Virginia Loh-Hagan - Sound Effects Artist

Published in the United States of America by Cherry Lake Publishing
Ann Arbor, Michigan
www.cherrylakepublishing.com

Content Adviser: James Shin, motion picture creative, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Culver City, California
Reading Adviser: Marla Conn, ReadAbility, Inc.
Book Design: Felicia Macheske

Photo Credits: Vancouver Film School / www.flickr.com / CC-BY-2.0, cover, 17, 29, 28; Northfoto /
Shutterstock.com, 5, 11; Fotokostic / Shutterstock.com; ncognet0 / iStock, 8-9; keith morris / Alamy, 13;
Kzenon / Shutterstock.com, 14; Master1305 / Shutterstock.com, 19; Tony Bock / ZUMA Press / Newscom,
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com, 27; ARENA Creative / Shutterstock.com, cover and multiple interior pages; oculo / Shutterstock.
com, multiple interior pages; Denniro / Shutterstock.com, multiple interior pages; PhotoHouse /
Shutterstock.com, multiple interior pages; Miloje / Shutterstock.com, multiple interior pages

Copyright 2016 by Cherry Lake Publishing
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means
without written permission from the publisher.

45th Parallel Press is an imprint of Cherry Lake Publishing.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Loh-Hagan, Virginia.
Sound effects artist / Virginia Loh-Hagan.
pages cm (odd jobs)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-63470-029-0 (hardcover) ISBN 978-1-63470-083-2 (pdf) ISBN 978-1-63470-056-6
(pbk.) ISBN 978-1-63470-110-5 (ebook)
1. Motion picturesSound effectsJuvenile literature. 2. Animated filmsSound effectsJuvenile
literature. 3. Video gamesSound effectsJuvenile literature. I. Title.
TK7881.4.L575 2015
777'.53023dc23
2015008291

Cherry Lake Publishing would like to acknowledge the work of The Partnership for 21st Century Skills.
Please visit www.p21.org for more information.

Printed in the United States of America
Corporate Graphics Inc.

Contents

chapter

Hearing is
Believing

What do sound effects artists make sounds for?
How do sound effects artists tell stories? How do
sound effects artists make things feel real? When
are sound effects added to movies?

Caoimhe Doyle makes sounds for movies and TV
shows. She worked on a scene. Characters were having
a sword fight. She made sounds of the swords moving.
She made the swords sound fast and heavy. She made
the sound of the characters moving.

Sound effects enhance stories. Enhance means to
make something better. They shouldnt distract from
the stories. Distract means to take your attention away.
Doyle said, The picture will tell you what is going on.
But sound tells you how to feel about what is going on.

Sound effects artists tell stories. They help make
shows feel more real.

Sound effects artists work on movies and television shows.

Tchae Measroch makes sounds for video games. He
splashes in a bathtub. He taps on a bear skull. He matches
whats in the game with sound. He wants players to
believe the action. Sound effects make the game feel real.

Video games can take place in fantasy worlds.
Measroch invents sounds for noises hes never heard. He
made the sound of a pirate falling on a ships deck. He used
a leather purse with metal rings. He hit it against wood.

He loves his odd job. He said, Its like being the
stuntman of sound.

Sound effects artists work on video games and phone apps.

THAT HAPPENED?!?

Monique Reymond worked on reality TV shows. She made sounds of people eating weird things. They ate things like stomach guts. She made sounds for people doing weird things. People were in a fish tank full of roaches. She said, All of that stuff does not really have a sound associated with it. We put that in. At first, when I started Fear Factor, I was very creeped out by the content. And then what I grew to realize is it was one of the most creative things that Id ever gotten to do. She made worms sound different from roaches. She made different chewing sounds. She has to be creative. She said, Trying to figure out how to make a wide range of sounds working with very little is, I think, a great part of the creativity.

Curtis Takahashi makes sounds for the Seattle
Radio Theater. They produce live radio shows. Actors
read lines on the radio.

He makes the radio shows feel real. He enhances
the drama. He enhances the humor. He makes sound
effects to match what the actors say. He works
alongside the actors. He works on live shows. So he
cant make mistakes.

Sound effects artists work on radio shows and commercials.

Sound effects artists want viewers to believe in the
scene. They make sounds to match the actions of each
scene. They also create ambience . Ambience is
background noise. Its water dripping in the sink. Its
dogs barking in the street.

People are used to hearing noises. They notice when
sounds are missing. Sound effects artists make sure that
sounds fit in to the scene.

Sound effects are added to movies postproduction .
That means after the movie is filmed. This helps actors.
Filming sounds can be distracting. Actors might miss
their lines. Sound effects artists help actors focus.

Sound effects artists work in the background.