Telegraph
Software engineers are working on a system that would replace the traditional effects of the so-called Foley artists, who have been plying their trade ever since the ‘talkies’ hit the screens, with the omnipresent computer. A team at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have succeeded in replicating the sound of water flowing and splashing. William Moss and Hengchin Yeh modeled the splashing and gurgling of water by building a ‘3D grid’ of sound, the same technique used in computer generated film graphics. Moss said: “The physics is pretty easy.” They believe it is just the first step on the road to a whole array of virtual sounds. But Foley artists believe that these will lack the emotion created by people messing around with different physical materials. Sandy Buchanan, who works for Pinewood Studios, told The Times: “These newer ways of operating can remove a lot of the donkey work from what we do but sound engineering in films is not simply about creating a sound, it is about creating an emotion using sound.” Read the full article, including some popular foley techniques, after the link.