Sound design is many things; one of which is being the heart of every film.
Sound design is all about creating a sonic world for your film to inhabit.
The story and genre of your film will dictate the overall tone of your picture, which is a good starting point for your sound design.
There are a lot of individual pieces that have to coalesce and work in unison in successful sound design.
You’ve got to make your dialogue, production effects, sound effects, ambience, and music all work together to create the tone and feeling of the film that you’re trying to produce.
I’m going to tell you about sound design and how I do it.
Different Strokes
You can approach sound design as if you’re painting with sound, and every sound effect and musical element you add is just another sonic brushstroke on the canvas of your film.
You can create harsh, violent strokes, or you can be as delicate as you want.
You can add cool or warm sonic colors to the overall landscape, or you can simply paint it black.
The story will point you in the direction you should go.
Your sound design creates an atmosphere that surrounds your movie audience beyond the visual of the film.
For example, the sound design for a light-hearted comedy is going to be different from that of an intense thriller.
The music will be different. The sound effects and ambience will be different.
For a romance or comedy, you may hear birds chirping, kids playing and having fun in the background, and the music will be heartfelt and cheerful.
With horror, there will always be something lurking. You may hear creaks and groans, voices and growls, and the music will be dark and jarring.
You can use sound effects to add to the romance, the comedy, or the horror.
If a scene is supposed to be funny, use your sound design to make it funnier. If a scene is supposed to be scary, use your sound design to make it scarier.
Film loves subtlety, but it also doesn’t shy away from the extremes.
Sound effects can exist alone, but you can also stack several effects on top of one another to create whatever sounds you want.
I regularly stack sound effects in my projects and I will play around with the levels, reverb, and panning to create unique sounds that will benefit the scenes I’m working on.
I’ll often ask myself certain questions about these effects to help guide me to the right destination.
Where is this effect coming from?
Does it sound natural to the environment it’s in?
Is it unique?
You can stack sound effects that are all different or you can stack the same sound effect.
One time, I had an audio clip of a single breath from one of the actors. I made several copies of the clip, stacked it on top of itself about five or six times, and began adding effects.
I changed the pitch on several of the clips, added some reverb, and utilized panning. I ended up with an other-worldly sound that made my skin crawl. In other words, it was perfect.
You never know what you can come up with until you try. Exhaust your imagination and experiment as much as possible.
A lot of iconic sounds out there are the result of experimentation and accidental happenings.
I Can’t Live Without Music
Music certainly plays a tremendous role in every movie.
I had a sound professional explain this to me not long ago. He said, “The action and the dialogue move the story forward, but the music tells people how to feel.”
You’re going to need a lot of music, too. When I was doing the sound for my first feature film, I was surprised by the astronomical number of musical elements and clips that I ended up using.
This is just one of the many reasons why you should start planning your sound design early on.
I began planning the sound design for my second feature film during pre-production. I mean, the script is right there, and the script is all you really need to get started.
The script was already broken down, so I knew some of the effects I would need.
But just for good measure, I went back through each scene, looking and “listening” for any additional sound effects I thought I might need and made note of them.
Then, I went through my sound effects libraries until I found everything I needed.
You can subscribe to a service online or purchase a whole host of different sound effects libraries online for reasonable prices.
I moved each of these sound effects into the sound effects folder for each scene that they would be in.
The film had thirty-two scenes, so I had thirty-two sub-folders in the main sound effects folder.
This kind of organization will save you a tremendous amount of time in post-production.
Next, I went back to the script and studied each scene again.
I was trying to figure out what music would not only capture the feeling of that particular scene but also capture the overall tone of the picture.
Remember, everything has to work together.
This particular movie was in the horror genre, but it also contained some light-hearted moments between the characters.
I made note of some dark and brooding ambience for some of the more horrific scenes. As for the light-hearted scenes, I tried to pick some quirky musical elements that still had some sinister undertones. Yes, they do exist.
After that, I went to my music library and started selecting clips. I then moved each clip into the music folder for the scene that each would be in.
Again, I had thirty-two sub-folders in the main music folder.
You can purchase a lot of great royalty-free music libraries online, or subscribe to an online service and pick whatever you need when you need it. Some are more reasonably priced than others. Just do your research and select the one that will meet your needs.
Once the film is shot, edited, cleaned-up, and locked, you can start experimenting.
You have all of these music clips in folders, but that doesn’t mean they are set in stone.
I like to set different music clips down for each scene and see how each of them work.
It’s amazing how much music can change the way a scene feels, regardless of what the actors are saying or doing. Sometimes it’s interesting to have that contrast between what you are seeing and what you are hearing. It really just depends on what you are trying to go for.
Experimenting with purpose is a good thing. So, at this point, I’ll ask myself different questions about each of the music clips.
Will the audience now feel what they are supposed to feel?
Does this adequately convey what the scene is about?
Does this fit with the overall tone of the picture?
Once you’ve adequately conveyed the feeling of each scene and each scene aides the overall tone of the film and all of your dialogue, production effects, sound effects, ambience, and music work together to create a unique sonic world, your job is done.
