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What is Foley? How to Get SFX Sounds for Video
Sound effects are an essential component of any great piece of video content.
But beyond the flashy sound design and music cues, there’s an audio discipline that makes a huge contribution to the feel and realism of every single scene—foley.
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Foley is an art form that’s closely linked with the development of film and TV as we know it today.
But what exactly is it? How is it made, and how can you get foley sounds to use in your own productions?
In this article I’ll break down the basics of foley and explain how to get foley audio for video work.
What is foley?
Foley is the term for audio recordings that reproduce ambient sound, background noise and realistic sound effects for movies and television.
Most films are shot in controlled environments without microphones to capture the acoustic space. That means the audio information required to make a scene feel natural must be added afterward.
Foley artists produce and record the sounds necessary to keep the viewer immersed in the drama. The practice evolved from the earlier tradition of adding sound effects to radio plays to enhance the performance.
Foley is the term for audio recordings that reproduce ambient sound, background noise and realistic sound effects for movies and television.
Back then, phonograph records could not easily be used in live settings. Instead, a sound effects artist would have to use physical methods to create the sounds on cue in real time.
Today, the modern discipline is named after Jack Donovan Foley. He pioneered the basic techniques during the silent movie era.
As cinema technology evolved, foley became an art form that was considered indispensable for high budget productions.
How foley audio is made
Foley audio is typically made in a recording studio that has facilities for video synchronization.
These are often specialized post-production houses where other cinema audio tasks like ADR (automatic dialogue replacement) take place.
Foley artists rely on a series of tricks developed in the studio to mimic real life sounds.
For example, punching effects were famously created by hitting stalks of celery with baseball bats!
Here’s a quick list of some common foley techniques to give you an idea:
- Corn starch in a leather pouch for crunching snow
- Coconut shells for horse hooves
- Metal plates vibrating for thunder
- Staple guns for gunshots
After foley artists craft the sounds in the studio live room, the audio engineer positions microphones to record them. Following that, they edit the files to prepare them for mixing.
If you have a microphone and audio interface, there’s no reason you can’t experiment with creating your own foley effects.
Where to find sound effects for video
If you have a microphone and audio interface, there’s no reason you can’t experiment with creating your own foley effects.
But if you don’t have access to that equipment, you might be wondering where to find realistic sound effects for your video productions.
Luckily, there are plenty of high quality sound effects samples in royalty-free samples libraries like LANDR Samples.
By Selecting the SFX instrument type and setting the genre to Soundtrack, you can browse packs and samples with nearly every type of effect imaginable.
Here’s a direct link to the search results to get you started.
Hot tip: If you find a sound you like, click the Selector button to load a custom pack of similar sounds. Selector uses artificial intelligence to identify related audio from across the 1+ million sounds in LANDR Samples.
Alternatively, you can check out our roundup of the 10 best foley packs here on the blog.
Working with foley
Once you have your SFX files downloaded, working with the audio is as simple as dragging the files onto the timeline and positioning them to sync up with the video.
It may take some fine-tuning to make the timing feel natural so make sure you understand the nudge controls in your video editor.
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Not only that, sound effects vary greatly in dynamic range. You may also have to use volume automation on your audio effects tracks.
Finally, pay attention to the panning control on your audio tracks.
You’ll need to pan your foley sounds in the stereo field to match the spatial position in which they appear on screen.
Great sound for video
Any experienced content creator knows that great sound is important for a compelling video experience.
Well-produced foley is just one part of the recipe. That said, nailing your sound effects will get you one step closer to the polished product you’re looking for.
If you’ve made it through this article you’ll have a great start for using foley in your own work
Various contributors from the LANDR team of music mentors.
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