the magic of sound design
BTS: post-production for "the darkness rolled over her"
hi all,
you haven’t heard from me in a while, but that doesn’t mean nothing’s happening. in fact, the end is in sight after all this time. not necessarily near, but… in sight.
below is a little info on what it’s been like to work on the sound for the film, followed by a video demonstrating the importance of the sound design work.
quick update
four years ago, we filmed the movie version of “the darkness rolled over her”. principal photography was 18 days over a month and a half. since then, i’ve been working hard on the editing as time allowed, and it’s just been a slow tedious process.
my buddy Shane Yoder has nearly completed the score, and it’s just so beautiful. i can’t wait for everyone to hear it. not only is it wonderful in the film, but i think it will be something just lovely to listen to on its own. got a couple of other friends contributing to the soundtrack as well, and i’m excited to hear it all come together.
Noah has been doing some visual effects, including some pretty major ones that are going to look great. i’m excited to show you some of that progress once we get a little more done on it.
post sound
Noah is also helping me record all the foley for the movie. foley effects are sound effects recorded in sync with playback of the film. the quickest way people understand this is footsteps. you’ve seen this before, surely, a foley artist walking in place, recording footsteps to match the action on screen. the foley process contrasts with hard effects, which are sound effects pulled from a tape or digital library. hard effects are manually synced and cut to match the picture.
foley, hard effects, and backgrounds (the atmospheric sounds — wind in the forest, nearby traffic, refrigerator hum, etc.) make up the sound effects portion of the sound design. sound design is made up of a final mix of dialogue, music, and effects.
Logic Pro
since picture lock last June, i’ve been deep in the sound design, and not doing much else with regard to the film. i’m using Logic Pro, a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) from Apple. the industry standard is ProTools, but it is expensive and can require additional hardware. Apple’s Logic Pro is just $199 and is completely software-based.
i’d never used Logic Pro before starting on the sound design for “the darkness rolled over her”. i first learned to use it when we put the trailer for the film together. getting the trailer done allowed us to establish our workflows for getting parts of the film from one software to another, and then assembled together for a “master” product. this was the first time i’d ever used Logic, and i was helped immensely by Ripple Training’s tutorial “Audio Post for Video in Logic Pro X” by Mary Plummer.
even with this fantastic tutorial, i had some very basic questions about how to set up my project and get started. searching online, i found some content for using Logic for video, some content for using Logic for surround sound music, but i could not find ANYTHING on using Logic for a surround sound film. i won’t go into all the technical details (if you’d like the technical details, let me know, and i’ll make a video on some of it!), but in the end i watched those semi-related YouTube videos, asked a few friends that had used Logic for years, and then trial-and-errored to figure it out on my own.
what i have now is sounding REALLY good. i’m sure there’s still some things i’m doing the hard way, but i like the way it sounds, and i’m almost done, so. lessons for another time, perhaps.
foley
as i said earlier, Noah has been helping me with foley. we’ve set up a foley studio at his house, and record when we both have time available. i set up my laptop for recording, and Noah performs all the foley, watching the movie go by on a large TV. our DIY foley stage isn’t perfect, but for less that $200 we spent on materials, it’s been fantastic.
whenever we record, i live-stream to twitch. so if you like seeing the foley process in action, be sure to follow me over there. Noah and i found that even if no one is watching, it’s best for us to live-stream, because it keeps us (me) on task.
here’s an Instagram Live we did a while back that shows how we do it:
editing and pre-mixing
after foley gets recorded, i go back home and edit it. i might nudge it into sync or edit takes together to get the best performance. then i’ll pre-mix it, setting the volume levels so blends in with the rest of the sound design. i’ll also add any plugins, filters, or effects needed.
i’ve been live-streaming this process as well. never in a million years did i think anyone would want to watch me edit for three hours, but it seems like every other time i stream, i gain a follower. several times, someone has popped into the chat with questions and stayed online for hours with me. crazy!
just like live streaming the foley recording, i seem to get more done when i live stream my editing. i’m not getting distracted by Instagram or text messages or internet articles, etc. i’m just working. so even when no one is watching, it’s been good discipline-building for me.
here’s a 27-minute clip from my last live-stream about why all the work we’re doing with the sound edit, while tedious and time-consuming, is so important:
“when’s the movie gonna be done??”
friend, i wish i could tell you.
it’s going to take how long it takes. we’re working as hard and fast as we’re able given resources and circumstances. i have freelance clients and family responsibilities to fulfill like anyone else, so unfortunately finishing the film comes in whatever time is leftover.
what’s left?
what i can say is, the end of the sound design is in sight. most of the score is done, most of the foley is recorded, most of the film is pre-mixed.
what remains? Noah has started on visual effects, but there’s a lot left to do, and i’ll be helping with a lot of that i’m sure. the film also needs to be color corrected to look its best. i’ll be doing this pretty much on my own at home a few hours at a time. once again, i’ll be using software i’m not yet familiar with, following along with tutorials, learning as i go. i have started the color-correction process already, and what little i’ve done so far is looking amazing. i can’t wait for you to see full-resolution finished frames from the film, not to mention the film itself.
“what can i do to help?”
friend, thank you for asking.
your support of any kind means the world to us, and we can’t wait to finish this film and get it out there where you can share it with your friends and family.
in the meantime, here’s some ways you can support the project.
subscribe here on substack - $
some of you are already paid subscribers to this newsletter, and i greatly appreciate your patronage. every dollar helps me focus on the film for a few minutes.
please don’t feel obligated to become a paid subscriber, but if you would like to, you can do so easily here:
follow me elsewhere - FREE!
now that i’ve got the basics down for live-streaming on twitch, one of my next milestones is to get 50 followers. so you have a twitch account already, hop over and give me a follow. once i’ve reached 50 followers, i’ll be able to turn on subscription services there as well.
likewise, YouTube will become an increasing part of our social reach as we get nearer to releasing the film. so go ahead and subscribe there as well, turning on whatever notifications suit you.
and of course all of the usual socials:
tell someone about the film - also FREE!
i’d love it if you told just one person about the film.
i’d love it seven times more if you told seven people.
and so on.
you can send them this link to the film’s website:
or here’s another good link to send them, the substack post announcing the trailer:
🫶🏻
THANK YOU ALL FOR EVERYTHING! that’s all for now… Godspeed, and keep movin’!
