0:00:00.952,0:00:03.476
I want to start by doing an experiment.

0:00:04.857,0:00:08.307
I'm going to play three videos[br]of a rainy day.

0:00:08.935,0:00:12.819
But I've replaced the audio[br]of one of the videos,

0:00:12.843,0:00:15.217
and instead of the sound of rain,

0:00:15.241,0:00:18.309
I've added the sound of bacon frying.

0:00:19.137,0:00:23.109
So I want you think carefully[br]which one the clip with the bacon is.

0:00:23.695,0:00:25.607
(Rain falls)

0:00:27.394,0:00:29.300
(Rain falls)

0:00:31.627,0:00:33.532
(Rain falls)

0:00:40.611,0:00:41.893
All right.

0:00:43.064,0:00:45.638
Actually, I lied.

0:00:45.662,0:00:46.932
They're all bacon.

0:00:46.956,0:00:48.531
(Bacon sizzles)

0:00:52.276,0:00:54.303
(Applause)

0:00:57.216,0:01:00.489
My point here isn't really[br]to make you hungry

0:01:00.513,0:01:02.162
every time you see a rainy scene,

0:01:02.186,0:01:08.106
but it's to show that our brains[br]are conditioned to embrace the lies.

0:01:08.696,0:01:10.794
We're not looking for accuracy.

0:01:11.754,0:01:14.539
So on the subject of deception,

0:01:14.563,0:01:17.926
I wanted to quote one[br]of my favorite authors.

0:01:17.950,0:01:24.899
In "The Decay of Lying,"[br]Oscar Wilde establishes the idea

0:01:24.923,0:01:30.532
that all bad art comes from copying[br]nature and being realistic;

0:01:31.096,0:01:36.340
and all great art comes[br]from lying and deceiving,

0:01:37.030,0:01:40.063
and telling beautiful, untrue things.

0:01:40.087,0:01:44.001
So when you're watching a movie

0:01:44.890,0:01:46.402
and a phone rings,

0:01:46.426,0:01:48.428
it's not actually ringing.

0:01:48.942,0:01:53.196
It's been added later[br]in postproduction in a studio.

0:01:53.220,0:01:56.074
All of the sounds you hear are fake.

0:01:56.098,0:01:57.908
Everything, apart from the dialogue,

0:01:57.932,0:01:59.086
is fake.

0:01:59.110,0:02:02.770
When you watch a movie and you see[br]a bird flapping its wings --

0:02:02.794,0:02:04.815
(Wings flap)

0:02:06.141,0:02:08.404
They haven't really recorded the bird.

0:02:08.428,0:02:13.422
It sounds a lot more realistic[br]if you record a sheet

0:02:13.446,0:02:14.998
or shaking kitchen gloves.

0:02:15.022,0:02:17.374
(Flaps)

0:02:18.849,0:02:21.792
The burning of a cigarette up close --

0:02:21.816,0:02:23.813
(Cigarette burns)

0:02:25.351,0:02:28.102
It actually sounds a lot more authentic

0:02:28.126,0:02:30.971
if you take a small Saran Wrap ball

0:02:30.995,0:02:32.213
and release it.

0:02:32.237,0:02:35.380
(A Saran Warp ball being released)

0:02:35.869,0:02:37.272
Punches?

0:02:37.296,0:02:38.818
(Punch)

0:02:38.842,0:02:40.774
Oops, let me play that again.

0:02:40.798,0:02:41.997
(Punch)

0:02:42.535,0:02:46.271
That's often done by sticking[br]a knife in vegetables,

0:02:46.295,0:02:47.717
usually cabbage.

0:02:48.661,0:02:50.113
(Cabbage stabbed with a knife)

0:02:50.788,0:02:53.752
The next one -- it's breaking bones.

0:02:53.776,0:02:56.001
(Bones break)

0:02:56.670,0:02:59.004
Well, no one was really harmed.

0:02:59.028,0:03:00.428
It's actually ...

0:03:01.163,0:03:04.418
breaking celery or frozen lettuce.

0:03:04.442,0:03:06.483
(Breaking frozen lettuce or celery)

0:03:06.947,0:03:08.179
(Laughter)

0:03:09.253,0:03:13.968
Making the right sounds[br]is not always as easy

0:03:13.992,0:03:15.899
as a trip to the supermarket

0:03:15.923,0:03:18.619
and going to the vegetable section.

