Hey all! I am a 2x Emmy nominated Foley Artist! AMA!

I asked a Foley artist once if she could tell who was the foley artist on a film she’s watching without looking at the credits. She said, not always, but a lot of time she can. She said it’s usually the footsteps that sound distinctive. Same question to you… since it’s a relatively small community of artists, can you tell who did the foley just by sound?

Oh, congrats for having one of the coolest jobs in the world.

I had once hoped for that but I really don’t think it’s possible. More often than not our Foley is quite down in the mix so hearing it clean doesn’t happen a lot. I know which artists work as most studios so I can tell by the studio/production.

Have you ever eaten something and thought "whoa this sounds better than it tastes"?

Haha! The sound of crisp lettuce really helps sell when someone bites something and the whole room goes awkwardly quiet.

What drove you to become a Foley artist? What was your second career choice?

I've been very lucky to have known for most of my life I wanted to be a Foley Artist. I've worked in audio since I was 13.

I always thought I'd be a good barber...

Have you ever heard something and gone wow,I haven't heard that before or that would take some time to recreate? Thanks for the AMA.

Oh all the time. I love when that happens. I get jealous I didn’t get to work on it!

What show/episode have you worked on that had the most foley? How much of the show is recorded naturally and how much of it is foley?

What's the weirdest sound you've ever had to recreate.

Was there ever a sound you simply couldn't do and the plans had to be changed?

Grey’s Anatomy has quite a bit of Foley. Lots of backgrounds walking. As I stated before, all that matters is dialogue on set. Most everything else is sound effects/Foley.

I had to do cunnilingus. That was certainly interesting.

If I can’t get the sound in my head out I chat with sound effects editor and we collaborate on it together.

If you only could use five items to make a short film sound as good as possible, what would you use?

Well, since I can't answer that really I would say -

Boom mic

Pro Tools

A Foley Mixer

Shoes

Props

Thoughts on the Wilhelm Scream? Personally it always takes me out of the movie whenever I hear it.

Haha, I agree, but it’s also like an audible Easter egg I love to catch.

Do you see a difference between foley for film/TV and foley for video games?

The approach is the same but the implementation is different. Games these days have lots of cutaways which are performed the same but once you get into character creation and repeated sounds it takes on a whole new life.

Hi, I record Foley mostly for fun and sound design purposes to be later used in music and it's cool seeing a Foley Artist here! Do you have any tips for getting a convincing foot stomp sound? (like a big crowd stomping at the same time)

Layers. Offset by a frame or two. Different weighted shoes (boots, sneakers, army boots.)

How fun! Thanks for doing an ama. I love to watch credits and see all those who put work into a tv show/movie, etc.!

My question: do you tally up how many distinct sounds you do for a project? Is there a "project sound count" that exists for what you do? I was just wondering how many sounds it takes...and I know it would vary wildly depending upon the project.

My mixer and I like to count how many unique audio files we do in a shift. Normally for a 45 min show it's between 500-900 sounds.

Are most foley sounds actually made with the object/technique they are meant to convey to the audience, or is there a lot of coconuts-clanking-together-sounds-like-horse-hooves stuff? Are there certain foley effects that are more fun to create than others?

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. We use whatever is necessary to trick the ear. There’s no percentage of real or faked prop.

I love heels. I like gross stuff. I also really like paper.

Hi Mitchell,

I am a composer/audio engineer that is often asked to jump in to assist on all facets of media sound.

For projects that cannot book a recording session, what resources can you suggest for building an initial core asset library?

Thanks!

Grab a Zoom H4N and go record it yourself. Carry it with you and when something sounds awesome just record it and start building your own library.

How did you get into this field and what has been your hardest sound to create?

Starting to make my own Foley at home and then getting into a boutique sound studio.

Hardest sound…hmmmm…butterfly wings used to be difficult. I’m trying to think of THE hardest. Getting the right consistency of a puke is always challenging.

