This post is
intended not only for professional but also beginners and more like and expo
for radio drama and movie enthusiast.
The concept or ART of Sound Effects is a very important tool in
radio drama voicing/post-production and for movie editors. This is a
post-production guide during when and after you have taken voice rushes. I assumed
that you have gone through my previous post but still have not shown
appreciation.
Picture you and a close friend talking along a busy road or a
bubbling clubhouse, where the sounds are 10 to a dozen. Still at this, your
brain fine tunes your ears to listen only/pay attention to your friends voice
(Direct Sound) except for a sudden harsh sound or other sounds like the car
horn along the road or the voice of someone talking into your conversation
(Sub-Direct Sound). All other sounds that are very indistinct to your hearing
are termed AMBIENCE SOUNDS.
Hence for movies, the actors are affixed a close boom/condenser
mic that would record their sound like it’s a studio recorded dialogue – just as
you have done in your radio drama studio voicing. Thereafter all other sounds
after a good voice texture (Which comprises of the volume, mixers, reverb and
other effect) have been recorded are doctored in the post-production.
For low budget radio plays, these doctored sound effects can be
downloaded (check sounddogs.com I use them a lot) or for capital budget they
can be produced by taking resources to the field for manufacture (I would
prefer to say this to those that are really into making sound effects – follow me).
Just as you want a car-rev sound heard in a radio play, so also
in movie post-production, the car-rev you heard in the final movie was
doctored. The important thing is that this sound effects must fit in well in
the timeline of editing, else it would be a disaster (When it’s a disaster,
please don’t mention my name).
Something you should know is when to use certain sounds either
as ambience or as sub-direct sounds. When you are to simulate an enclosed
place, except otherwise stated in the screenplay script, the ambience sounds
should be very well reduced and given a light reverb to send the reduced volume
to a “distance”. In an enclosed place, you faintly hear ambience noises. Sub-direct
sound is what is mostly heard like footsteps, water filling a glass cup,
padlock/door lock noises e.t.c.
When in an open place (e.g. clubhouse or market square), the
ambience sounds has more volume but the reverb effect should send this sound to
the third or fourth level of hearing hierarchy. Sub-direct sounds are a little
bit reduced but a little bit louder than the ambience, as you cannot hear a
footstep distinctly in a clubhouse or market square.
All these rules are subject to otherwise statements from the screenplay
script. In radio, dramas where u have repeated scene environment ensure that
the ambience sounds are the same so that the audience would be familiar with
the location.
SFX is one of the greatest innovations in the
editing/post-production world and it is constantly changing. Picture a Hollywood
movie where the actors are walking along a busy street but the camera seems to
pick their voice clearly. That’s because they are actually recording the live
dialogue with a boom mic (which simulates the recording in a studio box – just as
in a radio drama) and all other sounds are doctored. That’s was sup!
In my next post – which I am really getting discouraged to work
on, because of lack of appreciation either by retweeting this blog or seeing
comments – I would talk on sound tracks for a radio drama and creating a mini
studio (on the move things) – the HIs and heLLOs.
I think I need a call from someone that reads this -
+2348077229978
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Very well written. Loved it :D.. Helped me learn something new
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