Sound effects in media:A comparative analysis of recorded and synthetic samples in live-action and animation
This research provides insights for sound designers and media producers on the applicability and perceived believability of procedural audio in different media contexts, helping them optimize sound creation workflows.
This study compared the believability of synthetic sound effects generated by an online procedural engine against recorded samples when integrated with animated and live-action visuals. The results showed that procedural audio was highly effective and believable in drama and sci-fi scenes for sounds like lasers, hits, air, and rockets, but less believable in cartoon productions for everyday actions.
Creating sound for storytelling is crucial to establishing the environment in productions such as films, TV series and video games. This process often involves repeating, layering and recording real objects or using sound libraries, which can be time-consuming and repetitive. To address these challenges, procedural audio, also known as digital foley, offers a solution by allowing sound designers to quickly generate samples. Despite its efficiency, questions remain about the believability of synthetic samples compared to real ones. In our study, we compared synthetic samples generated by an online procedural engine and integrated them with both animated and live-action visuals. Our results indicate that procedural audio is highly effective and perceived as believable in drama and sci-fi scenes, particularly for sound models such as lasers, hits, air and rockets, whereas synthetic sounds weren't as believable in cartoon productions when representing everyday actions. Finally, we identified specific models that needed optimisation and highlighted audio features that needed improvement with feedback from audio professionals.