How Does Sound Design Differ from Sound Editing?

Sep 8

Often used interchangeably, sound design and sound editing are both essential aspects of audio production in various forms of media, such as television, film, video games, and multimedia projects. While the two work together to create a well-rounded and immersive audio production, they play distinct roles and functions.

What is Sound Design?

Sound design is the ambiance of the auditory space. A sound designer creates and manipulates audio elements such as dialogue, sound effects, and music to improve the potency of a scene through emotion, atmosphere, and context.

It involves more than just the reproduction of sounds and focuses on creating unique, creative sonic elements. The work of a sound designer is more artistic and aims to evoke certain emotions to support the narrative in subtle yet creative ways.

Aspects of Sound Design That Set It Apart From Sound Editing:

Creativity and Originality

Unlike sound editing, sound design involves the creation of new and unique audio elements that may not already exist. Sound designers have the leeway of inventing sounds that draw emotion, moods, and atmospheres.

Emotional Impact

The goal of a sound designer is to improve the emotional and psychological impact of a scene through the creative use of sound. They focus on eliciting feelings and a reaction from the audience.

Atmosphere and Ambiance

Sound design involves creating an auditory environment with immersive soundscapes and ambient elements that generally contribute to the mood and tone of a scene.

Non-literal Interpretation

Sound design may involve using sounds that don’t directly correlate with on-screen actions. For example, a distant echo can be used to emphasize a character’s isolation.

What is Sound Editing?

On the other hand, sound editing focuses on the technical aspects of audio elements, such as assembling, manipulating, and organizing. Simply put, it’s the process of manipulating sound recordings to create the desired effect.

The role of sound editing is to improve the quality of a recording, remove unwanted sounds or noise, or change the length/ pitch of a specific audio clip. It’s mainly concerned with ensuring the technical accuracy and synchronization of sounds to match the visuals correctly.

Aspects of Sound Editing That Differentiate It From Sound Design:

Technical Precision

Sound editing involves ensuring the audio elements match accurately with the visuals. It’s all about timing the sounds to match specific actions.

Realism and Continuity

Sound editing focuses on ensuring the audio experience aligns with the visual narrative, ensuring the sounds are realistic and consistent within the scene's context.

Clarity of Dialogue

Sound editors work on improving the clarity of dialogue by removing background noise and adjusting levels. It also involves making sure that spoken words are intelligible.

Balancing and Mixing

Balancing and mixing involves adjusting the volume levels of different audio elements, such as music, dialogue, and sound effects, to create a balanced and pleasant audio mix.

Synchronization

Sound editors work tirelessly to ensure the audio aligns with visual cues and actions. This ensures synchronicity between what is seen and what is said.

Partner with Professional Sound Experts to Create Your Next Masterpiece

Despite being distinctly different, sound design and editing both uniquely contribute to the overall auditory experience. At Imnl Studios, creating professional quality sound is at the core of what we do. Our studios are designed to suit your needs, and our in-house experts are ready to help you create a masterpiece.

Troy Zeigler

With many years of experience in the recording world, Troy Zeigler deeply understands all things sound.