- What is production sound?
Sound recorded live on set while recording.
Background sounds present in a scene. E.g. Birds in a park, cars on a road etc.
- What are Library effects?
Pre-recorded sound effects people can pay to use or use for free.
Sound recorded live consistent with the sounds created in the film.
To create sound not picked up or not well picked up by the recording at the time of the shoot.
- Why do film makers use sound effects?
To make a scene seem realistic or to add mood/atmosphere to a scene.
A guy names Jack Foley first came up with the idea so they named it after him.
- When did filmmakers first start using Foley effects?
In the early 1920’s.
- How is it usually recorded?
In a studio with a ‘Foley artist’.
- Where did it initially come from in history?
Universal studios.
- What films are famous for using it?
Show Boat was going to be silent before Foley was discovered.
- Describe a Foley session.
Different materials are gathered to recreate sounds for the movie. The movie is projected silently while the Foley artists use the materials and themselves to recreate the sounds as they are happening. Things like footsteps, door handles, floorboard creaks etc.
- What do you notice about the microphone placement in the 1970s Foley session?
I notice that there are several placed in different places in the area of the Foley artists’ feet, hands, above their heads and in front of them.
- Why do you think they placed the mics like that?
In order to catch every sound created to make the most realistic effect.
Dialogue that isn’t picked up during recording must be re-recorded. That actor must reproduce their audio in sync with the movement of their lips so watch the same clip on a loop until they do.
To replace audio that wasn’t picked up during live filming.
Automatic Dialogue Replacement.
The actor will sit in a recording studio with headphones watching their clip on a loop and re-doing their line in sync with the clip until they get it right.
- What does ADR allow you to do?
It allows you to get a better quality of dialogue recording without having to re-do the performance.
- What do you need to consider when organising an ADR session?
They need to consider whether to do partial ADR or replace the whole scene. Also the time it will take to complete and if the audio really needs to be improved.
- How ‘automatic’ do you think it really is?
Not very automatic as it takes a lot of planning and production time.
Term |
Useable Definition |
Diagetic |
A sound from a source on the screen |
Non Diagetic |
A sound with no source on screen |
Ambience |
background sounds |
Spot (ie: Spotting audio effects) |
going through the film and accounting for all sounds that need to be added in |
Spotting session |
audio team going through the film and thinking of sounds that need to be added in and how they will be added |
Dubbing mixer |
people who put together all recorded sounds into one soundtrack for the film |
Sound designer |
person responsable for collecting all sound effects and setting up playback equipment |
ADR / “looping” |
Dialogue that isn’t picked up during recording must be re-recorded. That actor must reproduce their audio in sync with the movement of their lips so watch the same clip on a loop until they do. |
Dialogue |
audio of speech |
Foley stage (job) |
recreating sounds from the film using materials and yourself |
Dubbing mixer (job) |
people who put together all recorded sounds into one soundtrack for the film |
Foley mixer (job) |
someone who puts together all foley recorded sounds |
Sound designer (job) |
person responsable for collecting all sound effects and setting up playback equipment |
Foley artist |
recreating sounds from the film using materials and yourself |
Foley |
Sound recorded live consistent with the sounds created in the film |
Production sound |
sound recorded live while filming |
Post-Production |
anything done after the film is filmed |
Bleed (microphones) |
when a close mic picks up sound from another source |
On-Axis (Microphones) |
audio source which is directly in front of a mic |
Underscore |
music being played quietly under other louder sounds |
Sting |
a use of short piece of audio to create a change |
Cardioid (Microphones) |
mics with a heart-shaped pick up. louder from the front, less powerful on the sides |
Omnidirectional (Microphone) |
equally sensitive to sound from all directions |
Dynamic (microphone) |
Dynamic microphones are microphones that convert sound into an electrical signal by means of electromagnetism |
Boom (microphone) |
a microphone attached to a boom |
Lavalier (microphone) |
a mic hanging around the neck or on the person |
Condenser (microphone) |
miss with a greater frequency response and are more sensitive to loud sounds |
Phantom Power (48v) |
method of sending an electrical current through a microphone cable |
Gain |
a measure of the ability of a two-port circuit to increase the power or amplitude of a signal from the input to the output |
Amplitude |
the furthest a vibration of sound can travel |
Frequency |
the rate at which the sound travels, also defines the pitch |
Hertz (Hz) |
what sound is measured in |
Pitch |
degree of highness or lowness in tone |
Dynamics (volume) |
how loud or quiet the music is |
Dynamic range |
the lowest and highest dynamics for sound |
Envelope |
the way the amplitude varies over time. The attack. Decay, Sustain and Release. |
Transient |
high amplitude, short-duration sound |
Attack |
changes occurring before the sound reaches its steady-state intensity |
Decay |
decay is the rate at which it fades to silence |
Sustain |
steady state of a sound at its maximum intensity |
Compression (volume) |
stabilising the dynamics of sound |
Reverb |
giving a sound a slight echo effect |
Gate (noise gate) |
an electronic device or software that is used to control the volume of an audio signal. |
EQ (equalisation) |
boosting or reducing the levels of different frequencies in a signal to make them level |
Delay |
a from of echo effect |
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