When watching movies/TV shows do you ever hear sounds and think... damn that was poorly done?

Sometimes. I try not to focus on the audio.

What are the props for a punch or kick landing?

Usually a boxing glove hitting a leather jacket, with a chamois to add a layer of fleshiness.

Of your works above, what has been the most fulfilling / interesting for you as a Foley Artist?

Honestly, they all present new challenges.

Bridgerton is my first period piece and I loved that challenge. I tried to have the footsteps increase in “clicky-ness” (something we normally avoid but for that time period was necessary) as the class order increased. Having the townspeople more dull and draggy and the royalty more precise and succinct.

Man, I felt like the Duke always had loud and identifiable footsteps. Am I projecting or do you have consistent sounds per actor?

Yes, for Bridgerton I assigned specific shoes for specific characters. The Duke commanded the room and I tried to help that with each step.

One more… why oh why is Hollywood so in love with laughably fake gun sounds. Actor moves a gun, racking sound, actor aims the gun, another racking sound, actor says something stern to show they mean business, and the gun makes another goddam racking sound. Then the actor chambears a round to show they really mean business, and another racking sound. It’s so overboard, and it seems to be everywhere (except for navy seal movies where stealth is part of the plot).

How much is that the artist, or the studio giving you notes on what sounds need to be in there? And can you tell them to chill on that?

Haha, there are just some audio cliches that are standard now and we must do. Most of the time we do them because we "just have to." It's just what an audience has evolved to hear.

Do you think the foley artists for BBC nature documentaries go a little overboard with their enthusiasm and inventiveness?

I’ve never done a doc like that but I can only imagine they are quite the undertaking. Generally speaking, bigger is better in Foley.

Is there a certain type of project you've always wanted to work on?

I'd like to do more animation. It can be super challenging but also really rewarding -there's no production sound to reference.

How do you feel about foley being sampled? A lot of projects I work on are low budget and I have to sample a lot or use library. I still do a cloth pass though.

Normally Foley is the bottom of the totem pole. I understand that lower budgets just can’t account for it and so sometimes it’s cut in. Just don’t call it Foley at that point, it’s sound editing.

Hi, thanks for the AmA, I find foley fascinating! Two questions:

1. What are your favorite pieces of equipment (technical or otherwise)?

2. What are some surprising examples of sounds that cannot be faked, and you need to record 'the real thing'?

Equipment wise you need a shotgun microphone, notably the Sennheiser 416, but a large condenser is also fun to play with.

For hair I use a wig. Keys are keys. Dice have to be dice. Marbles are marbles.

If you aren’t on tiktok, you should be! I follow a few foley artists there and they get tons of engagement, the videos are so cool!

What’s a sound you had to make that was unexpectedly difficult?

I’ve got an IG listed above. I don’t have TikTok yet, I feel like it’s saturated enough haha.

Sometimes the littlest thing can take a while. Took us quite a bit of time to create a chess piece falling over on an extreme close up. It was very detailed.

How much creative control do you have when it comes to adding in sounds? You rarely hear natural body sounds like a stomach grumbling.

When it comes to the Foley, generally speaking, my mixer and I have the final say. If the re-recording mixer doesn’t like it they can call for a pickup or redo.

I always think of celery being crushed and twisted as the consummate description of Foley. How often do you use celery to create your effects? Maybe for bones breaking or something? Do you go through a lot of produce?

Yup! We still use em! I did an episode of a cooking show, I can’t remember the name, and I went grocery shopping. Watermelon, cantelope, grapes, celery.

Hey, recently graduated film sound major here,How can I break into the industry as a Foley artist?any tips and advice I could follow?

First, make sure its Foley you want to get into and not dialogue editing, sound editing, re-recording, etc.

I always suggest start by downloading videos off vimeo and Foley them yourself, build a little reel, get familiar with pro tools, and try to get a foot in at a boutique sound studio and learn the ropes.

What’s the hardest sounds to convincingly make?

