Sound Designer: History

Like Foley work, sound design has an interesting history that i may have looked over if not for this project.

History: 

The terms sound design and sound designer were introduced to the motion picture industry in 1972. At that time, The title of Sound Designer was first granted to Walter Murch by Francis Ford Coppola in recognition for Murch's contributions to the film Apocalypse Now. The original meaning of the title Sound Designer, as established by Coppola and Murch, was "an individual ultimately responsible for all aspects of a film's audio track, from the dialogue and sound effects recording to the re-recording (mix) of the final track".

The term sound designer replaced monikers like supervising sound editor or re-recording mixer for what was essentially the same position: the head designer of the final sound track. Editors and mixers like Murray Spivack (King Kong), George Groves (The Jazz Singer), James G. Stewart (Citizen Kane), and Carl Faulkner (Journey to the Center of the Earth) served in this capacity during Hollywood's studio era, and are generally considered to be sound designers by a different name.

Origins: 

Many argue that origins of Sound Design can be found in prehistoric times as the use of sound to evoke emotion, reflect mood and underscore actions in plays and dances began during this time. At its earliest however, it was used in religious practices for healing or recreation. In ancient Japan, theatrical events called kagura were performed in Shinto shrines with music and dance. 

Possibly the first use of recorded sound in the theatre was a phonograph playing a baby’s cry in a London theatre in 1890.  Sixteen years later, Herbert Beerbohm Tree used recordings in his London production of Stephen Phillips’ tragedy NERO. The event is marked in the Theatre Magazine (1906) with two photographs; one showing a musician blowing a bugle into a large horn attached to a disc recorder, the other with an actor recording the agonizing shrieks and groans of the tortured martyrs.

Between 1980 and 1988, Charlie Richmond, USITT's first Sound Design Commissioner, oversaw efforts of their Sound Design Commission to define the duties, responsibilities, standards and procedures which might normally be expected of a theatre sound designer in North America. This subject is still regularly discussed by that group, but during that time, substantial conclusions were drawn and he wrote a document which, although now somewhat dated, provides a succinct record of what was expected at that time. It was subsequently provided to both the ADC and David Goodman at the Florida USA local when they were both planning to represent sound designers in the 1990s.

Sound Designer: What Is It

For this post i aim to talk about sound design as this is also similar to what i'm doing for my project and i feel it deserves a look at 

What Is It:

Sound design is the process of specifying, acquiring, manipulating or generating audio elements, this general what i intend to do with my minor along with Foley work. Sound design most commonly involves the manipulation of previously composed or recorded audio, such as sound effects and dialogue. In some instances it may also involve the composition or manipulation of audio to create a desired effect or mood. A sound designer is one who practices the art of sound design.

It is employed in a variety of disciplines including filmmaking, television production, theatre, sound recording and reproduction, live performance, sound art, post-production, radio and video game development.

In motion picture production, a Sound Designer is a member of a film crew responsible for some original aspect of the film's audio. In the American Film Industry the title of Sound Designer is not controlled by any industry organization, unlike titles such as Director or Screenwriter.

The role of sound designer can be compared with the role of supervising sound editor; many sound designers use both titles interchangeably.The role of supervising sound editor, or sound supervisor, developed in parallel with the role of sound designer. 

The demand for more sophisticated soundtracks was felt both inside and outside Hollywood, and the supervising sound editor became the head of the large sound department, with a staff of dozens of sound editors, that was required to realize a complete sound job with a fast turnaround

Foley: Creation

Foley: How is it created

Foley is made by a sound artist mimicking actual sound sources in a recording studio, often there are many little sound effects that happen within any scene of a movie. Foley art is can often be broken down into three main categories which are Feet, Moves, and Specifics.

Feet:

To produce the sound of walking down a staircase for example, two Foley artists stomp their feet on a marble slab in a recording studio while watching the footage. Foley studios carry many different types of shoes and several different types of floors to create footstep sounds. These floors, known as Foley Pits, vary from marble squares to gravel and rock pits. Creating just the right sound of footsteps can greatly enhance the feel of a scene. Foley Artists are often referred to as "Foley Walkers" or "Steppers" when working in the 'feet' subset of Foley

Moves:

The “move's” category makes up many of the more subtle sounds heard in films, for example, the swishing of clothing when two actors walk past each other. This sound is created by rubbing two pieces of the same material together near the microphone at the same rate that the actor’s legs cross. (Note:Cloth is not always used)

Specifics:

Foley can also include other sounds such as doors closing and doorbell rings; however, these tend to be done more efficiently using stock sound effects, arranged by sound editors.

Foley effects help the viewer judge the size of a space. For example, a large hall will have strong reverberation, while a small room may have only slight reverberation. Open outdoor spaces usually have no echo/reverb at all.

Foley: History

History

The History of Foley is often liked to Jack Foley who is essentially the founded of this art form. So how did foley come about...

Foley first came about as a range of live sound effects originally developed for live broadcasts of radio drama in the early 1920s in various radio studios around the world.Due to no effective recording method existed in those days, all sounds for radio plays had to be created live at the time. This is where Jack Donovan Foley comes in as he was working at Universal Studios in 1914 during the silent movie era. 

