By Forris Day Jr
I will never watch a movie the same way again after reading David Sonnenschein”s book “Sound Design”. I will now listen to the movie too. I really learned a ton of information from this very hefty book. It is Heavy with information and perhaps even a bit over my head in spots. I say that because it is written to an audience of people who really want to become sound designers or want to totally understand why and how sound, music and voice affects a movie.
The book is seriously loaded with information. I can tell Sonnenschein has a passion for sound design. Think about it. A movie is 50 percent visual and 50 percent audio. Here is a quick way to prove it. Watch part of a movie with the sound off. You get the idea but without sound you have no idea what is going on. Now just listen to part of a movie but do not watch the picture. Again, you get a good idea but not the whole picture. When listening you get cues to what is going on by the mood of the music, the sound effects and what is being said.
The book delves into theory and teaches lots of practical uses for what is being taught. Throughout the book there are shaded blocks labeled “Try This”. They are exercises to back up and what is being said and to teach you in a practical way. Lots of charts with scientific stuff for the brainiacs too. I learned some pretty cool stuff about ways to create sound effects for movies that I will use in my own projects in the future. I also learned about how many sound effects in some of the worlds most popular movies were created using everyday objects. The movie “Star Wars” is filled with sounds using some simple things we encounter every day. Very cool stuff.
It really got me thinking about how music and sounds can work together to enhance the picture on the screen. Sound effects are not as straightforward as I originally thought. It is hard to explain so I’ll leave that to Sonnenschein to teach you. Although the book is over my head at times it really is an easy and fun journey through it’s pages. I felt as if Sonnenschein was my private tutor in the art of sound design and I know my future films will be all the better for it. Anyone who is interested in bringing up their films or stage plays production value will certainly gain invaluable knowledge from this book. You will be the expert in sound among your friends and peers.
If you are earnest about learning sound design or have a curiosity about how music, sound and voice work together in film this is the book for you. The book was written in 2001 so has some dated references such as using a tape recorder or DAT recorder. Seriously though, the information is timeless regardless of how you record your sounds and it can only help you gain a deeper understand of the process of making films. Thank you David Sonnenschein for writing this insightful book.
Rating: 8/10 – “Learn to make better films using sound”
