here are some examples of how to create usable SFX:
- Ex. Very few people know what the actual sound of a knife penetrating a human body sounds like, but people can imagine what it might sound like
- The Sound Editor's job is to give the audience the sound they are anticipating in order to continue their suspension of disbelief
Here are some examples of how to create usable SFX:
- Bats or birds flying: Leather or rubber gloves flapping or an umbrella being opened and closed rapidly
- Bat shrieks: Chicken or kitten sounds pitched up
- Elevator door: Metal filing cabinet being opened and closed
- Lava bubbling: Bubbling sound from a pot of boiling water, or pouring water onto a concrete block
- Robotic movements: Printers, DVD players, photocopier sounds
- Spaceship Door opening: Two pieces of paper sliding together
Recording
SFX that are not done in a studio are usually recorded without picture reference, although you could upload scenes onto a tablet or smart phone in order to get the timing down.
What you'll need:
What you need to be aware of:
What you'll need:
- Recorder
- Microphone
- Cable
- or Digital Field Recorder with built-in microphone (Tascam Dr-05 or Dr-100)
What you need to be aware of:
- Gain Structure (your recording level)
- Remember to always aim for no less than -18dBs and no greater than -12dBs
- There should be a 16-30dB difference between your noise floor and recorded subject
- Set a Limiter to prevent clipping for loud transients
- Record your sounds from 3 different distances so that you will have options in post-production to place the sound in the "environment" that the audience sees it
Editing
Unlike Dialogue (DIA), ADR, Walla (WLA), Foley (FLY), and Music (MX)---Sound Effects (SFX) are not recorded in sync with the picture, but recorded wild
Layering is the compounding of sounds to create a new distinct sound
Cutting the SFX
Editing for POV
Cutting for Perspective
Processing
Processor Techniques
Layering is the compounding of sounds to create a new distinct sound
- A sound creation technique that is used for backgrounds, sound design, and SFX
- Build the layered effects one sound element at a time in order to have control over the level and processing of each sound independently
Cutting the SFX
- Make sure you have a natural beginning and end
- Be sure to add slight fade-ins and -outs to each region
- Use a cross-fade if you are needing to glue two regions together so that there is a smooth transition between them
- If you cut a sound in the middle, be sure you zoom all the way in and cut it at the zero crossing point (where the waveform meets the 0dB axis)
Editing for POV
- Be sure to check with the director about who's Point of View (POV) the sounds are being heard from in each scene
- If it is not made clear that the director wants the scene to be from the POV of the main character, and you edit from the POV of a bystander, then it may tweak the story in a negative way and you may have to spend more time fixing the miscommunication
- Ex. POV of a Dog
- Foley footsteps would be louder since the dog is closer to the ground
- Any other sound that would naturally be louder at floor level would need to be increased in the mix
- Human voices will sound distant and less clear (it is okay to exaggerate)
Cutting for Perspective
- Many times the first shot of a scene is the establishing shot, then it cuts to another type of shot like a close-up
- Sonically, this may call for a similar change in perspective
- Ex. - Wide shot at the beach with crashing waves before the shot is cut to a close-up of a college student daydreaming in class
- Unless the director wants the sound to foreshadow the close-up
- Ex. - Wide shot outside of a house, but sonically we are hearing a family singing Happy Birthday before the shot is cut to the interior of the house where the party is happening
- Sonically, this may call for a similar change in perspective
Processing
- The use of filters to alter the sound in some way
- Ex. Reverse, pitch shift, time shift, EQ, Reverb, flanger, vocoder
- Processors help you manipulate a sound in order to create the sound that is in your head
Processor Techniques
- Echo: One or more delayed sounds are repeated from the original sound
- Great to use on gun shots when appropriate, or voices yelling into a canyon
- Reverberation (Reverb): When large numbers of delayed sounds are mixed over several seconds mimicking sounds bouncing off of reflected surfaces
- Great to use if the scene is in a stairwell, basketball court, cave, etc.
- Flanger: A copy of sound is added to the original sound with a constantly varying short delay where one of the copies gets phase shifted
- The voice of C-3PO from Star Wars has Flanger applied to it to give it a robot-like quality
- Chorus: When a delayed signal is added to the original signal and a slight pitch shift raises and lowers the delayed signal causing the overall sound appear bigger with more voices
- Like the Flanger, this is great to use on sci-fi voices, and mechanical noises
- EQ: Different frequencies are cut (attenuated) or boosted (amplified) to produce the desired sound
- Great to create the sound of a voice through a telephone or transistor radio, or hearing the low thumping frequencies of loud music coming from a car passing by
- Pitch Shifting: Used to shift the pitch of a sound up or down
- Wonderful to use in order to make a normal animal noise sound like a growling monster
Career Highlight - Sound Effects Editor
- Whereas a sound designer often creates the sounds needed in films and videos, a sound effects editor ensures that the sounds are interjected at exactly the right time
- This professional will work on a film, video, video game or other project during production as well as post-production, enhancing sound effects or changing them
- They must work closely with the other professionals involved to ensure that the overall project realizes the initial vision and plans
- The most important knowledge a sound effects editor will possess is on the technological side – mainly concerning the computer-based programs and software used to edit sound