Take a good look at this photo. I know people who say this is a pure art form…..
Throw in a few empty beer cans and chip bags and you might know some people whose homes look similar to this…..
What you’re actually looking at is one of the oldest tricks in the movies, it’s called a Foley studio.
Foley is named after film pioneer Jack Foley, who realised that recording effects like footsteps,body moves, and prop handling etc greatly enhanced the soundtrack. My favorite Jack Foley advice is that you have to act the scene… you have to be the actors and get into the spirit of the story the same as the actors did, on the day of shooting. It can make a big difference, and most post supervisors will agree that musicians make the best Foley walkers because of their sense of rhythm.
Today, Foley is an integral component of a film’s sound track. The Foley team consists of a recordist and at least one foley artist (walker). Typically, for a feature film, all characters have every footstep recorded including all changes of footwear and surfaces. There would be a clothing movement track also for all major foreground characters. Every prop that is handled or that can make a sound is also covered. You can end up with a lot of Foley tracks to cover all of the feet, cloth ,and props in a film, but the mixer will usually limit you to eight tracks, sixteen if you’re lucky. The foley team, in liason with the sound effects editors, also covers many other essential sound effect elements for the film. All these tracks, once recorded, must be edited and fit in perfect sync to the picture.
If the film or television show is only slated for a domestic release, meaning that it will only be shown it it’s country of origin, then you might not need to record Foley for everything, just for extra sound accents to help create a “hyper-real” sound track. However, if the film or television show is slated for an international release, then you will need to record full coverage Foley tracks for your M&E mix.
The M&E is a music and effects mix without dialogue. This mix is essential for foreign sales of the film or TV series, as another language can be dubbed over this existing music and effects sound track. It can make a film worth a lot more money when it is being sold at the film markets.
Once the mixer mutes all the dialogue to dub in a foreign language, then all of the footsteps, clothing movement, and any props the actors utilized in the dialogue scenes are now muted as well.
Here’s a couple tips about Foley :
1 : Roll off all the bass below 100 Hz in your Foley recordings unless you really think you need the bass. When you start stacking up those Foley tracks, the studio room tone might start to get a bit loud.
2 : Foley is typically recorded in mono with the same type of shotgun mic that the boom operator was using when the film was shot, but that does not mean that a large diaphragm condenser is a bad mic choice, it just depends on the requirements of the scene.
3 : Always mix your Foley in mono and treat it with the same reverb as the dialogue. The last thing you want is to hear the mono dialog nicely centered in the middle of the screen, but massively wide stereo footsteps….. please, use some common sense when mixing Foley my friends.
Like to learn some more about Foley? Watch this video.
I have a personal sfx library folder specifically dedicated to knife stabbing and bone breaking sounds called “Vegetable Violence“. I assure you that many fruits and vegetables were hurt during those sessions!!
Do you have any cool Foley recording experiences to share?
fixitinthemix 