FOLEY
Footsteps added afterwards
Filming focuses on capturing dialogue clearly, so footsteps and prop handling are often performed and recorded later on a Foley stage, matched to the picture.
Pick a techniqueStart
HOW THE SOUNDS ARE MADE
Not what
it sounds like.
Many sounds in films and on radio were made by someone else, later.
Footsteps, rustles and crunches are often performed in a studio after filming. Others were built by slowing, reversing and splicing tape. Here is how sound effects have been made, and where whole libraries of them live.
FOLEYperformed to picture
Pick a techniqueKeep in mind
- Record dialogue clean
- Add the rest later
- Anything can make a sound
- Small sounds, big pictures
THE SHORT ANSWER
Performed, built
or recorded.
Most effects come from one of three places:
a Foley stage, a manipulated recording, or a library.
TAPE
Slowed, reversed, spliced
From 1958 the BBC Radiophonic Workshop built sounds by speeding up, slowing down and reversing recordings and splicing tape into loops.
Read the story
ARCHIVES
Libraries of sound
In 2018 the BBC released more than 16,000 sound effects from its archive for personal, educational and research use.
See the numbersA QUICK TECHNIQUE CHECK
How was
that sound made?
Pick a technique to see how it works. The bar shows how far the finished sound usually is from a plain recording of the real thing.
Productions often combine several techniques in one soundtrack.
TWO NUMBERS WORTH KNOWING
A workshop,
and an archive.
One date when electronic effects found a home,
one count of sounds anyone can now hear.
1958
Year the BBC's sound workshop opened
It was formally created on 1 April 1958 at the BBC's Maida Vale studios in London, with little budget, and ran until it closed in 1998.
RADIOPHONIC WORKSHOP · NSMM
16,000+
Sound effects released from the BBC archive in 2018
A mix of studio-made effects and real field recordings, released under the RemArc licence, first created for a project using sound to spark memories in people living with dementia.
BBC ARCHIVE · CBC RADIO
Early cinema sound had its own limits: sound recorded on a shellac disc could store only five minutes at a time, so even landmark 1920s sound films still used silent intertitles.
FOUR WAYS TO MAKE YOUR OWN
Your kitchen
is a sound studio.
The Radiophonic Workshop rescued props from bins and junk rooms. You can start with what you have.
Step 1
Record the main sound clean
Film-makers prioritise clear dialogue during filming and add footsteps and handling noises afterwards.
Step 2
Perform to the picture
Watch the scene and act out each footstep or rustle in time, as Foley artists do.
Step 3
Experiment with objects
Everyday things can stand in for something else: the workshop used gongs, whistles, bells and household objects.
Step 4
Change the speed
Slow a recording down, speed it up or play it backwards. Even a whistle can end up sounding like something else.
THE RADIOPHONIC WORKSHOP
Bins, tape
and a wobbulator.
With little budget, the BBC's Radiophonic Workshop relied on manipulating recorded sound. Staff rescued bits and bobs from bins, skips and the BBC junk room, and borrowed test oscillators, including a 'wobbulator' normally used to test equipment, to make swishy, space-like sounds.
Tape loops could be several metres long. Sounds were sped up, slowed down, reversed and spliced, so even a whistle might end up unrecognisable on a soundtrack. For many people in the UK, these theme tunes, jingles and effects were their first taste of electronic sound.
Questions
Questions on the way
What is Foley?
The process of performing and recording sounds such as footsteps and prop handling to match a film, usually in post-production. It can replace or add to the sound recorded during filming.
Why are footsteps added after filming?
During filming the priority is capturing dialogue clearly, so small details such as footsteps and prop handling are often recorded separately afterwards.
What was the BBC Radiophonic Workshop?
A BBC unit formally created on 1 April 1958 at Maida Vale, London, to make electronic sounds, effects and music for radio and television. It closed in 1998.
What is musique concrète?
A technique that takes recorded sounds and changes them by slowing down, speeding up or playing them backwards, then layers or splices them into a montage.
Can I use BBC sound effects?
In 2018 the BBC released more than 16,000 effects from its archive for personal, educational and research purposes under its RemArc licence. Check the licence terms before using them.
Destination