Introduction to Animation Sound

Special bonds connect sound with moving images. In animation, these bonds are very special. The visual elements and the audio track seem to share a more intimate and more creative partnership than exists in other motion picture form. 

This may be created by.. 

• High degree of synchronization

The technology of animation encourages a higher degree of synchronization that is practical within other forms of moviemaking. In both visual and audio realms, the animator has total control. An image or a sound can be placed with accuracy down to the tenths of a second. 
[read about the Synchresis phenomena]

• Strong relationship between animation and music

Animation and music have a basic mathematical foundation and move forward at a determined speed. The rhythm of a musical composition is measured, and beats are fitted into bar units of defined time length and are interpreted in time units. 

Michel Dougherty: (in The Animation Book) 
The visual and musical patterns share common elements of structure 
Humans are pattern-seeking creatures. It is in our deepest nature to listen for the completion of various patterns fashioned from individual notes, intervals, instrumentation, themes, and rhythms. We automatically anticipate how a familiar melody will play it self out. We wait for that outcome. If the composition follows the pattern we are expecting, there is a satisfying sense of closure and "release".  If our anticipation is thwarted, we are disturbed and our attention increases, and if we experience a similar pattern that is embellished in a new and unexpected way, we are delighted. The gifted animator, along with the music director/composer and the editor, understands the psychology of musical design and seeks to trigger the parallel responses through conscious manipulation of various visual patterns: repetition and rhythm; the movement of characters and background; the predictability of a story; and the pacing and editing of finished work. To the degree that animation can create a flow of patterns, the medium appears to mirror the nature of musical expression.

• Sound metaphors 

The combination of fast moving animated visuals and unrealistic sound effects create audiovisual metaphors that often have humorous aspects. For example...slow moving footsteps synched to cymbal crashes ...or .. fast moving hands digging to the sound of a roaring engine..

• Kinetic energy

In animation synchronized sound effects are used as a source of kinetic energy. 
In the Classic Hollywood Studio Cartoon the sound track are mostly constructed from boinks, petangs, pings, and kerthuds to energize a scene. 

When these sounds are determinants of the scene's pacing, they are recorded prior to shooting and logged like a voice track; the animation is shot to the effects track. (see presynch)

Animation sound can be... 

• Pre-synchronous 
• Post-synchronous
• Non-synchronous

Music and sound effects for key actions is recorded before the images are produced and the animation is "shoot to the track"  The sounds are created "presynch" 

Most voices are recorded presynch. Presynched is the best way to achieve the precise synchronization between pictures and sound that, for audience, is one of the most entertaining aspects of animation. For the animator, presynching also helps solve one of the most difficult problems encountered during shooting: how to pace action, or more precisely, how to determine the extent of each incremental movement. Once a voice or music track has been recorded, analyzed, and logged, it becomes a concrete determinant of when key actions must occur relative to those points. 

Dramatic important sound are logged as voice track prior to shooting 
When instrumentation stands out in the music  a trumpet blare, a cymbal crash, a trill in the wind section  such passages can be counted and logged in the same way dialogue is, and action is then shot to punctuate that particular moment. 
 

The images are shoot before the sounds. 

Sound effects are used to complete the outer orientation (the spatial and temporal settings) established by the visuals. These sound effects are often added in postproduction, since they are rarely the primary determinant of the scene's pacing.  If the animator is shooting to the voice track, particular actions in the picture that require an sound effect  such as doors closing, gunshots, telephones ringing, and so forth  are simply cut into the effects track at the appropriate frame.  

Michel Dougherty: (in The Animation Book) 
For most people starting in animation, the picture comes first and accompanying music, sound effects, and voice elements are usually added once the picture itself is completed or "locked". Starting out with a locked-down track can actually be an impediment if your project is experimental or abstract. In such cases it is smart to make visuals compelling before starting the track work. If you can make your piece work without the benefit of any audio, bank on the fact that it will be even more powerful once your sound has been added. A truth whispered among animators is that 70 % of a show's impact comes from the sound track.
 

 
Non-synchronous music has not been carefully timed to fit the picture. Because music and film both are "time arts", it is inevitable that any selection will synchronize with the picture at random points, and even nonsynchronous music severs as a "bed" for the action throughout. 
 

Scratch track 
Scratch track is a first draft of the sound track. A scratch track is usually built at the same time as the storyboard is completed. (It is usually good idea to take the time early in a project's creative development to create a scratch track.) 

Michel Dougherty: (in The Animation Book) 
The sound track starts in you mind. It is important to sit down and think of what overall type of track you want to build. Is your animation similar to the classical cartoons of yesteryear, chockfull of sights gags, exploding dynamite, and falling anvils? Get ready to look for some compact disc featuring stock sound effects. Is your piece more abstract and trying to communicate a mood and feeling instead of a story? Chances are that you will want to experiment with altering everyday sounds until they fit your needs. Write a list as long as you arm of whatever type of sound that comes to mind, no matter how small or insignificant it might seem. Take yourself inside the project you will be making. Imagine every chirp, rustle, footstep, sigh, or breeze you might hear

 
In animation actions are condensed. 
Standard libraries of sound effects are more and then useless for animation because the action of animation is for compact - a real car takes ages to go into the distance compared with the animation of the same action. 

First Principle of animation sound 
First Principle of animation sound effects is that there is no connection between the object in the picture and the origin of the sound. Horses do not make the well-known clip-clopping noise, half coconuts do. 

 

 

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