The two texts I used when researching Post-Production Sound were The Foley Grail (Theme Ament, 2014) and The Sound Effects Bible (Viers, 2008). I’ll write a little about the information I got out of both of them.
The Foley Grail:
This text contains invaluable information on the history of Foley, the requirements of a good Foley artist and mixer, and some helpful tips and hints about recording Foley. I mainly used this text to get a background on Foley recording, and it was in here that I learnt the importance of properly cuing a Foley session before you begin, in order to save time and, in the working world, money. One of the most important things I learnt from The Foley Grail was that sound is what matters. You don’t necessarily need to go and buy microscope slides in order to record the sound of one being pushed onto a microscope, and if you’re Foleying a horse being brushed then you don’t need to bring an actual horse into the Foley theatre with you!
We’ve also based our group roles around the hierarchy described in The Foley Grail, with a few alterations due to our small group size (relative to big budget productions).
The Sound Effects Bible:
This text has more practical information regarding Foley recording, including guidelines for dress code, a brief list of useful tools and supplies to stock a Foley stage with, and an interesting tip about ensuring you eat before you perform Foley, as stomach rumbles can and will be picked up by mics. Viers also incorporates Ten Sound Editing Commandments into the book, which we will attempt to stick to throughout the post-production process:
- Thou Shalt Name Thy Sound
- Thou Shalt Save Often
- Thou Shalt Work Non-Destructively
- Thou Shalt Copy Thy Media Files from Thy Sessions
- Thou Shalt Crop Thy Sound
- Thou Shalt Honor the Stereo Field to Keep it Even
- Thou Shalt Not Cut Off Thy Sound
- Thou Shalt Remove Unholy Clicks and Pops from Thy Sound
- Thou Shalt Use Wisdom in Making Thy Cut
- Thou Shalt Protect Thy Ears
Viers also includes an excellent mantra that he enforces at The Chop Shop, which he owns. The Editing Mantra, L – I – S- T – E – N, is as follows:
L – Listen Critically
I – Identify Clicks, Pops, and Errors
S – Signal Process (EQ and Compression)
T – Trim/Crop the File
E – Examine Fade-Ins/Fade-Outs at the Zero Line
N – Normalise/Name File
I’ll refer back to this text when recording Foley with Rob, as there are practical explanations and hints for many sounds, like punches, body impacts, and also footsteps. We already have some experience doing footstep Foley for Perils of Patricide, but this book has helped refresh my memory somewhat about mic choices and positions. There is also helpful information regarding blood drip, flesh tear and other body impact effects that involve cutting and crushing up various fruit and vegetables, which can then be layered to create some really unpleasant sounds. Hopefully we’ll get a chance to do some of this when recording the hammer impact and surgical incision sections of Cognition. The book also has a few tips about elements of sound design that I should be able to draw upon when I come to edit and mix the SFX and Ambience tracks for the soundtrack of the film.
References:
- Theme Ament, V. (2014) The Foley Grail – the art of performing sound for film, games, and animation. 2nd New York: Focal Press.
- Viers, R. (2008) The Sound Effects Bible. Studio City, California: Michael Weise Productions.