Film 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 soundtrack. In the
American film industry, the title
Sound Designer is not controlled by any
professional organization, unlike titles such as
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. 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 (mix) of the final track". The term
sound designer has replaced monikers like
supervising sound editor or
re-recording mixer for 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. The advantage of calling oneself a sound designer beginning in later decades was two-fold. It strategically allowed for a single person to work as both an editor and mixer on a film without running into issues pertaining to the jurisdictions of editors and mixers, as outlined by their respective unions. Additionally, it was a rhetorical move that legitimised the field of post-production sound at a time when studios were downsizing their sound departments, and when producers were routinely skimping on budgets and salaries for sound editors and mixers. In so doing, it allowed those who called themselves sound designers to compete for contract work and to negotiate higher salaries. The position of Sound Designer therefore emerged in a manner similar to that of
Production Designer, which was created in the 1930s when
William Cameron Menzies made revolutionary contributions to the craft of
art direction in the making of
Gone with the Wind. The audio production team is a principal member of the production staff, with creative output comparable to that of the
film editor and
director of photography. Several factors have led to the promotion of audio production to this level, when previously it was considered subordinate to other parts of film: •
Cinema sound systems became capable of
high-fidelity reproduction, particularly after the adoption of
Dolby Stereo. Before stereo soundtracks, film sound was of such low fidelity that only the dialogue and occasional sound effects were practical. These sound systems were originally devised as gimmicks to increase theater attendance, but their widespread implementation created a content vacuum that had to be filled by competent professionals. Dolby's immersive
Dolby Atmos format, introduced in 2012, provides the sound team with 128 tracks of audio that can be assigned to a 7.1.2 bed that utilizes two overhead channels, leaving 118 tracks for audio objects that can be positioned around the theater independent of the sound bed. Object positions are informed by metadata that places them based on
x,
y,
z coordinates and the number of speakers available in the room. This immersive sound format expands creative opportunities for the use of sound beyond what was achievable with older 5.1 and 7.1
surround sound systems. The greater dynamic range of the new systems, coupled with the ability to produce sounds at the sides, behind, or above the audience, provided the audio post-production team new opportunities for creative expression in film sound. • Some directors were interested in realizing the new potential 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
Hollywood establishment, away from the influence of film
labor unions and the then rapidly dissipating
studio system. The contemporary title of
sound designer can be compared with the more traditional title of
supervising sound editor; many sound designers use both titles interchangeably. The role of
supervising sound editor, or
sound supervisor, developed in parallel with the role of
sound designer. The demand for more sophisticated soundtracks was felt both inside and outside Hollywood, and the
supervising sound editor became the head of the large sound department, with a staff of dozens of
sound editors, that was required to realize a complete sound job with a fast turnaround.
Theatre Sound design, as a distinct discipline, is one of the youngest fields in
stagecraft, second only to the use of
projection and other
multimedia displays, although the ideas and techniques of sound design have been around almost since theatre started.
Dan Dugan, working with three stereo tape decks routed to ten loudspeaker zones during the 1968–69 season of
American Conservatory Theater (ACT) in San Francisco, was the first person in the USA to be called a sound designer. A theatre sound designer is responsible for everything the audience hears in the performance space, including music, sound effects, sonic textures, and soundscapes. These elements are created by the sound designer, or sourced from other sound professionals, such as a composer in the case of music. Pre-recorded music must be licensed from a legal entity that represents the artist's work. This can be the artist themselves, a publisher, record label, performing rights organization or music licensing company. The theatre sound designer is also in charge of choosing and installing the sound system —speakers, sound desks, interfaces and convertors, playout/cueing software, microphones, radio mics, foldback, cables, computers, and outboard equipment like FX units and dynamics processors. Modern audio technology has enabled theatre sound designers to produce flexible, complex, and inexpensive designs that can be easily integrated into live performance. The influence of film and television on playwriting is seeing plays being written increasingly with shorter scenes, which is difficult to achieve with scenery but easily conveyed with sound. The development of film sound design is giving writers and directors higher expectations and knowledge of sound design. Consequently, theatre sound design is widespread and accomplished sound designers commonly establish long-term collaborations with directors. For sound effect playback in musicals and plays,
QLab is the most commonly used piece of software.
Musicals Sound design for
musicals often focuses on the design and implementation of a sound reinforcement system that will fulfill the needs of the production. If a sound system is already installed in the performance venue, it is the sound designer's job to tune the system for the best use for a particular production. Sound system tuning employs various methods including
equalization, delay, volume, speaker and
microphone placement, and in some cases, the addition of new equipment. In conjunction with the director and musical director, if any, the sound reinforcement designer determines the use and placement of microphones for actors and musicians. The sound reinforcement designer ensures that the performance can be heard and understood by everyone in the audience, regardless of the shape, size or acoustics of the venue, and that performers can hear everything needed to enable them to do their jobs. While sound design for a musical largely focuses on the artistic merits of sound reinforcement, many musicals, such as
Into the Woods also require significant sound scores (see Sound Design for Plays). Sound Reinforcement Design was recognized by the American Theatre Wing's Tony Awards with the Tony Award for Best Sound Design of a Musical until the 2014–15 season, later reinstating in the 2017–18 season.
Plays Sound design for plays often involves the selection of music and sounds (sound score) for a production based on intimate familiarity with the play, and the design, installation, calibration and utilization of the sound system that reproduces the sound score. The sound designer for a play and the production's
director work together to decide the themes and emotions to be explored. Based on this, the sound designer for plays, in collaboration with the director and possibly the composer, decides upon the sounds that will be used to create the desired moods. In some productions, the sound designer might also be hired to compose music for the play. The sound designer and the director usually work together to "spot" the cues in the play (i.e., decide when and where sound will be used in the play). Some productions might use music only during scene changes, whilst others might use sound effects. Likewise, a scene might be underscored with music, sound effects or abstract sounds that exist somewhere between the two. Some sound designers are accomplished composers, writing and producing music for productions as well as designing sound. Many sound designs for plays also require significant sound reinforcement (see Sound Design for Musicals). Sound Design for plays was recognized by the American Theatre Wing's Tony Awards with the Tony Award for Best Sound Design of a Play until the 2014–15 season,
Fashion In fashion shows, the sound designer often works with the artistic director to create an atmosphere fitting the theme of a collection, commercial campaign or event.
Computer applications and other applications Sound is widely used in a variety of
human–computer interfaces, in
computer games and
video games. There are a few extra requirements for sound production for computer applications, including re-usability, interactivity and low memory and CPU usage. For example, most computational resources are usually devoted to graphics. Audio production should account for computational limits for sound playback with audio compression or voice allocating systems. Sound design for
video games requires proficient knowledge of audio recording and editing using a
digital audio workstation, and an understanding of game audio integration using audio engine software, audio authoring tools, or middleware to integrate audio into the game engine. Audio middleware is a third-party toolset that sits between the game engine and the audio hardware. Interactivity with computer sound can involve using a variety of playback systems or logic, using tools that allow the production of interactive sound (e.g. Max/MSP, Wwise). Implementation might require software or electrical engineering of the systems that modify sound or process user input. In interactive applications, a sound designer often collaborates with an engineer (e.g. a sound programmer) who's concerned with designing the playback systems and their efficiency. ==Awards==