Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1490686
M OT I O N P I CTU R E S O U N D E D I TO R S I 53 What is something you can feel with your body every time you go to a movie theater or sit in front of your home theater besides the seat, the arm of your significant other and the popcorn in your mouth? The sound of the movie, which we can feel as its vibration sets in motion not only our tympanic membrane but the rest of our body, the floor, our seat, our popcorn and even our abdomen, when the frequencies are very low. The soundtrack is the only element of the film that is constantly in physical contact with both the screen, the theater and the audience, almost as if mediating between them. And that is because it is. It is like the slide connecting Ruben with the kid. There's materiality in the sonic experience. Many authors have assessed the material and sensorial nature of sound. In 2013 LaBelle wrote: "The sensuous impact of sound drives from its simultaneous invisibility and tangibility, it is all around us: The physicality of sound, as a movement of air pressure, of vibration, of interpenetrating exchanges from all around, forms an enveloping and effective influence." (LaBelle, 2019). It is possible, through sound design, to establish the reflective qualities of surfaces and the size of the place where a scene is taking place. This all transduces into material and sensorial information for the viewer. Sound gives film its material and tactile dimensions. As Lucy Fife points out, sound plays a role in "establishing the tactile qualities of a particular environment." (Mera, Sadoff and Winters, 2017:86) The sensation of sound strives to be 100% complementary to the film experience. It can be felt in our chest, our stomach, our heads, our ears, our limbs and our skin, and it is built specifically for the world we're being presented with. Directors give the final approval on the sound design of a film. In ideal circumstances, they listen to the final mix while sitting in the sweet-spot of a mixing stage, which is essentially a movie theater built specifically for mixing films. As a result, when it comes to films we can go to the nearest theater and our chances of experiencing the film the way the director created it, are very high. In sound design, sound effects, voice and music are often chosen for their "material qualities" as Lucy Fife says and "the capacity of sounds to be thin, sharp, thick and soft and so on—as chosen for the relationship between sound and image." (Donaldson, LF 2014) Sound has a very fine capacity to register and reproduce the spatial qualities of a place, as well as the texture of surfaces and the material qualities of objects. Human listeners can reliably identify many different textures (McDermott & Simoncelli, 2011). This is why there are specific departments and job titles in sound post-production dedicated specifically to Foley acting, Foley recording, Foley editing, sound effects recording and sound effects editing, all with the shared goal of giving materiality, mass and weight to the film world. A lot of sound recording, especially when recording ambiences, is about capturing the materiality and texture of a place for the purposes of embedding those qualities into the film world. Foley recording is about capturing the materiality of objects and bodies in terms of their mass, size and weight. Sound effects recordists are specialists that dedicate their lives to the craft. Frame from Fight Club (1999). Tyler recoils in pain after Jack hits him in the ear.