Wikipedia

Sound design: Difference between revisions

Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
m fix dead link, fix spelling
mNo edit summary
Line 1:
{{Short description|Sound track creation}}
{{original research|date=May 2008}}
'''Sound design''' is the art and practice of creating sound trackssoundtracks for a variety of needs. It involves specifying, acquiring or creating auditory elements using audio production techniques and tools. It is employed in a variety of disciplines including [[filmmaking]], [[television production]], [[video game development]], [[theatre]], [[sound recording and reproduction]], [[Concert|live performance]], [[sound art]], [[post-production]], [[Radio broadcasting|radio]], [[New media art|new media]] and [[musical instrument]] development. Sound design commonly involves performing (see e.g. [[Foley (filmmaking)|foley]]) and editing of previously composed or recorded audio, such as sound effects and dialogue for the purposes of the medium, but it can also involve creating sounds from scratch through synthesizers. A '''sound designer''' is one who practices sound design.
 
==History==
Line 19:
===Digital technology===
[[File:Tainted blue studios control room.jpg|thumb|Modern digital control room at Tainted Blue Studios, 2010]]
[[Musical Instrument Digital Interface|MIDI]] and [[digital audio]] technology have contributed to the evolution of sound production techniques in the 1980s and 1990s. [[Digital audio workstation]]s (DAW) and a variety of digital signal processing algorithms applied in them allow more complicated sound trackssoundtracks with more tracks as well as auditory effects to be realized. Features such as unlimited undo and sample-level editing allowallows fine control over the sound trackssoundtracks.
 
In [[theatre sound]], features of computerized theatre sound design systems have also been recognized as being essential for live [[show control]] systems at [[Walt Disney World]] and, as a result, Disney utilized systems of that type to control many facilities at their ''[[Disney's Hollywood Studios|Disney-MGM Studios]]'' theme park, which opened in 1989. These features were incorporated into the [[MIDI Show Control]] (MSC) specification, an open [[communications protocol]] used to interact with diverse devices. The first show to fully utilize the MSC specification was the [[Magic Kingdom Parade]] at [[Walt Disney World]]'s [[Magic Kingdom]] in September, 1991.
 
The rise of interest in game audio has also brought more advanced interactive audio tools that are also accessible without a background in computer programming. Some of such software tools (termed "implementation tools" or "audio engines") feature a workflow that's similar to that in more conventional DAW programs and can also allow the sound production personnel to undertake some of the more creative interactive sound tasks (that are considered to be part of sound design for computer applications) that previously would have required a computer programmer. Interactive applications have also given rise to a plethora of techniques in "dynamic audio" thatwhich loosely means sound that's "parametrically" adjusted during the run-time of the program. This allows for a broader expression in sounds, more similar to that in films, because this way the sound designer can e.g. create footstep sounds that vary in a believable and non-repeating way and that also corresponds to what's seen in the picture. The digital audio workstation cannot directly "communicate" with game engines, because the game's events occur often in an unpredictable order, whereas traditional digital audio workstations as well as so called linear media (TV, film etc.) have everything occur in the same order every time the production is run. Especially games have also brought in dynamic or adaptive mixing.
 
The [[World Wide Web]] has greatly enhanced the ability of sound designers to acquire source material quickly, easily and cheaply. Nowadays, a designer can preview and download crisper, more "believable" sounds as opposed to toiling through time- and budget-draining "shot-in-the-dark" searches through record stores, libraries and "the grapevine" for (often) inferior recordings. In addition, software innovation has enabled sound designers to take more of a [[DIY|DIY (or "do-it-yourself")]] approach. From the comfort of their home and at any hour, they can simply use a computer, speakers and headphones rather than renting (or buying) costly equipment or studio space and time for editing and mixing. This provides for faster creation and negotiation with the director.
Line 31:
===Film===
{{See also|Sound editor (filmmaking)|Foley artist|Director of audiography}}
In motion picture production, a ''Sound Editor/Designer'' is a member of a [[film crew]] responsible for the entirety or some specific parts of a film's sound tracksoundtrack.<ref>{{cite web|title=Sound designer|url=http://filmsound.org/terminology/designer.htm|website=FilmSound.org|access-date=13 October 2015}}</ref> In the [[Cinema of the United States|American film industry]], the title ''Sound Designer'' is not controlled by any [[professional organization]], unlike titles such as [[film director|Director]] or [[Screenwriter]].
 
The terms ''sound design'' and ''sound designer'' began to be used in the motion picture industry in 1969. At that time, The title of ''Sound Designer'' was first granted to [[Walter Murch]] by [[Francis Ford Coppola]] in recognition for Murch's contributions to the film ''[[The Rain People]]''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ondaatje |first1=Michael |last2=Murch |first2=Walter |title=The conversations: Walter Murch and the art of editing film |date=2003 |publisher=Bloomsbury |location=London |page=53}}</ref> The original meaning of the title ''Sound Designer'', as established by Coppola and Murch, was "an individual ultimately responsible for all aspects of a film's audio track, from the [[dialogue]] and [[sound effects]] recording to the [[re-recording (sound/film)|re-recording]] (mix) of the final track".<ref name=reeves>{{cite web|last1=Reeves|first1=Alex|title=A Brief History of Sound Design|url=http://www.theawsc.com/2014/01/31/a-brief-history-of-sound-design/|website=Advertising Week Social Club|publisher=Advertising Week|access-date=13 October 2015|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304084311/http://www.theawsc.com/2014/01/31/a-brief-history-of-sound-design/|archive-date=4 March 2016}}</ref> The term ''sound designer'' has replaced monikers like ''supervising sound editor'' or ''re-recording mixer'' for what was essentially the same position: the head designer of the final sound track. Editors and mixers like Murray Spivack (''King Kong''), George Groves (''The Jazz Singer''), James G. Stewart (''Citizen Kane''), and Carl Faulkner (''Journey to the Center of the Earth'') served in this capacity during Hollywood's studio era, and are generally considered to be sound designers by a different name.
Line 42:
https://web.archive.org/web/20211008071530/https://professional.dolby.com/content-creation/Dolby-Atmos-for-content-creators/2 |url-status=live}}</ref>
 
* Some directors were interested in realizing the new potentialspotential of the medium. A new generation of filmmakers, the so-called "[[Easy Riders and Raging Bulls]]"—[[Martin Scorsese]], [[Steven Spielberg]], [[George Lucas]], and others—were aware of the creative potential of sound and wanted to use it.
* Filmmakers were inspired by the [[popular music]] of the era. [[Concept albums]] of groups such as [[Pink Floyd]] and [[The Beatles]] suggested new modes of storytelling and creative techniques that could be adapted to motion pictures.
* New filmmakers made their early films outside the [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]] [[the establishment|establishment]], away from the influence of film [[labor union]]s and the then rapidly dissipating [[studio system]].
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_design"