Glossary of sound design

Here’s an inventory of words and expressions related to sound design. Formulas, more or less technical, commonly used in our profession as composers and sound designers. Some terms are used all the time, while others are rarer, some advisedly, others inappropriately… . This article can help you learn the meaning or use of some of these words, so that when you talk to your favorite sound designer, everyone understands what they’re talking about!

Sound design and sound effects

SOUND DESIGN – The technique of using and manipulating musical or sound objects to impact and reinforce an action or movement in an image. The term sound design is used in a variety of disciplines, including film, theater, music recording and mixing, audiobook production, video game development and advertising.

FOLEY – Recording sounds to synchronize with on-screen actions, such as footsteps and motion noises.

FIELD RECORDING – Outdoor sound recording to capture the sound environment in the real world.

DIEGETIC – Diegetic sound is sound whose origin is physically present in the shots that make up a sequence. For example, dialogue is diegetic sound.

EXTRADIEGIC – Extradiegetic sound is sound whose origin is not physically present in the shots that make up a sequence. For example, the soundtrack or a voice-over are extradiegetic sounds.

WOOSH – A sound that makes a woosh.

DING – See also Woosh.

SWISH – See also Woosh.

Sound design and music

SYNCHRONIZATION or SYNCHRO – The principle of placing a musical work in the background of an audiovisual work: synchronizing music with a film, a documentary, a commercial…Finding the right track perfectly adapted to the client’s needs and brief (agency, brand audiovisual production…).

CLEARANCE – Securing all authorizations and transactions for existing music, and negotiating with rights holders. –

COVER (REPRISE) – An existing piece of music that another performer than its creator replays, in a similar or more distant way.

DAW – Digital Audio Workstation – music production software, our main tool…

EDIT – This is the adaptation of a music file to a specific duration (example: transforming a 3-minute song into a 30s format).

Sound design and marketing

SOUND DESIGN – A component of sensorial marketing, it refers to techniques for using sound and music at different points of contact with a brand: films, on-hold telephone calls, events, radio or TV commercials.

SOUND IDENTITY – A company’s global sound communication strategy – a set of sounds evocative of a brand’s values and DNA, which individuals spontaneously associate with it.

JINGLE or SOUND LOGO – “Tam-Tam-Ta-Dam”…The jingle or sonal or sound logo is a short sound and/or melodic sequence, a concentrate of sounds from a brand’s sound identity, mixing voice, music and sound effects. It encourages memorization and helps punctuate an advertising message.

Technical words in sound design

BOUNCE – A term referring to different audio sources added together and exported as a single audio file.

MASTER – This is the final audio file mixed and mastered for delivery. This is the one you must use in your video exports. Not “Mix-Version 2- Modifs 3- V12. mp3” or “preview-3.WAV”.

MIXING – The task of assembling and harmonizing the various recorded sound sources (instruments, vocals, sound effects, etc.) to facilitate listening and ensure that the listener can hear everything clearly. The mix is made up of several phases: volume, panning, compression and equalization. To be done before P.A.D.

EQ (Equalization) – Technique for adjusting frequencies in a sound signal to improve or modify its tonality.

COMPRESSION – Process of reducing sound level variations (dynamics) to improve listening quality.

REVERB – Simulated echo effect to add depth to a sound.

PAD – Technical specifications or standards to be met in order to deliver an audio file that complies with advertising agencies requirements.

BINAURAL SOUND – A special sound recording technique, much more realistic in its reproduction of sound space, to be listened to through headphones.

MULTICANAL SOUND – Sound reproduction technique with more than two broadcast channels.

3D SOUND – A sound processing technique that places an object in the sound space, allowing it to evolve according to the listener’s movements.

We hope this article has given you a better understanding of the vocabulary used in sound design. We’re sure you’ll find these terms useful when working on a project with a sound designer!

A partir de cette grille, vous pouvez vous aussi initier votre démarche de réflexion autour de la personnalité de votre marque.

Déterminer les caractéristiques musicales propres à son identité sonore

Construire le lien entre personnalité de marque et musique

Une personnalité de marque bien définie conduit naturellement à la dimension sonore. En effet, certains traits de caractère mènent inconsciemment à des caractéristiques musicales précises. On aura ainsi tendance à attribuer au luxe ou aux produits sophistiqués un univers ou classique ou électro. De la même manière, une entreprise traditionnelle sera souvent associée à des sonorités acoustiques. Ou encore, une entreprise voulant évoquer son caractère sentimental pourra se tourner plutôt vers des influences musicales Soul.

La traduction musicale d’une marque

Deux chercheurs en marketing, Muller et Kirchgeorg, dans leur ouvrage « Audio branding personality communication framework », paru en 2010, ont rassemblé des avis d’experts et de nombreuses études sur le sujet. En se basant sur les cinq dimensions évoquées dans le modèle d’Aaker, ils sont parvenus à établir des liens entre personnalités de marque et caractéristiques musicales. On retrouve une synthèse de ces travaux dans le schéma suivant :