Sound is often seen as a functional thing that can’t generally be left out. It just doesn’t feel natural in most cases to present silent media. I realise that many producers are happy to ensure that there is sound; that a soundtrack has dialogue, provides a backdrop and everything feels natural and well balanced. In fact, I have spoken to directors asking for sound design (meaning everything in the sound track) and realised that they are approaching the soundtrack in this functional way.
Open your ears and notice what sound offers
The thing is, you’re probably not noticing most sound in your everyday life. If you did you’d be completely overwhelmed. Our eyes focus on a single point and your eye lids close (and in a sense) edit your visual experience. As we don’t have self-closing ear lids (imagine!!!) our brain has learned to do this. Just like most of us can’t feel our clothes on our skin constantly, our brain is filtering and so we’re used to noticing the new, unusual or alarming. The rest fades until we choose to tune in.
Try this
Step 1: Grab with a pencil and paper. Set a timer on your phone and list everything that you can hear right now for 2 minutes.
Step 2: Read the following list and see what else you can add.
Here are some tips:
Sustained sounds
Computer hum
Intermittent sounds
Bird chirping outside the window
Very low frequency sounds
Truck passing outside
Medium frequency sounds
People talking in the next room
High Frequency sounds
Tinnitus in your own head
Close proximity sounds
You writing with your own pencil, breathing, clearing your throat
Medium proximity sounds
Clock ticking or fireplace in the same room
Distant sounds
Dog barking up the road
You’ve just done some ‘ear cleaning’ exercises (which are really head cleaning exercises I think). Also leaning on something Michel Chion would call ‘causal’ listening, as you describe sounds according to their causes.
This is still a functional view of sound but when we come to tell story there is more to consider. Imagine this scene: one main character, I’ll call him Billie, enters a room where his dog is relaxing, he sits to write a letter. The date is 1750.
Already you have adjusted your mental image of this scene. Your sound team are thinking about the following:
Feet. What kind of shoe and floor surface. Is it damp or dry.
Clothes. Types of material and weight. How do they interact.
Accessories. What is seen in shot (and if audio only) what might be typical but accentuating rather than distracting.
Character. How is Billie feeling and what is happening in the story. His emotion and purpose affects how he moves throughout the scene and how all of the objects interact with each other. Crashing about, or sliding and sulking if depressed.
What kind of chair and table is he using?
What type of pen (quill) and paper (parchment) is he using?
What is the energy of writing this letter… is he taking care or furiously attacking the page?
What else is inside or outside the room?!
How big is the dog!
Here I offer a brief sonic version of this, created entirely from backgrounds, sound effects (in Soundly) and some Foley. It is staged to help you feel the space, the warmth of the fire and an approaching thunder storm. Notice how the elements are positioned left to right, front to back, sometimes with a little bit of embedding (EQ, reverb and volume editing), all designed to create an illusion of an actual real space. None of it is real.
Sound can supports the geographic and time setting, personal circumstances (affluence), and importantly how the character is feeling. This entire scene would be entirely different if set in the 1980s, or 2025.
Try this….
If you have some audio software have a go at creating a response based on the above as follows:
- In an apartment 1988
- Basement bedsit 2025
- Set in a future office 2075
Sent it to me with a bit of ctextual info (i.e. are you a professional, student, young person and your intention for the clip): eddie@finelineaudio.co.uk
Sonic storytelling
Some investment in your sound effects, backgrounds and Foley will offer depth and versatility to your storytelling. Think about the opening to The English Patient. Titles are accompanied by something that sounds like bells, fabric, some wind, footsteps on a soft surface, maybe a horse, spoken voices possibly a melodic call to prayer. A beautiful and enchanting sonic picture is presented, and we are given it’s full context some time later.
You see, while we tune out, when attending to cinema we open our ears naturally and tune in. So it is our job to make the sound track every bit as real, supportive and convincing as our natural environment – and then to add that extra magic made possible because sound speaks directly to the subconscious.
When working with a director, I’m extremely committed to understanding story and thinking about how the sound track can enhance and support that: while delivering all that is expected (and assumed), I occasionally offer insight on what sound can add to the storytelling toolbox, and demonstrate other expressive possibilities available with sound.
Consider engaging a sound designer earlier in the process. Share the script as they can prepare the sound world and aid with the audiovisual counterpoint. Build a relationship with your sound designer (or sound team) as this can really elevate and bring enormous depth and finesse to your work overall.
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