13 Music and sound effects

A good choice of either of these can greatly enhance drama or documentary recordings, whether for sound only or to accompany pictures. Inept choices can ruin the effect. Let us take music first.

Music

First of all, why does one want any music? Having asked the question the really honest answer might be that one doesn't, which solves the problem. However, there are many reasons why one may want music. Some of these are:

1.   To establish a particular mood or atmosphere.

2.   To fill in ‘blanks’ where there is no commentary – but at the same time it may be advisable to avoid the habit (fashionable amongst many television producers) of avoiding any silence at all costs!

3.   If the programme is to be one of a series then it may be appropriate to have some introductory music as a kind of signature tune. This could be particularly true in an educational system, where all programmes dealing with a specific range of topics could all be identified with the same music.

Then, having perhaps decided that music of some sort is needed, the next and most critical decision is the music itself. The following can be no more than a guide to this choice:

1.   Avoid using one's own favourite, simply because you like it!

2.   The use of current numbers from the charts will quickly date the programme.

3.   The music should be appropriate. Decisions here can be very difficult, but to give just one example, a delicate violin sonata would not match a documentary programme about heavy engineering; heavy symphonic music might be better. And if the programme is about, say, a repetitive mechanical process with its own rhythm, then any accompanying music obviously ought not to have a rhythm that doesn't match that of the machinery. Introductory music could, of course, have its own rhythm which is not necessarily related to that of the machinery.

4.   Be careful about accidental puns or other inappropriate linkages in the title. Haydn's ‘London’ symphony would not do for a programme about Manchester. And, if one may use a facetious example to make a point, a zoological documentary about insects would sooner or later cause unwanted amusement if music from the Beatles were used!

5.   If using pre-recorded music be careful about copyrights.

One other very important factor affecting the choice of music, and one that it is very easy to overlook, is the length of the piece before a suitable fade-out comes. Suppose there are 30 seconds of opening introduction, either of speech or pictures. Then the music item should be such that a neat fade-out can be made after about the 30 seconds. How one defines a good fade-out point is very difficult. It can be demonstrated, but even then not always very easily. A fade should be clear, and that means that if the music is getting quieter, or descending in pitch, any superimposed fade is going to lose its impact. It may be well worthwhile spending some time listening carefully to the use of introductory music on the radio or television when usually (but not invariably!) the fades are handled very well.

It may be that the music needs to be continued under speech, ‘under’ meaning ‘quieter than the speech but still audible’. This is an additional restraint. The balance between speech and music needs to be carefully judged, and the music should not be of the kind where the listeners/audience are going to be straining their ears to hear the tune and not concentrating on the voice.

As an example of a thoroughly inept choice of music, I once attended a very good amateur performance of a play set in Classical China. (‘Lady Precious Stream’ – not performed so often these days.) The intro music was the opening of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony!

Sound effects

Probably the first question is, again, are sound effects needed? The answer may well be yes, but if it happens to be no then one should resist the temptation to put in effects for the sake of it. Good, meaning appropriate, sound effects can greatly enhance a programme. Poor and unnecessary ones can be a most undesirable distraction. The makers of the programme have to discipline themselves – avoid any trace of self-indulgence when deciding about sound effects – or all other aspects of the production, in fact.

Sound effects can fall into one of three categories:

1.   Naturally occurring background sounds.

2.   Specially recorded effects to be added either at the time of recording or later.

3.   Pre-recorded effects from, say, commercially available CDs.

Care needs to be taken with all three. We will consider each in turn.

Naturally occurring background sounds

In one sense these are the most difficult to deal with. The implication is that the microphones in use pick such sounds up whether one wants them or not. At first sight one may feel that these noises are bound to be correct because they were part of the sound scene at the time. It is perfectly possible, however, to find on listening to a playback that they are not appropriate.

The following is a hypothetical, but nevertheless perfectly plausible, situation.

We are recording a video programme in a small country town. There is a presenter speaking to camera. A nearby church clock chimes the hour. Now:

1.   We could assume that the viewers will accept that there is a church nearby even if it is not in the picture. But what about viewers who do not know the locality?

2.   We could make sure that the church is in the picture. This gets round the first objection but then the question is: what relevance has the church to the programme? It may have nothing to do with the programme content, in which case should we not avoid the chimes entirely?

(There is a well-known and very powerful law which lays down that if we wanted the chimes then the day of filming would be the day when they were out of order!)

On the other hand, there are many natural sounds which are going to be essential to help establish the environment. Imagine a presenter in a farmyard without background sounds of cows, poultry and so on. But, again, be careful. If there are pictures then the cow and poultry noises must be reasonably relevant to what is seen. If it's a dairy farm, sounds of pigs and poultry would probably not be appropriate.

Specially recorded effects

Inevitably these are going to be mixed in with the actuality sound. Usually, someone goes off with a portable recorder to an appropriate location some time beforehand. There is a warning here: it can happen that a recording of the actual effect may not sound a bit like the thing it is supposed to represent. Falling rain can be a good example. Recordings of actual rain frequently sound like a hiss. What is often needed is something which includes the sound of individual drops mixed in with a more general background and this can be obtained in the right circumstances. It was not for nothing that the standard BBC recordings of rain were, for many years, achieved by rolling rice around on the top of a drum! This could often sound much more realistic than the real thing!

The only advice here is to consider very carefully the nature of the sound effect wanted and be prepared to do many takes before settling on the version one wants.

Commercial pre-recorded effects

These have become much more readily available in recent years, although the cost may be too high for some budgets. Generally they are very good but, as ever, there are warnings. The main one concerns suitability – in two possible senses.

If it is to be a sound-only recording the effect must be clear and unambiguous. This is obvious, but it may be worth stating nevertheless.

With pictures there is a quite different hazard. Since the viewer can see the environment, then it may be that the clarity and unambiguousness is allowed a little latitude – unless the apparent source of the sound is in the picture. Let us take an example, again hypothetical but plausible. We are filming a steam train and on the day there is too much wind, and in any case the train is some distance away, so the microphone's pick-up of the train is quite inadequate. We decide that the way out of the problem is to add a commercial recording of a steam train at a later stage. So, after trying with some success to match the level and perspective of the mixed-in sound to the apparent distance of the train in the pictures, we labour for hours trying to synchronize the puffing noise with the pictures of the smoke coming out of the chimney. Our delight in our achievement is crushed when a train enthusiast points out gleefully that what we saw was a Southern Railway 0-6-0, whereas what we heard was a Great Western ‘Castle’ class locomotive!

The same sort of thing can happen with aeroplanes and motor cars!

To summarize sound effects in two basic rules:

1.   Be very careful about the appropriateness and apparent naturalness of the effect.

2.   Do not allow the level of the effect to be distracting. It is usually possible to establish the nature of the effect and then take the level down below any speech so that there is no more than a suggestion of the effect. At the end of the speech, the level of the effects can be brought up.