Sound and Audio
Why is sound important?
Sound is important in productions such as TV and film and video games for many reasons. One of the main reasons is that it adds ambiance in the background. Ambient sound is added to productions to increase the detail and realism of the sound. A film may add a subtle wind sound. Ambient sounds are not meant to be noticed most of the time, as they are there to enhance the film without being the main focus of the scene.
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Sound is also used to improve the visuals of the production and add to the overall feel. For example, if there are bright and saturated colours, there is usually a happy, bouncy soundtrack to go along with it.
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Sound and audio are also used to bring out the emotion in the viewer, as different sounds and audio can have different effects, from given the viewer feelings of sadness, to feelings of empowerment or happiness.
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Sound is also used for dialogue, which greatly improves pieces of media. Dialogue is either recorded by the actor playing the role or if it is a game or animated series/film, a voice actor will be used. However some pieces of media, such as "The Snowman" and "Mr Bean" have little to no dialogue, it is difficult to have no dialogue and keep the viewer as engaged as they would be with dialogue.
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Film and TV Audio
Audio in film is used to add atmosphere and bring the scenes and world to life. Films make use of both diegetic and non-diegetic sound. Diegetic sound is all the sound that is from the film world, such as dialogue or a river flowing. Non-diegetic sound is external audio, such as a soundtrack or a narrator. Soundtracks in Film and TV are very important, as they set the atmosphere for the entire scene. For example, just by listening to this soundtrack, you can tell that the scene is intense and dangerous and that there is a long build-up in the scene.
Variety of Audio Products
Jingles and slogans
Jingles and slogans are small clips of audio used in advertisements, usually on the Radio and TV. These types of audio are designed to be easily memorable and get easily stuck in your head. One of the most famous examples from recent times is Moonpig. Most if not all of their adverts have their famous jingle, and a lot of people can recognise it in an instant. Another very common use of jingles and slogans is on different radio stations such as Capital FM and Smooth FM.
Soundtracks
Soundtracks in video games and film are very important. They help set the tone of the scene and product. Soundtracks vary in genre based on the atmosphere the film/scene wants to create. If a character is dying, you would not put an upbeat rock track in the background, as this would confuse the audience and make them wonder what is going on. This soundtrack is widely seen to be a very good one, as it has many different aspects, sounds, and intensities for different parts of the game which all fit with the visuals very well.
Radio Shows
Radio Shows are different from soundtracks and jingles, as they are not necessarily music based, and are more similar to podcasts. Radio shows are there to entertain or inform the listener of a certain subject.
Podcasts
Podcsats are a type of audio product different to many others, as they are not musical, and instead are people talking. Podcasts are basically a conversation between a variety of people which is being recorded and will be put on podcast streaming platforms such as Spotify, and are usually uploaded to YouTube too. There are many different types of podcast, some are very serious, whereas some are lighthearted and are not meant to be taken too seriously. Many podcasts will try and get famous celebrity guests on their show to boost interest and get people listening who wouldn't usually listen. Another way podcasts gain publicity is they will try to get a celebrity to say something newsworthy on their podcast, this way when the news inevitably reports on the story, they will have to mention the podcast's name as a source for the information. This gives the impression that the podcast is a reliable source for information and is not just messing around. One of the most famous examples of both techniques is when Kanye West went on "The Joe Rogan Experience" podcast in October and announced plans to run for President again in 2024. This was bound to be in the news, so it is good for Joe Rogan that it was said on his podcast. The episode now has more than 12 million views on YouTube.
Foley
Foley is defined as being the reproduction of sounds you would hear on a day to day basis, such as footsteps, water flowing, and various other sounds. In film and TV, foley is used to emphasise and slightly improve the original recording, or to completely replace it.
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In gaming, generally, almost all the sound you hear is foley.
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Foley is used for many reasons, the main reasons being that foley is a great tool to replace poor quality recordings with much better, studio recorder audio. Foley is also great for creating high quality ambient sounds and other small extra details such as creaking floorboards or faint wind sounds. Using foley also gives you full control over the audio and what it will sound like.
