Found Sound

Sound effects have immense value in video production. The ability to re-create an "aural environment" after the shooting is done gives videomakers much more control over their work, both enhancing the final product and helping to simplify the capturing of visual footage.

For example, shooting a street scene during actual rush hour traffic would be pointless. The sound of real cars would drown out the dialog. But by shooting the scene during quiet hours and adding the sound effects later, you can create the illusion of rush hour and still be able to hear the dialog because both sets of sounds are separate and independently adjustable.

In feature film production, almost none of the original sound recorded during the location shoot ends up in the final version—not even dialog. Instead, technicians have painstakingly recreated nearly everything you hear using sound effects libraries or sound effects artists on a Foley stage (see sidebar). On a Hollywood mixing stage, there are anywhere between 60 and 120 audio playback machines, enabling the mixer to adjust every single sound effect independently and …

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