0:03:18.643,0:03:21.018
But it's often a lot more[br]complicated than that.

0:03:21.042,0:03:24.065
So let's reverse-engineer together

0:03:24.089,0:03:26.413
the creation of a sound effect.

0:03:26.437,0:03:29.786
One of my favorite stories[br]comes from Frank Serafine.

0:03:29.810,0:03:31.661
He's a contributor to our library,

0:03:31.685,0:03:35.247
and a great sound designer for "Tron"[br]and "Star Trek" and others.

0:03:36.291,0:03:41.549
He was part of the Paramount team[br]that won the Oscar for best sound

0:03:41.573,0:03:43.504
for "The Hunt for Red October."

0:03:43.528,0:03:46.918
In this Cold War classic, in the '90s,

0:03:46.942,0:03:51.727
they were asked to produce the sound[br]of the propeller of the submarine.

0:03:51.751,0:03:53.096
So they had a small problem:

0:03:53.120,0:03:56.640
they couldn't really find[br]a submarine in West Hollywood.

0:03:56.664,0:04:00.322
So basically, what they did is,

0:04:00.346,0:04:03.701
they went to a friend's swimming pool,

0:04:03.725,0:04:08.260
and Frank performed[br]a cannonball, or bomba.

0:04:09.069,0:04:11.265
They placed an underwater mic

0:04:11.289,0:04:14.065
and an overhead mic[br]outside the swimming pool.

0:04:14.089,0:04:17.342
So here's what the underwater[br]mic sounds like.

0:04:17.366,0:04:18.901
(Underwater plunge)

0:04:19.608,0:04:21.114
Adding the overhead mic,

0:04:21.138,0:04:23.091
it sounded a bit like this:

0:04:23.115,0:04:25.490
(Water splashes)

0:04:25.514,0:04:29.961
So now they took the sound[br]and pitched it one octave down,

0:04:29.985,0:04:32.461
sort of like slowing down a record.

0:04:32.850,0:04:35.266
(Water splashes at lower octave)

0:04:35.929,0:04:38.697
And then they removed[br]a lot of the high frequencies.

0:04:38.721,0:04:40.996
(Water splashes)

0:04:41.020,0:04:43.076
And pitched it down another octave.

0:04:44.314,0:04:46.602
(Water splashes at lower octave)

0:04:46.626,0:04:49.132
And then they added[br]a little bit of the splash

0:04:49.156,0:04:51.440
from the overhead microphone.

0:04:51.464,0:04:54.629
(Water splashes)

0:04:54.653,0:04:57.191
And by looping and repeating that sound,

0:04:57.215,0:04:58.405
they got this:

0:04:58.429,0:05:01.270
(Propeller churns)

0:05:04.463,0:05:10.991
So, creativity and technology put together[br]in order to create the illusion

0:05:11.015,0:05:14.186
that we're inside the submarine.

0:05:14.868,0:05:18.229
But once you've created your sounds

0:05:18.253,0:05:20.647
and you've synced them to the image,

0:05:20.671,0:05:24.722
you want those sounds to live[br]in the world of the story.

0:05:25.397,0:05:29.431
And one the best ways to do[br]that is to add reverb.

0:05:29.997,0:05:32.612
So this is the first audio tool[br]I want to talk about.

0:05:33.198,0:05:38.320
Reverberation, or reverb,[br]is the persistence of the sound

0:05:38.344,0:05:40.275
after the original sound has ended.

0:05:40.299,0:05:42.867
So it's sort of like the --

0:05:42.891,0:05:45.927
all the reflections from the materials,

0:05:45.951,0:05:48.838
the objects and the walls[br]around the sound.

0:05:48.862,0:05:51.074
Take, for example, the sound of a gunshot.

0:05:51.098,0:05:54.100
The original sound is less[br]than half a second long.

0:05:56.138,0:05:57.288
(Gunshot)

0:05:57.747,0:05:59.436
By adding reverb,

0:05:59.460,0:06:02.677
we can make it sound like[br]it was recorded inside a bathroom.

0:06:03.470,0:06:05.033
(Gunshot reverbs in bathroom)

0:06:05.057,0:06:08.562
Or like it was recorded[br]inside a chapel or a church.

0:06:08.887,0:06:10.440
(Gunshot reverbs church)

0:06:11.043,0:06:13.047
Or in a canyon.