When Warner studios released its first film to include sound which was The Jazz Singer Universal knowing that they needed to stand a chance against Warner Studios called for any employees who had radio experience to come forward. This lead Foley became part of a sound crew that turned Silent movie Show Boat into a musical. Due to microphones of the time being unable to pick up anything other  than dialogue,other sounds had to be added in after the film was shot. 

This lead Foley and his small crew to projected the film on a screen while recording a single track of audio that captured their live sound effects. Timing of these sounds had to be perfect, meaning footsteps and closing doors had to be synchronized with the actors' motions in the film, this started the art we know as Foley today.

Jack Foley created sounds for films until his death in 1967, with some of his methods still being used today.

Modern Foley art has progressed in the same manner as recording technology has progressed. In today's world, sounds does not have to be recorded live on a single track of audio. They can be captured separately on individual tracks and carefully synchronized with their visual counterpart, with Foley studios employing hundreds of props and digital effects to recreate the ambient sounds of their films.

Foley: What Is It

For my minor project i will use sound (Foley) as my primary basis meaning Foley work will act as my foundation for my project and will make up all of my example for the project.

So what is Foley:

Foley is the recreation of sound effects that are added into film, video, and other media during post-production to enhance audio quality. These sounds range from squeaky doors and breaking glass to the swishing of clothing or people's foot steps. It is stated that the best foley art should go unnoticed by the audience as it helps create reality within a scene, mainly due to without these background noises the films will feel unnatural and quiet.

Foley Artists are also responsible with creating ambient sounds as most props and sets in film usually do not sound anywhere close to how they should in real life.Foley sounds are used to enhance the auditory experience of the movie. 

Another use of Foley is it's use of covering up unwanted sounds that are made on set of the film such as Airplanes and unwanted traffic.

The term "Foley" is also used to describe a place, such as Foley-stage or Foley-studio, where the Foley process takes place.

Foley: Common Tricks

  Common Tricks:

During Foley sound artists have similar tricks in creating similar sounds, tricks that I may use in my project which are

• Corn starch in a leather pouch makes the sound of snow crunching
• A pair of gloves sounds like bird wings flapping
• An arrow or thin stick makes a whoosh
• An old chair makes a controllable creaking sound
• A water soaked rusty hinge when placed against different surfaces makes a creaking sound. Different surfaces change the sound considerably
• A heavy staple gun combined with other small metal sounds make good gun noises.
• A metal rake makes the rattle/squeak sound of chain-link fence (it can also make a metallic screech when dragged across a piece of metal).
• A heavy car door and fender can create most of the car sounds needed but having a whole car in the studio is better.
• Burning plastic garbage bags cut into strips makes a realistic sounding candle or soft non-crackling fire when the bag melts and drips to the ground.
• ¼” audio tape balled up sounds like grass or brush when walked on
• Gelatin and hand soap make squishing noises
• Frozen romaine lettuce makes bone or head injury noises.
• Coconut shells cut in half and stuffed with padding makes horse hoof noises.
• Cellophane creates crackling fire effects.
• A selection of wooden and metal doors is needed to create all sorts of door noises, but also can be used for creaking boat sounds.
• A heavy phone book makes body-punching sounds.
• Acorns, small apples and walnuts on wooden parquet surface can be used for bones breaking
• Canned dog food can be used for alien pod embryo expulsions and monster vocalizations

Sound effects :Tricks

Similar to foley, sound effects have some tricks that are easy to recreate. The following examples are ideas from sound effect artists

Airplane engine, flying (WW2 style)

Get some of the larger fan types into your studio and record different speeds and power up/downs, close miked. You’ll have to add some distortion and remove some of the lower end depending on the type of fan used. Jonathan vd Wijngaarden

Alien egg sacks

A good one for alien egg sacks contracting and expanding is breathing softly into a styrofoam cup while pressing it in and out.– Pedro Seminario

Alien pod embryo expulsions etc.

Certain kinds of canned dog food make useful sounds as the food comes out of the can. The chunky stuff isn’t so good, but the tightly packed all-one-mass kind makes gushy sucking sounds when the air on the outside of the can is sucked into the can to replace the exiting glob of dog food. This sound can be used as an element in certain kinds of monster vocalizations, alien pod embryo expulsions, etc.– Ashley Walker

Arrow flyby

Use a thin bamboo stick, such as the type used to hold up plants in a garden. Whip it past the microphone.
– Adam Johnson

Boulder rolling

Car rolling downhill on gravel without engine running – record the wheel friction.
– Ben Burtt

Bullet, slow-motion

Record the spout of a ’70s coffee percolator.
– Brian Chamberlin

Car engine

If you need a car engine sound, buzz into a brass mouthpiece – (tuba/baritone) or bassoon reeds – and pitch shift it down.
-Ellen Lurie

Chainmail movement

A bunch of keys for chainmail movement.
– Patrick Phelan

Driving on snow

Flour – great for walking/driving on snow.
– Mark Estdale

Gore and squidge

Wet wash leather – fantastic for gore and squidge.
– Mark Estdale

More sound effects and techniques can be found here http://www.epicsound.com/sfx/