Audio Production

The importance of Audio

Audio in the media industry is very important as it is one the main parts that help bring scenes to life.

Audio is divided into two different groups. One is audio that is within the scene and the other is audio that is added into the scene in post. These types of audio are called Diegetic and Non-Diegetic audio.

Depending what and where you are recording your audio, there will be a few challenges that you will have to face and find ways to resolve said challenges. The first thing to do is check the area/room where you will be recording in, this is to see if the room is reverberant or dry. The second thing to check is the equipment you'll be using for the recording like: What audio device will you be using? How many microphones do you need? What camera angles will you be using?

Another thing to keep in mind is that certain pieces of equipment may or may not be needed depending on what you're recording as well what area you are recording in.

To see the importance of audio we were tasked with watching a few movie scenes twice with and without audio to see the difference it makes to the scene.

With Diegetic sound there are two types, these are called internal and external diegetic. External diegetic is sound that all the characters within the scene wether they are on or off screen can hear, whereas Internal diegetic is sound that only one character can hear as the sound takes place within their head.

Ambience

Ambient sound consists of noise within a place or background that change depending on what location the scene is in. It can also be the feeling or mood of a location as well. This can be used to describe the feeling given off by the possible place, person or object.

Ambience in filmmaking quality can depend on if you have the audio set to either mono or stereo.

Foley

Foley sound is sounds and effects that are added to projects post production. This use of sound is commonly used for TV, Film and video games.

The way foley sound is made is by having someone in a room with a rifle microphone with a screen that shows either a scene or gameplay, and use a wide variety of equipment as well as vegetables to make sounds that they believe best fit as the sound effect.

This can range from bone crunching sound from celery to crunching and sloshing sound from monkey nuts or the sound of fabric being pulled and tugged as well as flapping in the air. There are many sound effects that can be made from almost anything, so there is limitless creativity with foley sound.

Sound Design Super Mario

Switch snap then transition to a field with windy weather with waterfalls in the background and birds taking flight and stars shooting past, after a while huge footsteps can be heard behind the camera and advance closer, bashing and trashing of the footsteps, the dinosaur slows down and stops, its tail narrowly whipping the camera with a few low growls that turn into a load roar.