Generally speaking, Footsteps are the hardest to learn and therefore making them sound convincing to the scene.

Do you use any semi-automation for repetitive sounds like footsteps of a main character or is it always manually placed audio for every step even if the feet aren’t in frame?

I try to be as frame accurate as possible. If I'm off my mixer (or a Foley editor) will place in sync.

Do you edit your own foley in a DAW, or just send the raw files straight to the engineer?

If you edit yourself, what DAW do you prefer?

Post audio is almost exclusively Pro Tools.

Most of the time a Foley editor edits my work.

Can you please explain the difference between the "sound editing" department and the "sound mixing" department and why they are called that?

Sound editors find the sound effects. Sound mixers choose at what volume those effects play with one another, with music, with dialogue, and chooses what the audience will hear.

So is recording Foley and ADR in the sound editing department?

And a production sound mixer does the recording on set?

Yes and yes.

Is the work hard on your body? The first time I learned about Foley was seeing it as a challenge on the amazing race and it looked pretty physically demanding.

It really is. Mentally and physically. I often ice my knees after work. Sometimes I’m running for hours in heels, holding my breathe so it doesn’t get picked up by the microphone.

Which sound took you the longest to perfect and on which show/movie was it from?

Took a little to get the cop belt right in The Rookie. Right combination of keys, leather squeak, handcuffs movement.

What's a Foley Artist?

We physically replicate the actions performed by an actor on screen. Footsteps, props, hands, and cloth movement.

What's the point of that?

The only sound that is important to capture on set is dialogue. Most everything else you hear is put in post. That's where I come in.

I thought the actors dubbed their lines after filming because the on set sound quality was poor. Are we really hearing their audio from the filming of the scene most of the time? TIL.

Depends on the set/location. Sound stages have better control over ambient sound than day a location shoot outside.

Why not use the actual sounds of said objects? Always been curious...

Sometimes those objects do not make a sound. Walking on a cloud, butterfly wing vs moth wings. We enhance the story by enhancing sounds as well.

The lead character in the show Togetherness, played by Mark Duplass did sound for movies. Was he portraying a foley artist?, and how well do you think he represented the art?

Sorry, I'm unfamiliar.

This might be something really simple, but what do you use to replicate the sound of someone being punched? Cobra Kai being a perfect example, I don't recall any "over the top" impact sounds like you'd hear in older fight scenes. Is it as simple as punching your hand and enhancing the sound, or is there some kind of material/object that works better?

The sound effects editor handles the punches on CK. I enhance the sound by adding a thick, succinct, cloth movement for every punch and kick.

For something like Station Eleven, did you take any inspiration for the foley from the source text?

I worked on Station 19, 8 more.

Is there any genre you particularly enjoy working on?

I really enjoy comedies. I like being able to elevate a joke with a squeak, or a bigger sound.

Are there particular genres that need more Foley?

What percentage of scenes typically have Foley added. Is it usually every single scene or more sporadic?

I always notice the over-the-top sounds added to reality tv shows for dramatic effect, but is there also more subtle Foley work I'm not picking up on? Is it the same amount as television/film?

Animation.

There is Foley in every scene, even if it’s just cloth movement.

Normally all Foley is subtle, used to enhance the scene by allowing the audience feel more within the space.

Why do foley artists have such a hard time with firearm sounds? Especially sound suppressors? The mechanical sounds of the guns are always over the top rattle-y and sound suppressors end up sounding like laser guns. For those of us out in the real world who have actually used guns, it really ruins the suspension of disbelief.

Bullet shots are sound effects editors, not Foley Artists.

Realistically, this seems like a very niche skill to have. I am playing the devils advocate 100%, but what do you do that I can’t get with a library of sound clips?

I can match the actions specifically for an actor. Draggy footsteps on glass, slamming a cell phone on a wood table and it bounces onto concrete several times, etc. I can all produce the sound much faster than searching a library.