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Sound design

arts Maturity 7-9 Next article →

Sound designers make the sounds we hear in media. They work on movies, TV shows, and video games. They also work in theater and radio.

Tainted blue studios control room
Tainted blue studios control room

A designer can use many ways to make sound. They might record real sounds. They might also use a synthesizer to make new sounds from scratch. Some use a method called Foley. This involves performing sounds to match what we see.

People have used sound to tell stories for a long time. In ancient Japan, people used music and dance in Shinto shrines. This was called kagura. In the past, actors used bells and whistles on stage. In 1913, Luigi Russolo built machines to make noise. These were called intonarumori. They could sound like trains or bombs.

KDujardinsCommedia
KDujardinsCommedia

Today, designers use digital tools. They use a digital audio workstation, or DAW. This is a computer program for making music and sounds. It lets them edit sounds very carefully. In video games, they use special tools called audio engines. These help sounds change while you play. For example, footsteps can sound different every time. This makes the game world feel very real.

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