The art of creating sounds that do not exist in the real world.
Sound design is the art of creating sounds that do not exist in the real world. Consider the dinosaur calls from Jurassic Park or the lightsaber sounds from Star Wars. These sounds aren't "real" sounds but they feel real within the context of the story. They were conceptualised and crafted by a sound designer to meet the narrative vision of the director.
There are two main purposes for sound design:
We must craft original sounds to achieve these goals. In doing so, we access powerful parts of the mind that visuals alone cannot. This allows us to shape the experience however we wish. We can convince audiences that characters and objects are real, we can build tension and drama, and we can even trigger precise emotions with specific sound cues. It's wonderfully powerful stuff, sound design.
Sound design is best considered during the scriptwriting or early pre-production stages. Involving sound designers at such this stage allows the directors to fully realise their vision ahead of time, and it allows producers to effectively budget and prepare for production.
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Sound design is for any film, show, or game that wants to immerse audiences, build believable worlds, or create iconic soundscapes that people can't help but talk about.
We begin with a deep dive discussion with the director, audio director, or supervising sound editor to reveal the goals they have for the narrative. From there, we devise a strategy for conjuring sounds that meet and surpass that vision.
To craft original sounds we use voices, musical instruments, synthesisers, abstract microphones (such as electromagnetic or underwater microphones), and just about anything else we can think of to forge an innovative and unique soundscape.
Sound design is a game of experimentation. We must be willing to fail and risk embarrassment. Otherwise, we cannot hope to achieve the director's vision, and that is always the end goal.
Some examples of iconic sound design from famous films and games include:
