The Sound Ideas Blog
This is the perfect space for sound ideas.

January 2023

We are delighted to introduce Randy Thom, a prolific and well-respected Director of Sound Design, Supervising Sound Designer and Re-Recording Mixer as the guest blogger for Sound Ideas. Randy is one of the best in the field with Oscar, Emmy and Grammy nominations to his credit; as well as receiving C.A.S. Career Achievement and MPSE Career Achievement awards. You can learn more about Randy here: https://www.skysound.com/people/randy-thom/

Unlock a World of Enchantment with our Magical Spells & Creatures Sound Effects

Sound Ideas New Product

Step into realms of wonder and intrigue with our latest library, Magical Spells & Creatures Sound Effects. Whether you’re crafting a fantasy film, building a video game, designing immersive storytelling, or adding that spark of mystery to your audio production, this collection is your gateway to sonic magic.

At the heart of this library, there are 584 meticulously crafted magical sound effects. From shimmering spell casts and teleportation poofs to eerie creature motions and enchanted ambiences, every sound effect is built to bring your creative vision to life. 

Inside the Magical Spells & Creatures Sound Effects collection you’ll discover:
- A full spectrum of magic sounds: appear/disappear, bursts, flashes, shimmers, teleportation and more.
- A diverse range of creatures & entities: beasts, ghostly figures, dark angels, and fairies.
- Designed sound elements: risers, morphs, zaps, rumbles, and synthetic atmospheres. 
- Embedded UCS metadata for the entire library.

This sound effects library gives you the tools to bring any magical world to life. With the versatility and high quality needed for professional production environments, you’re equipped for anything from indie games to cinematic trailers.

Ready to level up your sound design? Dive into the magic today and explore the full library of Magical Spells & Creatures Sound Effects. With premium quality audio, available in 4 different formats, this collection will transform your next project into something truly spellbinding.

Looking for more than just magical sounds? Explore our full collection of sound effects and royalty free music tracks to find everything you need. 

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Functions of Sound in Storytelling

Randy Thom Guest Author

Functions of Sound in Storytelling

In this blog’s word graphic you see twenty storytelling jobs that sound can perform in almost any kind of artistic medium that has a sound component … certainly in film, video, and games.
Some of Sound's Jobs in Storytelling:

help define a character        Draw attention to a detail, or away from it

suggest a mood or evoke a feeling        set a pace     

clarify the plot   heighten ambiguity or diminish it    describe an acoustic space

smooth otherwise abrupt changes between shots or scenes   
emphasize a transition for dramatic effect    
connect otherwise unconnected ideas, characters, places, images or moments
indicate a geographical locale         startle or soothe                  
heighten realism of diminish it        foreshadow events
indicate a historical period          create themes
indicate changes in time     exaggerate action of diminish it

One Sound Can Accomplish Many Tasks

A given sound is usually doing several of these tasks at once. Being aware of all these roles sound can play is useful not only when figuring out what kind of sound to play where, but also when collaborating with directors, editors, etc. to plot out a plan for how sound is going to function in the project.

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Unleash the Power of Sound - Introducing Explosions, Fire & Mayhem

Sound Ideas New Product

Our newest release, Explosions, Fire & Mayhem Sound Effects, brings an earth-shaking level of energy to your productions. Designed for filmmakers, game developers, and sound designers who need maximum intensity, this collection is packed with the raw power and realism to make every moment explode off the screen.

Featuring 600 dynamic sound effects, this library covers everything from cinematic detonations and fiery bursts to destructive impacts, rumbles, and blasts. Each sound has been meticulously recorded and designed to deliver clarity, depth, and dimension, whether you’re recreating the chaos of an action scene or adding subtle background tension to your mix.

The Explosions, Fire & Mayhem Sound Effects collection offers unmatched versatility. Create immersive battle sequences, apocalyptic game environments, or dramatic transitions with sounds that range from small, controlled bursts to large-scale explosions and roaring infernos. This high impact sound effects library is packed with over 5GB of audio and is available in 4 different formats. Every file is ready to drop into your workflow, professionally mastered, and organized with UCS Metadata for effortless integration into your favourite tools. 

