Synthesis in Sound Design

This article will touch on both the differences between different types of sound design as well as basic logistics and financial requirements for each, and why synthesizers are a great addition or introduction to sound design. Kind of an all-encompassing article I suppose, though with a lean towards synthesis as that’s my preference:

I also often synthesize sounds that would otherwise be foley, such as footsteps, which not only means I have complete control over the sound and how it evolves, it also tends to create a unique sound that, so far, people seem to like.

That’s from my home page. For anyone that doesn’t know, foley basically means recorded real-life sounds. By definition it’s usually recorded in a foley room, where people interact with various materials to make sounds, often in real time with the film. It’s a great way to make realistic sounds that fit with what’s on screen because, well, it is real sounds, matched to what’s on screen.

Why do we need to make sounds after the fact anyway? Can’t you use sounds recorded on set? Well, no. Often a scene will be recorded without audio, or only very limited audio like dialogue. There’s a lot of excess sounds on set, from fans cooling equipment, stagehands and operators shuffling about, and there’s also plenty of missing sounds because chances are, there’s no or minimal background sounds that make a scene feel alive, because it’s shot on a set. It’s the job of a sound designer to add in the sounds that should be there, often at the direction of the director and producer.

So, if that’s the case, why do I decide to use synthesis for that? Surely that will just make ‘synth noises’ and not sound realistic or fitting at all, right? You’re only half right. A big part of it is money, space, and cleanliness. A foley room is often expensive to maintain given rent, material wear, adding new materials, and of course cleaning and keeping gear in shape. And sure, you could just as easily use a library of samples and plugins to create new sounds, which is honestly the most popular option for sound designers. However, libraries can also be expensive, as are most industry standard plugins and DAWs (except Reaper and Audacity, of course), though sites like freesound.org are excellent free resources for samples. Then, you say, why not just record sounds in your home? This is also a popular option especially among student designers, however quality tends to be on the low side unless, of course, you spend decent amounts of money on recording equipment.

So… why synths? Libraries and recording your own are great options, sure, but in those cases you’re really only working with a set of sounds. Those sounds don’t change, and while you can create variations by adjusting various parameters like length, pitch, amplitude, and adjusting plugins, synthesizers tend to automatically create variety. Oscillators don’t start at the same phase every time (though some digital synths allow this), generated noise isn’t the same every time you trigger it, and different synthetic devices like resonators and reverbs will react differently to these minor differences as well. I often create sounds by just constantly triggering and layering the resulting sounds.

Another aspect is work in fantasy settings: a lot of my work tends to revolve around fantasy settings, be it in space (where sound technically doesn’t exist), magical elven lands (which, despite my name, doesn’t exist), or setting-less places, like a few bubble shooters and match-3 games I’ve worked on. As such, basically any sound goes, and realistic sounds from our timeline and planet may not make sense, or be too familiar. As such, synthetic noises are perfect!

Synthesis also makes life easier in the “hard to record” department. Remember, synthesis can technically create any sound. Additive synthesis, for example, can create any series of harmonics and frequencies at any amplitude with any change over time, meaning any sound can be created. Physical modelling synthesis methods also make it easier to create various sounds very cleanly, such as mechanical noise, tyres squealing, and bird calls. Cleaner raw sounds mean a cleaner mix, which in a complex sound environment is very important.

If absolutely nothing else, synthesizers are great for layering with foley, which is by far the most popular use of synthesis in sound design. Everything from the low end rumble and bassy tones of LFE (low frequency effects, the sounds that rattle you in theatres), to added layers in animal sounds to make fantasy beings, to adding spice to electrical buzzing/arcing can be synthesized with relatively minimal knowledge in synthesis, and with very basic synthesizers.

Now, I will wholly admit that my exact synth setup, being hardware and relatively niche, is about as expensive as a decent recording setup, or a DAW with a few good libraries and plugins. But, thanks to things like Reaper, Vital, Surge, and VCV Rack, you can synthesize extremely complex sounds with ease and for free – except for your computer and the time investment to learn the tools, of course. Extensive manuals and tutorials exist for all those tools, though usually with a more music-focused approach.