Abstract

Sound design in animation is a critical storytelling tool that creates belief and emotional engagement. This article breaks down the primary components of an animated film’s soundscape. It defines the two main categories of sound: diegetic (sounds existing within the story world, like dialogue) and non-diegetic (sounds only the audience hears, like the musical score). The text then explores the three pillars of sound: voice acting for characterization, music for emotional guidance, and sound effects for world-building. Key terminology for aspiring animators is explained, including the leitmotif (a recurring musical theme for a character) and Foley (custom-performed sounds like footsteps that give characters physical weight). The article also covers the function of ambient backgrounds, which make an environment immersive, and hard effects, which are created to give the world a unique, identifiable audio signature. Understanding how these layers work together is a fundamental part of animation production.

Keywords

Sound Design, Animation, Foley, Diegetic Sound, Score

Animation is a visual medium, but sound is what makes an animated world feel real. An audience can forgive visuals that are not realistic, but they will not believe a world that sounds wrong. Sound design is the art of creating the entire audio experience for a film. This process is layered, with each layer serving a specific narrative purpose. For an animator, understanding these layers is essential for telling a complete story.

The two levels of sound

All sound in a film is categorized in one of two ways. This separation allows creators to control both the story’s “reality” and the audience’s emotional experience.

  1. Diegetic sound: This is any sound that originates from within the story’s world. The characters in the film can hear these sounds. Diegetic sound includes character dialogue, a car driving by, or music playing from a radio in a scene.
  2. Non-diegetic sound: This is sound that exists outside the story world, layered on top for the audience’s benefit. The characters cannot hear it. The most common example is the orchestral film score or a narrator’s voice.

The three pillars of sound design

An animation’s soundtrack is built from three main components: voice, music, and sound effects.

  1. Voice and dialogue

Dialogue conveys plot, but voice acting conveys personality. The performance of a voice actor defines a character. The pitch, speed, and texture of a character’s voice tell the audience who they is before the animation fully expresses it.

  1. Music and score

The musical score is the primary tool for guiding the audience’s emotions. It can tell the audience to feel tension, joy, or sadness. A score also provides narrative information. A well-known technique is the leitmotif. A leitmotif is a recurring musical phrase associated with a particular person, place, or idea. In the Star Wars films, the “Imperial March” is the leitmotif for Darth Vader. Hearing that music signals the character’s presence or influence, even if he is not on screen.

  1. Sound effects (SFX)

Sound effects are what give an animated world its sense of reality and weight. This category is itself divided into specific layers.

  • Foley: This is the most crucial layer for character believability. Foley is the art of performing and recording custom sound effects in sync with the picture. These are sounds that are specific to a character’s actions, such as footsteps, the rustle of clothing, or a hand gripping an object. Named after sound editor Jack Foley, this technique is what gives a character weight. Without Foley, characters appear to float silently in their environment.
  • Ambience: Also called atmosphere, this is the background noise of a location. It defines the space. Ambience is the sound of wind in a forest, the hum of a computer bank, or the distant traffic of a city. This layer makes the animated world feel immersive and real, even when no main action is happening.
  • Hard effects: These are specific, individual sounds that are often created from scratch to define a world’s unique properties. This includes explosions, car engines, magical spells, or laser blasts. For example, sound designer Ben Burtt created the sound of the lightsaber by blending the hum of an old film projector with the static feedback from a television. These created sounds give the animated world a unique and memorable audio signature.