Whether you’re crafting cinematic moments or designing powerful soundscapes, the Explosions, Fire & Mayhem collection delivers the perfect blend of realism and impact.

Experience the power for yourself. Explore all 600 premium sounds this library has to offer and add explosive energy to your next project today.

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Podcast Spotlight: The Sonic Legacy of Sesame Street

Tonebenders Guest Author

In Episode 328 of the Tonebenders Podcast, host Timothy Muirhead sits down with Dick Maitland, Sesame Street’s 25-time Emmy award winning Foley artist & sound designer, and Steve “Major” Giammaria, who joined later as re-recording mixer, to explore the hidden sonic world behind one of television’s most beloved institutions.
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From the very first seasons to today, Sesame Street’s soundscape has played a crucial role in giving life to its characters, environments, and emotional impact. Maitland recalls performing live foley and sound effects on set in the early days of filming, a hands-on, craft-driven workflow that helped shape the show’s signature auditory feel.
 
Maitland also dives into the importance of signature sounds, those tiny sonic markers that anchor a character or environment. These sounds were always carefully considered, in order to make the puppets feel real. Together, Maitland and Giammaria, alongside host Muirhead, map out the show’s sonic evolution across decades, spotlighting key decisions over time.
 
If you’ve ever wanted to learn more about how Sesame Street was conceived and maintained over time, this is a must-listen.
 
You can listen to the full podcast episode here to dive into the full story.
 
As proud sponsors of Tonebenders, Sound Ideas is honoured to support content that celebrates the depth and discipline of sound design. Whether you’re building immersive worlds, crafting character cues, or designing rich ambiences, our sound libraries give you the tools to bring your vision to life.

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Cacayanga or Useful Noise

Randy Thom Guest Author

Cacayanga or “Useful Noise”

Cacayanga is a term invented by Alejandro Iñárritu.  One quick way to define it might be“useful noise,” but it’s more specific and interesting than that.
 
When the bear in “The Revenant” is standing over Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio), extremely close to the camera, and she pulls away, her paw rises off the moist mossy ground and gently scrapes across his clothing as she momentarily leaves him alone. As many of you know, the visual image of the bear is entirely computer graphics, so there was no production sound for this or any of her other action. The foley and effects work for the bear was tough as hell to get the way Alejandro wanted it. What wound up in the film is pieces from lots of different recording sessions, some on foley stages and some outdoors, mostly in a redwood forest at Skywalker Ranch.

When Standard Foley Fails, Look for "Useful Noise"

The attempts we made at doing “standard” foley all failed. It all sounded “too clean, too much like it came out of a library” for Alejandro. By that, he meant it sounded too predictable. It wasn’t truly believable or compelling. The sounds we got for the bear moving that WERE believable were all done in a very non-standard way… basically just randomly stepping and dragging and throwing stuff around in this forest that lucky for me is about a hundred yards from my studio. The sounds that sold the bear movement were complex. A moist scrape, a quick series of quick twig snaps, a squish, and a mushy thud were nearly simultaneous elements of a single move of her paw in that forest that lasted two seconds. It was real, and alive, and it didn’t sound like “foley” too often sounds like… artificial.
 
The off screen trees creaking and unseen chunks of snow heard dropping from trees in the movie were definitely cacayanga. But so were those improvised and unanticipated elements of bear movement that we luckily caught and dragged into service.
 
None of this means that I think we should record and use only brand new sounds for every project. There is plenty of gold in sound effects libraries too (especially Sound Ideas). We just need to use the pieces we find in ways that feel fresh and unique.
 
Cacayanga is a sound or set of sounds that seem authentic, but embody a mystery that pulls you deeper into the story in part because they aren’t immediately identifiable.
 
Useful noise.

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