Traditionally, shows and films like “Star Trek” and “Star Wars” have groomed us into expecting a detailed aural narrative. The glorious sounds of lasers, torpedoes and hyperspace! Popular sci-fi films beg to differ and have long espoused the joys of sound in space. Space is a vacuum, so therefore there is no sound. The mention of space scenes above brings up the point of sound in space. These scenes will entirely depend on your ability to record, create and mix an exciting and believable sonic palette. I don’t think going on set to film and record an erupting volcano or a space battle are feasible options.
This is especially true when working with scenes featuring video effects. Using sound effects is the better course because of the added freedom and control it provides in creating a convincing result.
Even stock footage is heavily edited in order to fit a role by definition it becomes a sound effect. A footstep on its own might seem innocuous, but what if you want more than a recording of the scrapy pitter-patter of feet faintly shuffling against a concrete floor? Your only options are to record foley footsteps or to add and edit footsteps from an archive. A common, yet admittedly less glamorous, sound effect is footsteps.
