Sourcing Sound Effects For Radio Play

I want to explain how I determined what sound effects would be need for Unholy Behaviour’s first episode. Followed by how I sourced those sound effects.

The first task I undertook was to read through the script numbering the sound effects and atmosphere effects. At the same time I made a list of the effects on a separate sheet of paper corresponding to the numbers on the script.

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So, after compiling a list of the sound and atmosphere effects needed. I set about sourcing them using a variety of different methods.

Some sound effects can be recorded live by the actor as they say their line. For example “coughs” “slaps” “clicking fingers” “whistling”. These effects were marked in the script. During the recording of the script all effects to be added in post production will simply be shouted by a member of the production team. For example “ring” where a phone ringing sound effect will need to be added.

Not all sound effects can be produced live, it is just not practical. They need to be sourced from sound libraries or recorded by a Foley recordist. There are hundreds of sound effect libraries available, some on the internet, some on CD. A popular internet site is www.sounddogs.com.

Of course there will be some effects that are hard to source or so unique to a script that they will need to be recorded or created. Recording sound effects from the real world is known as foley recording. Once foley recording has been completed the engineer will then need to edit down and mix the sound effects to suit their purpose.

Some effects can be used more than once. This saves time in sourcing multiple effects, however you need to be careful that you do not use the same effect too regularly or close together as they will sound like they have been placed into the audio, rather than sounding natural to the scene.

Once all the sound effects have been sourced they will be edited and mixed to fit with the scene. It would be silly to have a sound effect that has a lot of reverb applied to it in a scene that is supposed to be set within a dead sounding room, or vice-versa. Reverb can be added to an effect to give the impression of depth or a larger space. A lot of effects will need to be edited down to fit their purpose, this can either be done in preparation for post production or during post production.

Finally, all effects will be compiled corresponding to the order of the effects list. This makes it easy when going through and adding effects in post production.