Examples
One example of foley is in the Star Wars franchise, the iconic lightsaber sound was made using the feedback from a TV tube. Another inventive use of foley is in the Jurassic Park films, where the velociraptor egg hatching sound is in reality the combination of an ice cream cone being crushed and someone twisting leather. Creative solutions like this are extremely important in foley.
No foley sound is exactly the same as a previous sound. There are a variety of factors that can slightly or drastically change the sound a sound makes. For example, footstep sounds will change based on what the person is walking on, what shoes the person is wearing, how fast they are walking, and how much force they are putting on their feet.
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Another type of sound that can vary hugely is "Move" sounds. Move sounds are the sounds a person makes when moving, such as clothing or bags rubbing against them or each other, or keys moving in their pockets. The things to think about when recording these sounds include thinking about if the material is wet or dry, and thinking about what the material is actually rubbing against.
Analysis and comparison
I will be comparing the sound desing of Overwatch to the sound design of Minecraft, as they are games in two different genres and have big differences in the sound and audio design.
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The first major difference between the two games comes from music. In Overwatch, the music plays at certain points, for example when there is a certain amount of time left on the clock, whereas in Minecraft, the music comes and goes randomly,. The reason for Minecraft's music coming and going at random points is mainly to make it simple for the development team for the game, as it is a lot less work than making music come on at lots of specific points. Often times in Minecraft, there is no music, this is to make it feel as ambient and ominous as possible, as if there was a constant soundtrack in the background, you wouldn't feel like you're alone in a big world, which is the entire point of the game.
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Overwatch's score is much more dramatic, mainly because of the completely different genre of game. The music in this game must be a lot more intense than the peaceful, relaxing score of Minecraft. A nice relaxing piano melody wouldn't fit well with a game all about trying to kill the other team to achieve your goal.
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The next comparison is how the sounds were actually recorded in the first place. In Overwatch, a lot of the sounds are real sounds, such as the ambient noise for the map South Korean themed map, Busan. The audio designers said that Busan has very distinctive sounds and atmosphere which they did not feel they could just simply recreate, so they went to Busan specifically to record the sounds for the game. The team could afford to do this, as the game had been out for a few years at the point of this map being added, and it was already owned by Blizzard, a huge gaming company.
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Minecraft, made by Mojang, did not have this same budget, as it was made by a very small development team. A lot of the early sounds in this game were not made by the Minecraft team but were taken from a website called Freesound. One sound that wasn't downloaded from this website is the sound of the ghasts. This was made by the audio designers cat being woken up from sleep, and it has been heavily edited.
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Foley Pre-Production
Examples
One example of foley is in the Star Wars franchise, the iconic lightsaber sound was made using the feedback from a TV tube. Another inventive use of foley is in the Jurassic Park films, where the velociraptor egg hatching sound is in reality the combination of an ice cream cone being crushed and someone twisting leather. Creative solutions like this are extremely important in foley.
My Foley
I will be adding foley sound to Foley Clip One.
Foley Recording Schedule
Foley Recording Plans
Foley Track
I created a Foley track for this video clip, and I believe it has come out well for a first attempt at Foley. There are a few sounds I would've liked to add but couldn't, such as some more unique bird sounds. My Foley track is relatively effective against the aims of what I set out to do. My sounds created a good sense of environment as I used a combination of audio recordings and audio effects to add immersive sounds, I made certain sounds echo (such as crossing the bridge.) I could do a lot to improve the patterns of the bridge sound, as the sound by itself is good, but the way I looped it to match the characters walking sounds off. I could improve this by slightly modifying some of the sounds, so it sounds a lot less repetitive. I feel that the sounds in the clip are very realistic as I used realistic recording techniques. For example, for when he was walking on grass, I got a member of my family to walk on grass and I recorded it. I then sped it up and changed the pitch to match the character's footsteps. Another feature I would have liked to have added is panning audio from left to right, doing this would have increased the overall experience and immersed the audience into the world a lot more.