What is the essence of sound design?
It is widely accepted that individuals who are visually impaired develop the ability to hear heightened detail and extract deeper levels of information through their other senses, in which hearing/sound is a large part.
For many of us, the sounds we regularly design are for the distinct purpose of supporting, and enhancing the context of (often moving) images within a larger media project such as a film, or a video game.
This month, Designing Sound would like to take away any potential (visual or otherwise) “crutches” that we lean on when designing sounds and consider what sound design is at its core, in its purest form, and without any visual aids to help (or distract) us. This a month to reflect on, and explore the depth, and meaning, of “pure” sound design.
As always, we here at Designing Sound encourage our community (and yes, that means you) to contribute an article for this month’s theme, or any sound design related topic that may be on your mind. Your contributions, and added perspectives are a large part of what keeps this site vibrant and fresh. So please, keep reading, thinking, and writing about sound design, and anytime you would like to contribute, just contact doron [@] this website. Thank you for being a part of our community.
Interesting topic.
I actually do “pure” sound design reasonably often. It is always the stuff that creates the largest diversity and generates a lot of more or less usable stuff. Or none at all…
Recording or generating new source material or reusing existing stuff, manipulating while performing/recording or doing it in post but without a specific intended use in mind is just the best part of what I am allowed to do when I work :-).
If you just work on sound to picture and to fulfill special roles then I find that “you” are likely to limit your creativity because as soon as you think you got the sound that works for what you need you are most likely to stop and keep chugging away.
So I find doing “pure” sound design whenever I get a conceptual idea extremely fulfilling. And as long as you produce enough material then it is quite likely that when you need that special sound there will be enough variations and different length and starts and stops to make it all work.
I’m not sure I like the word “pure” though. It sounds like it is better and “more pure” than any other type of design work, and of course it isn’t in itsef. But then OTOH you need something to explain the difference so…
And oh, there was a question.
What is the “essence of pure sound design”?
I couldn’t care less in a philosophical way. Defining that can only create boundaries or limitations that I’m not really interested in.
Howdy, hope you’re all well.
I am not a professional sound designer, barely an amateur one! but I am aspiring to advance. My take on what is “pure” sound design is imagination. Without that it’s just a collection of sounds. To me Sound design has to tell a story, bring the listener on a journey and fire their imagination.
You mentioned the visually impaired in the article. For them, visual mediums are pretty meaningless, completely so for the blind. Their imagination can let them paint their own visuals, create and explore their own world triggered by a good work of sound design. Like the way a piece of music has a beginning middle and end so should a stand alone piece of sound design.
And I guess if you’re just talking about single sound effects (maybe a second or two long) go full on Men in Black with them. Try and make them complete worlds within worlds. If the listener can mentally re-explore a sound each time they hear it then great. Once it is tied to a visual medium the listener will hear what it is intended they hear and thats exactly what should happen. But when heard solo they can focus in on the beginning middle and end of that sound, really explore it.
On the subject of the visually impaired try this exercise I used to play with when I was a kid. Be blind for an hour. Not driving home from work but one evening turn the telly, computer, phone etc all off and close your eyes. Just listen. The details you will notice will surprise you.