Jeff Schmidt Sound Design & Development

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WRITING FOR AUDIO #1

First rule of writing for audio is - you don’t say the sound.

The second rule of writing for audio is - you don’t say the sound!

“The dog barked loudly” (sfx: dog barking loudly)

“His heavy boots pounded across the hardwood floor” (sfx: heavy boots pounding across hardwood floor)

See?

It’s redundant.

Sound tells it’s own story so liberate your narration and dialogue from telling listeners exactly what they’re hearing. Conversely, liberate your Sound Designer from having to put specific sounds to sounds that are said.

You can and should reference sounds in the production notes so the designer has an idea of the environment the scene is taking place, what is happening there, etc… but let sound speak for itself and the narration and dialogue will be free!