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Sound design

Sound design is the art and practice of creating soundtracks for a variety of needs. It involves specifying, acquiring or creating auditory elements using audio production techniques and tools. It is employed in a variety of disciplines including filmmaking, television production, video game development, theatre, sound recording and reproduction, live performance, sound art, post-production, radio, new media and musical instrument development. Sound design commonly involves performing (see e.g. Foley) and editing of previously composed or recorded audio, such as sound effects and dialogue for the purposes of the medium, but it can also involve creating sounds from scratch through synthesizers. A sound designer is one who practices sound design.

sound systems became capable of high-fidelity reproduction, particularly after the adoption of Dolby Stereo. Before stereo soundtracks, film sound was of such low fidelity that only the dialogue and occasional sound effects were practical. These sound systems were originally devised as gimmicks to increase theater attendance, but their widespread implementation created a content vacuum that had to be filled by competent professionals. Dolby's immersive Dolby Atmos format, introduced in 2012, provides the sound team with 128 tracks of audio that can be assigned to a 7.1.2 bed that utilizes two overhead channels, leaving 118 tracks for audio objects that can be positioned around the theater independent of the sound bed. Object positions are informed by metadata that places them based on X, Y, Z coordinates and the number of speakers available in the room. This immersive sound format expands creative opportunities for the use of sound beyond what was achievable with older 5.1 and 7.1 surround sound systems. The greater dynamic range of the new systems, coupled with the ability to produce sounds at the sides, behind, or above the audience, provided the audio post-production team new opportunities for creative expression in film sound. [10]

Cinema

Dora Mavor Moore Awards

Drama Desk Awards

Helen Hayes Awards

Obie Awards

Joseph Jefferson Awards

Sound designers have been recognized by awards organizations for some time, and new awards have emerged more recently in response to advances in sound design technology and quality. The Motion Picture Sound Editors and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognizes the finest or most aesthetic sound design for a film with the Golden Reel Awards for Sound Editing in the film, broadcast, and game industries, and the Academy Award for Best Sound respectively. In 2021, the 93rd Academy Awards merged Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing into one general Best Sound category. In 2007, the Tony Award for Best Sound Design was created to honor the best sound design in American theatre on Broadway.[24]


North American theatrical award organizations that recognize sound designers include these:


Major British award organizations include the Olivier Awards. The Tony Awards retired the awards for Sound Design as of the 2014-2015 season,[25] then reinstated the categories in the 2017-18 season.[19]

Audio engineering

Berberian Sound Studio

Crash box

Director of audiography

List of sound designers

Musique concrète

– a framework for conceptual game sound design

IEZA Framework

- in connection with short music films

Video production

FilmSound.org: A Learning Space dedicated to the Art of Sound Design

Kai's Theater Sound Hand Book

Association of Sound Designers

sounDesign: online publication about Sound Communication