0:06:14.199,0:06:15.960
(Gunshot reverbs in canyon)

0:06:15.984,0:06:18.637
So reverb gives us a lot of information

0:06:18.661,0:06:23.591
about the space between the listener[br]and the original sound source.

0:06:23.615,0:06:25.724
If the sound is the taste,

0:06:25.748,0:06:29.932
then reverb is sort of like[br]the smell of the sound.

0:06:30.309,0:06:32.467
But reverb can do a lot more.

0:06:32.491,0:06:36.401
Listening to a sound[br]with a lot less reverberation

0:06:36.425,0:06:38.508
than the on-screen action

0:06:38.532,0:06:41.552
is going to immediately signify to us

0:06:41.576,0:06:44.219
that we're listening to a commentator,

0:06:44.243,0:06:49.034
to an objective narrator that's not[br]participating in the on-screen action.

0:06:50.471,0:06:54.662
Also, emotionally intimate[br]moments in cinema

0:06:54.686,0:06:56.633
are often heard with zero reverb,

0:06:56.657,0:07:00.627
because that's how it would sound[br]if someone was speaking inside our ear.

0:07:01.024,0:07:02.985
On the completely other side,

0:07:03.009,0:07:05.505
adding a lot of reverb to a voice

0:07:05.529,0:07:08.906
is going to make us think[br]that we're listening to a flashback,

0:07:09.637,0:07:12.946
or perhaps that we're inside[br]the head of a character

0:07:13.946,0:07:16.422
or that we're listening[br]to the voice of God.

0:07:16.446,0:07:18.708
Or, even more powerful in film,

0:07:18.732,0:07:20.219
Morgan Freeman.

0:07:20.243,0:07:21.527
(Laughter)

0:07:21.551,0:07:22.718
So --

0:07:22.742,0:07:24.972
(Applause)

0:07:25.502,0:07:29.373
But what are some other tools or hacks

0:07:29.397,0:07:31.257
that sound designers use?

0:07:32.186,0:07:34.489
Well, here's a really big one.

0:07:39.901,0:07:41.198
It's silence.

0:07:41.807,0:07:45.411
A few moments of silence[br]is going to make us pay attention.

0:07:45.881,0:07:48.321
And in the Western world,

0:07:48.345,0:07:50.468
we're not really used to verbal silences.

0:07:50.492,0:07:53.521
They're considered awkward or rude.

0:07:54.537,0:07:58.110
So silence preceding verbal communication

0:07:59.021,0:08:01.081
can create a lot of tension.

0:08:01.105,0:08:04.810
But imagine a really big Hollywood movie,

0:08:04.834,0:08:09.178
where it's full of explosions[br]and automatic guns.

0:08:10.389,0:08:13.984
Loud stops being loud[br]anymore, after a while.

0:08:14.008,0:08:15.952
So in a yin-yang way,

0:08:15.976,0:08:19.113
silence needs loudness[br]and loudness needs silence

0:08:19.137,0:08:21.535
for either of them to have any effect.

0:08:22.350,0:08:23.727
But what does silence mean?

0:08:23.751,0:08:26.689
Well, it depends how[br]it's used in each film.

0:08:27.416,0:08:30.595
Silence can place us inside[br]the head of a character

0:08:30.619,0:08:32.237
or provoke thought.

0:08:32.261,0:08:35.314
We often relate silences with ...

0:08:36.654,0:08:37.972
contemplation,

0:08:38.558,0:08:39.815
meditation,

0:08:41.185,0:08:42.752
being deep in thought.

0:08:44.569,0:08:47.671
But apart from having one meaning,

0:08:47.695,0:08:49.865
silence becomes a blank canvas

0:08:49.889,0:08:54.414
upon which the viewer is invited[br]to the paint their own thoughts.

0:08:54.962,0:08:58.638
But I want to make it clear:[br]there is no such thing as silence.

0:08:59.192,0:09:03.637
And I know this sounds like the most[br]pretentious TED Talk statement ever.

0:09:04.835,0:09:10.140
But even if you were to enter[br]a room with zero reverberation

0:09:10.164,0:09:12.229
and zero external sounds,

0:09:12.253,0:09:15.370
you would still be able to hear[br]the pumping of your own blood.

0:09:16.004,0:09:20.321
And in cinema, traditionally,[br]there was never a silent moment

0:09:20.345,0:09:22.265
because of the sound of the projector.

