The first time I heard the term ‘sound painting’, I thought it was someone mouthing some new-age nonsense. But now I know Sound Painting is indeed an art. I’d define it as the blending and layering of effects, music and voices on a canvas - not of sight, but of sound. If done well, it IS truly a work of art. Sounds morph together seamlessly and the synergistic result is much greater than the singular components.
Sound Painting can make the difference between a well-produced, professional sound track and one that sounds… amateur. Sound effects can be stacked and mixed to create bigger-than-life results. Let’s say you want the sound of a basketball dribbled and then slam-dunked through a sheetrock wall – There is no stock sound effect for that! In this scenario, Sound Painting becomes the audio-equivalent of visual special effects.
The “painting” of sound adds emotional context to a project. For example, mute the sound at home or cover your ears in the theatre next time you see a scary movie. If you ‘hear no evil’, the movie is no longer scary. Also try holding your ears in a dramatic, action-packed movie scene and watch it suddenly go flat!
A radio or TV commercial should evoke emotion just like a movie. However, a commercial is actually more challenging than a movie because of time constraints. Take a well written script, some good actors, and then season the soundtrack with a sound painting - It’s a recipe that can meet the challenge presented in the ad market.
Our senior engineer, Mark Meyer, is a veteran at the art of Sound Painting. He can take multiple cuts of stock library music, mix and layer them, and produce what sounds like a custom music score. Mark is just as skilled at building custom sound effects. I’ve seen him take a recorder into the field to get just the right sound - I call him our mad scientist of sound. I’ve also
seen clients describe how they want the sound track to feel and then turn Mark loose to create his Sound Painting - The results are astonishing!
How will you paint your next production?
Sound Works has experience with hundreds of TV and film projects as well as thousands of commercials. Over the years we have created many sound paintings. We’re a creative resource, not just another recording studio.
This is a commercial done for Time Warner Cable. The audio was brought with only noisy on camera sound. We made the Astronaut sound like a real Astronaut and added every footstep, the pizza box drop sound … and even the banging against the door.
View the Time Warner commercial.
Here is a commercial done for REMCO to attract household large item rentals. Is that exciting? No! But, what if we add personality to the appliances? THAT could be fun.
View the REMCO commercial.
Dwight Cook Sound Works
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