A Look Into Sound for Film & Television

While film and television are both visual experiences, the importance of sound to the experience can often be overlooked but should never be underestimated. 

An untrained audience is often unaware of the amount of post-production undertaken for sound. Not only do you incorporate the sounds and dialogue recorded during filming, new sounds are also added later that enhance the experience, such as music and effects.

When putting together a complete soundtrack, a sound designer will mix these audio elements together and create a balanced whole that emphasises the emotional path and highlights of the visual story. Such as:

• Making the dialogue or human voices as natural and authentic as possible, and ensuring balance with the rest of the sounds;
• Creating and using sound effects, sounds that are synchronised with the action (such as footsteps that match walking feet) and sounds that are off-screen or asynchronous (such as the sound of an ambulance's siren somewhere outside a darkened apartment);
• Composing and bringing music into the sound mix at the right levels, and in the right places. For the best example of a timely and brilliantly mixed use of music, think of the 1977 film Jaws.