Does your video have sizzle, pop, je ne sais quois?
Without sound design, some videos may seem bland…like eating a filet mignon without any seasoning. “But my video has a music track,” you say. Great…just realize that you don’t have to stop there.
Here’s how you can tell if you have a good video:
Mute the music—Before you add sound design, mute the music track. Is the video still engaging? If not, sound design can add the emotional punch that words and images sometimes lack.
It won’t take much to sell you on this idea.
Let’s go through some examples of why sound design can give your video the adrenaline it needs to fire up your audience.
Running Pony’s audio engineer, Nate Riesman, stripped away the sound design from a video we produced for the National Hardwood Lumber Association. What do you think? Did sound design make a difference?
https://vimeo.com/102957385http://
Find the right sound
Sometimes, the best sound design isn’t the sound that comes from the actual object/action on the screen. For example, in Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones is dodging a runaway boulder. That noise was actually the sound editor’s Honda Civic rolling down his driveway.
In Terminator 2, T-1000 flows through steel bars. That sound is actually dog food being slowly sucked out of a can.
Too much of a good thing? – After you sound design, does your video sound like a bad video game? If yes, your sound designer over did it. It’s easy to go overboard with sound design. You have to strike the right balance. In fact, sometimes the more subtle the sound, the more impactful it becomes.
If you still don’t believe me, watch what happens when Star Wars, the movie that set the bar on sound design, gets sound designed by a complete idiot.
“If I do my job right, I can use words and sounds that are like words, or somewhere between words and music, to create images in your head. They’re so immediate and undeniable that literally those images will just pop into your head. But, those images don’t exist. You have to paint them, so I’m starting that process and you’re finishing it. It’s like I hand you the paintbrush and you finish the painting.”
-Jad Abumrad, creator and co-host of WNYC’s Radiolab
