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@az Very funny and wonderful geekness.

Somewhat more seriously.

I forwarded that to my daughter (post production supervisor and editor (Black is King, Beyoncé’s videos…), assistant editor in “Making Waves”, an amazing documentary about the history of sound in the cinema https://tubitv.com/movies/541289/making-waves) and her bf (foley editor, worked on Dune, Moonlight, Frozen 2…).

My daughter’s response (after laughing).

> Next they’re gonna be like. “In Top Gun, that’s not what a jet engine sounds like because they added lion roars, and there are no lions in a jet engine.”

And she’s right, that’s what I really learned from that documentary. Sound effects aren’t _supposed_ to sound real. They’re meant to evoke emotions. And that means they use things familiar to the listener. Mind you, I’m not saying that a 50hz buzz would have evoked different emotions, that’s a bit extreme. But sometimes using something more visceral to a listener is intentional. The foley editor for Top Gun recorded jet engines, but they were boring. She wanted to capture the emotions of a dog fight, so she used wild animals.

But yeah, often they’re lazy and use what they’ve got on file.

Although not her bf (Chris Bonis). He carries a recorder whenever he goes. The ice sword breaking free in Frozen II is him stepping on a frozen stream at my mom’s place. A creaking door in it is her basement door. The muaddib (desert mouse) in Dune has the sound of its feet carefully synced with its movement. His attention to detail is amazing.