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Improve your sound design with music theory.

Discussion in 'Tips, Tricks & Talk' started by Adam Alake, Sep 9, 2017.

  1. #1 Adam Alake, Sep 9, 2017
     
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  2. #2 Rohann van Rensburg, Sep 19, 2017
    Some good points. I've always been enamoured by composers that incorporate sound design into their scores, having been really influenced by game music since I was a kid (i.e. Behaviour, Amon Tobin, Jesper Kyd, Nintendo composers, and others like Steven Wilson). I've realized over time that sound design without musical structure tends to be quite boring if used as anything other than decoration -- a "sound design" song with nothing really musical in it works as background ambience but not something that grabs one's attention. Without fail the aforementioned composers are quite melodic and understand these components quite well.
     
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  3. #3 Adam Alake, Sep 22, 2017
    True that, nothing wrong with background ambience for certain purposes, but if the composer cannot do anything else, problems arise. Sadly it is becoming the norm nowadays.
     
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  4. #4 Rohann van Rensburg, Sep 23, 2017
    It's like with anything, really: context is necessary. Ambience is more like colour/taste to me -- you need substance along with that or it gets boring.
     
  5. #5 Adam Alake, Sep 23, 2017
    Yes, but sometimes that is desirable, a piece of music that does its work from behind the curtains, building up the atmosphere without being noticed, can be just the right thing for a scene, I liked how it worked in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
     
  6. #6 Rohann van Rensburg, Sep 26, 2017
    Oh certainly. What I mean is in isolation -- i.e. an entire score being this way. The odd time it can be appropriate, but I really find some degree of musical structure, basic or otherwise, to be at the root of every sound design record or score I've ever liked. A lot of other stuff can work great as atmosphere, but not much else.
     
  7. #7 Adam Alake, Sep 29, 2017
    Very true. I am no expert, but I was thinking about how directors could be a reason for this, e.g. they want everyone to adore their cinematography and such and do not want music to take any spotlight. Just a guess though.
     
  8. #8 Rohann van Rensburg, Oct 5, 2017
    I don't doubt it. I do think it's a deeply flawed way of thinking if that is the case, as it seems quite obvious that nearly every significant contribution to the art of film in history was accompanied by a highly acclaimed score, regardless of genre, at least as far as I can tell.
     
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