Comments on: Ideas in Sound Design: Deprivation and Barriers – Part 1

By: Ideas in Sound Design: Deprivation and Barriers – Part 2 : Designing Sound

Ideas in Sound Design: Deprivation and Barriers – Part 2 : Designing Sound — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 00:34:52 +0000

[…] article is the follow up to Part 1 of Ideas in Sound Design: Deprivation and Barriers. I’ve gathered a selection of media to discuss the ideas presented in the original article. I […]

By: Catching Up - richardaronson.com

Catching Up - richardaronson.com — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 23:00:12 +0000

[…] Ideas in Sound Design: Deprivation and Barriers, part 1 Ideas in Sound Design: Deprivation and Barriers, part 2 Share this:FacebookTwitter Filed Under: My Full Sail Experience Cancel Reply […]

By: Shaun Farley

Shaun Farley — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 02:57:19 +0000

In reply to Varun Nair.

I’d argue that “what you take out” and “what you put in” are two sides of the same coin. Whichever side you’re approaching from, you’re looking for just the right amount. It’s possible to go too far in either direction. The example of The Others in this context is wonderful, but it also lends itself to analysis through another approach…developing a “language” of sound within a piece. When I say “language,” I’m referring to Semiotic construction: the pairing of signifier (or “word”) and signified (“meaning”) through collective/community adoption. I think I’ll stop here, for now, because it could easily get out of hand for the scope of the comments section. ;)

Maybe I’ll put together another article about Semiotics after I finish up with this idea…

By: Varun Nair

Varun Nair — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 02:41:16 +0000

Great to have the ball rolling on this one Shaun!

Coincidentally, I have been reading a lot about this for the past few days and I ended up watching Alejandro Amenábar’s ‘The Others’ (2001). Much of what Murch and Chion talk about (before the digression of ideas) is very audible in this movie. Most of the soundtrack has no BGs and all diegetic elements have been mixed in to ONLY the center channel. Only during the sequences where Kidman’s character hears ‘the others’ do things spatialise in to the surround/left/right channels. The first time I heard that happen I literally jumped out of my skin! Deprivation of the senses through the careful construction of the sound track can work immensely in building suspense and tension.

It is about how much you take out and not how much you put in?

By: Randy Thom

Randy Thom — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 22:46:09 +0000

I should add that I think the listener/viewer does need something more than the chassis of a story. They need at least a few details, a few very specific clues that are pliable enough in terms of their meaning to act like little spring boards, propelling each audience member into a journey informed by his/her own imagination. But I do also think it’s crucial to avoid supplying an overload of details, which will often cancel each other out. It’s usually not a good idea to “sonify” every single thing in a scene that could conceivably make a sound. It’s better to choose, and through that choice create a little story vector.

Randy

By: David

David — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 09:01:42 +0000

@ Mr. Thom — that reminds me of college literature classes. You get some assignments where the instructions for the paper are so narrow it’s tough to find enough space between the rules to creatively explore the topic. Conversely you can also get the “write about whatever you want!” kind of assignment where the rules are so open-ended it’s tough to know what to write. What was needed was enough framework, a “chassis” if you will, that gave the structural underpinnings onto which the creativity can be built upon. I hadn’t thought about this in the storytelling context, though, which this post has brought to my attention. However, it makes perfect sense. The viewer or listener of the artwork really only needs that chassis onto which he or she can impart his or her own thoughts.

By: Craig

Craig — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 17:37:22 +0000

Love the discussions going on here! For all of us game folk, I believe a good example of a game implementing these ideas would be Limbo. Great use of silence and subjective sound sources. I feel like as game sound designers, now is a great time for us to really begin pushing the boundaries of what is expected in a game space.

By: Shaun Farley

Shaun Farley — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 21:13:02 +0000

That could do it, Adam. As I said, I was just playing devil’s advocate…better to confront that idea here than with the director. ;)

By: Adam Aguiar

Adam Aguiar — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 20:57:56 +0000

Shaun, I appreciate your comment, I will give deep thought to it but I can guarantee is not an excuse to avoid a creative block, after giving many attempts I keep getting that gut feeling that the right thing to do is to leave it blank, the thought here being: any kid’s voice could be his voice, and I remember that when I was a kid, even now a days actually, I’m always filling characters internal monologues with my own imagination… but as you said, I need to build a solid logic.. Maybe a very solid interaction of him and the space might be the characterization it needs.. lets see!

Cheers!

By: Tamas Dragon

Tamas Dragon — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 18:06:56 +0000

It’s very interesting. Maybe it sounds weird, but I have an interesting observation about this. I have a child. And I didn’t know why he was bored by some games, while enjoying others so much, so I started to “analyze” the games. Long story short, he loves every game/cartoon/activity where he must use his own imagination because there is no enough or overwhelming information given (deprivation). Whereas in any game where all the information is there, everything is given – there is no room left for his own “story” he got bored very quickly.
I know it’s only remotely connected, but still I feel it is a proof that too many sensory information can literally kill the engagement to the story. Somehow we (everyone) have to make it ours.