0:09:22.716,0:09:25.163
And even in today's Dolby world,

0:09:26.034,0:09:29.315
there's not really any moment of silence[br]if you listen around you.

0:09:30.485,0:09:32.710
There's always some sort of noise.

0:09:32.734,0:09:35.661
Now, since there's no such[br]thing as silence,

0:09:35.685,0:09:39.256
what do filmmakers[br]and sound designers use?

0:09:39.280,0:09:43.776
Well, as a synonym,[br]they often use ambiences.

0:09:44.307,0:09:48.176
Ambiences are the unique background sounds

0:09:48.200,0:09:51.248
that are specific to each location.

0:09:51.272,0:09:53.121
Each location has a unique sound,

0:09:53.145,0:09:55.121
and each room has a unique sound,

0:09:55.145,0:09:56.718
which is called room tone.

0:09:56.742,0:09:59.165
So here's a recording[br]of a market in Morocco.

0:09:59.189,0:10:02.129
(Voices, music)

0:10:05.470,0:10:08.238
And here's a recording[br]of Times Square in New York.

0:10:08.843,0:10:13.366
(Traffic sounds, car horns, voices)

0:10:15.449,0:10:19.071
Room tone is the addition of all[br]the noises inside the room:

0:10:19.095,0:10:21.484
the ventilation, the heating, the fridge.

0:10:21.508,0:10:24.419
Here's a recording[br]of my apartment in Brooklyn.

0:10:24.443,0:10:29.321
(You can hear the ventilation, the boiler,[br]the fridge and street traffic)

0:10:35.422,0:10:39.726
Ambiences work in a most primal way.

0:10:40.718,0:10:43.572
They can speak directly[br]to our brain subconsciously.

0:10:44.538,0:10:50.387
So, birds chirping outside your window[br]may indicate normality,

0:10:50.937,0:10:53.728
perhaps because, as a species,

0:10:53.752,0:10:57.889
we've been used to that sound[br]every morning for millions of years.

0:10:58.360,0:11:02.303
(Birds chirp)

0:11:05.839,0:11:09.480
On the other hand, industrial sounds[br]have been introduced to us

0:11:09.504,0:11:10.995
a little more recently.

0:11:11.969,0:11:14.027
Even though I really like[br]them personally --

0:11:14.051,0:11:16.464
they've been used by one[br]of my heroes, David Lynch,

0:11:16.488,0:11:18.423
and his sound designer, Alan Splet --

0:11:18.447,0:11:21.009
industrial sounds often carry[br]negative connotations.

0:11:21.033,0:11:23.787
(Machine noises)

0:11:28.092,0:11:32.948
Now, sound effects can tap[br]into our emotional memory.

0:11:34.869,0:11:37.226
Occasionally, they can be so significant

0:11:37.250,0:11:39.824
that they become a character in a movie.

0:11:40.569,0:11:45.174
The sound of thunder may indicate[br]divine intervention or anger.

0:11:46.373,0:11:49.338
(Thunder)

0:11:51.957,0:11:55.932
Church bells can remind us[br]of the passing of time,

0:11:55.956,0:11:57.861
or perhaps our own mortality.

0:11:59.827,0:12:03.341
(Bells ring)

0:12:07.773,0:12:12.263
And breaking of glass can[br]indicate the end of a relationship

0:12:12.287,0:12:13.515
or a friendship.

0:12:14.390,0:12:16.191
(Glass breaks)

0:12:16.788,0:12:20.341
Scientists believe that dissonant sounds,

0:12:20.365,0:12:25.136
for example, brass or wind[br]instruments played very loud,

0:12:26.438,0:12:30.882
may remind us of animal howls in nature

0:12:30.906,0:12:34.033
and therefore create a sense[br]of irritation or fear.

0:12:34.506,0:12:37.437
(Brass and wind instruments play)

0:12:40.714,0:12:43.886
So now we've spoken[br]about on-screen sounds.

0:12:44.298,0:12:48.931
But occasionally, the source[br]of a sound cannot be seen.

0:12:48.955,0:12:51.479
That's what we call offscreen sounds,

0:12:51.503,0:12:52.951
or "acousmatic."

0:12:53.641,0:12:55.275
Acousmatic sounds --

0:12:55.887,0:13:00.920
well, the term "acousmatic" comes[br]from Pythagoras in ancient Greece,

0:13:00.944,0:13:04.535
who used to teach behind[br]a veil or curtain for years,

0:13:04.559,0:13:07.749
not revealing himself to his disciples.

