Designing Sound for Animation

Book excerpt: This nuts-and-bolts guide to sound design for animated films explains audio software, free downloads, how sound works, the power of sound when wielded by an animation filmmaker, and provides varieties of examples for how to use sound to enliven your films with professional sound. Sound-savvy animators save precious resources (time and money) by using sound for effects they don't necessarily have time to create. For example, the sound of a crow flying gives viewers a sense of the crow without the crow. Where there's a macabre element or scene in an animated film, this book explains why you should choose a low frequency sound for it-low frequencies are scary, because the ear can't decipher their origin or direction! On the DVD: three 5-minute animations; sample sound clips, jump cuts and video streams; plus motion graphics with which to practice sound-applications explained in this book.