0:13:07.773,0:13:10.561
I think the mathematician[br]and philosopher thought that,

0:13:11.727,0:13:12.878
in that way,

0:13:13.584,0:13:17.621
his students might focus[br]more on the voice,

0:13:17.645,0:13:19.609
and his words and its meaning,

0:13:19.633,0:13:22.803
rather than the visual of him speaking.

0:13:22.827,0:13:25.526
So sort of like the Wizard of Oz,

0:13:25.550,0:13:30.364
or "1984's" Big Brother,

0:13:30.388,0:13:33.654
separating the voice from its source,

0:13:33.678,0:13:35.569
separating cause and effect

0:13:36.379,0:13:40.174
sort of creates a sense[br]of ubiquity or panopticism,

0:13:40.198,0:13:42.278
and therefore, authority.

0:13:43.156,0:13:46.217
There's a strong tradition[br]of acousmatic sound.

0:13:47.129,0:13:53.739
Nuns in monasteries in Rome and Venice[br]used to sing in rooms

0:13:53.763,0:13:57.622
up in galleries close to the ceiling,

0:13:57.646,0:14:01.586
creating the illusion that we're listening[br]to angels up in the sky.

0:14:02.390,0:14:06.080
Richard Wagner famously[br]created the hidden orchestra

0:14:06.104,0:14:09.940
that was placed in a pit[br]between the stage and the audience.

0:14:09.964,0:14:15.007
And one of my heroes, Aphex Twin,[br]famously hid in dark corners of clubs.

0:14:15.420,0:14:20.163
I think what all these masters knew[br]is that by hiding the source,

0:14:20.187,0:14:21.850
you create a sense of mystery.

0:14:21.874,0:14:23.943
This has been seen[br]in cinema over and over,

0:14:23.967,0:14:27.047
with Hitchcock,[br]and Ridley Scott in "Alien."

0:14:27.071,0:14:29.463
Hearing a sound without knowing its source

0:14:29.487,0:14:32.712
is going to create some sort of tension.

0:14:34.530,0:14:40.144
Also, it can minimize certain visual[br]restrictions that directors have

0:14:40.168,0:14:43.858
and can show something[br]that wasn't there during filming.

0:14:43.882,0:14:45.967
And if all this sounds[br]a little theoretical,

0:14:45.991,0:14:48.397
I wanted to play a little video.

0:14:49.289,0:14:51.816
(Toy squeaks)

0:14:52.383,0:14:55.034
(Typewriter)

0:14:55.761,0:14:58.267
(Drums)

0:14:59.164,0:15:01.485
(Ping-pong)

0:15:02.484,0:15:05.444
(Knives being sharpened)

0:15:05.786,0:15:08.832
(Record scratches)

0:15:09.405,0:15:10.591
(Saw cuts)

0:15:10.615,0:15:12.072
(Woman screams)

0:15:12.663,0:15:16.458
What I'm sort of trying[br]to demonstrate with these tools

0:15:17.930,0:15:20.119
is that sound is a language.

0:15:20.516,0:15:23.658
It can trick us by transporting[br]us geographically;

0:15:24.571,0:15:26.087
it can change the mood;

0:15:26.579,0:15:28.000
it can set the pace;

0:15:29.482,0:15:32.936
it can make us laugh[br]or it can make us scared.

0:15:34.698,0:15:38.048
On a personal level, I fell[br]in love with that language

0:15:38.072,0:15:39.389
a few years ago,

0:15:39.413,0:15:44.020
and somehow managed to make it[br]into some sort of profession.

0:15:45.274,0:15:48.500
And I think with our work[br]through the sound library,

0:15:48.524,0:15:54.320
we're trying to kind of expand[br]the vocabulary of that language.

0:15:55.797,0:15:59.279
And in that way, we want[br]to offer the right tools

0:15:59.303,0:16:00.943
to sound designers,

0:16:00.967,0:16:02.315
filmmakers,

0:16:02.339,0:16:04.174
and video game and app designers,

0:16:04.748,0:16:07.883
to keep telling even better stories

0:16:08.382,0:16:11.114
and creating even more beautiful lies.

0:16:11.138,0:16:12.425
So thanks for listening.

0:16:12.449,0:16:15.968
(Applause)