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/

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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Podcast Spotlight: Inside the Sound of Horror

Tonebenders Guest Author

Director Zach Cregger’s latest film, Weapons, has made waves both critically and at the box office, thanks in large part to its innovative sound design. In the latest episode of the Tonebenders Podcast, the host, Timothy Muirhead, dives deep into the audio magic behind the film, featuring insights from Luciano Vignola (Supervising Sound Editor & Re-Recording Mixer), Filipe Messeder (Sound Designer & Re-Recording Mixer), and Jake O’Brien (Dialogue Editor).

Listeners get a front-row seat to what makes horror sound so effective. The episode explores the art and science of jump scares, discussing why certain sounds provoke tension and surprise in audiences. The conversation also highlights the role of ambiences and foley in shaping the psychological impact of horror films, showing how subtle layers of sound can manipulate emotion and immerse viewers in a scene.

Beyond technique, the episode sheds light on the collaborative process in post-production. This Tonebenders Podcast episode is a fascinating look at how meticulous planning, creativity, and teamwork come together to create a cinematic experience that resonates long after the credits roll.
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Listen to the Full Episode


Want to hear all the insights and stories from the Weapons sound team? Tune into the full episode for a deep dive into the craft of creating sound for horror.

As proud sponsors of the Tonebenders Podcast, Sound Ideas is thrilled to support conversations that celebrate sound design. Our libraries provide professional-quality sounds, from cinematic ambiences to detailed foley, giving creators the tools to bring their own projects to life. Whether you’re building tension, creating a cinematic world, or experimenting with unique sonic textures, Sound Ideas has you covered.

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Sonic Beds Put Me to Sleep

Randy Thom Guest Author

Sonic Beds Put Me to Sleep

I confess I don’t like continuous beds of background sounds (ambiences) in films, unless there is a good story reason to have them in a sequence. I know this is a controversial idea. Lots of sound designers/editors LOVE creating sonic beds, and/or they believe that authenticity and naturalism demand sonic beds. I disagree.

My point is not that there should never be any background sounds. Of course there should, in most cases. The thing I try to avoid is having any non-stop sound element, one with no pauses. In many cases, that kind of relentless bed, usually composed of several continuous, non-stop layers, just clutters up the mix, and its constancy doesn’t contribute anything to story.

Approach sound design with an impressionist mindset

Movie sound design, in my opinion, should be approached in almost all cases with an impressionist mindset rather than an ultra-realist one. What we’re attempting to do is rarely to make a sonic photograph of a moment, where every detail is evident and exactly as you would expect to hear it. Instead, we try to give the audience a strong impression of a place or an action, an impression that will be made even more powerful by omitting or subordinating lots of details. Our tendency is to assume that everything in a scene that could be making a sound IS making a sound. But the way we experience films is absolutely not identical to the way we experience life. A film is much closer to a dream. When we remember our dreams, we don’t remember more than a few details, and they are almost always the most interesting/compelling ones.


The mixes I’ve worked on have received their fair share of criticisms, a lot of them justified, but one compliment I’ve gotten consistently over the years is that my mixes sound “clean,” “precise,” “uncluttered,” with “lots of detail.” That seems ironic, given that I’ve just said I believe in getting rid of tons of details.

The solution is all about choosing the details carefully, rather than splashing buckets of them into the speakers. It’s about featuring the best, most evocative details, and that includes background details. A distant-sounding bird, or car-by, or wave-lap, strategically placed between lines of dialog will read as a background.

But, you say, what about “air?” Don’t we need “air?” Sometimes we do, though less often than you might think, and less complex than you might think. “No Country For Old Men”, directed by the Coen Bros., is a master class in the use of simple, uncluttered air. Hats off to Skip Lievesay and the Bros. I think our team did a reasonably good job on the Bob Zemeckis film “Cast Away” of keeping the ambience on the island simple but powerful.


There are never more than a couple of sounds being heard at once, but they’re evocative and completely plausible as a sonic atmosphere.

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Obviously, you should give directors whatever they want if you would like to get hired again. But in my career, “too much sound” has been their critique a hundred times more often than “not enough sound.” Often, the dynamic will be that they will seem to want lots of simultaneous sounds initially, but as post progresses and the mix progresses, less becomes more, especially with those thickly populated background ambiences.

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Podcast Spotlight: Sound Secrets of The Bear Season 4

Tonebenders Guest Author

We’re thrilled to spotlight our sponsorship of the Tonebenders Sound Design Podcast, where the world’s top audio post-production professionals share their workflows & creative approaches. In Episode #317 – The Bear Season 4, host Timothy Muirhead chats with members of the Emmy-nominated sound team behind the show: Steve “Major” Giammaria (Re‑Recording Mixer & Supervising Sound Editor), Evan Benjamin (Dialogue Editor), and Scott Smith (Production Sound Mixer).


Episode Highlights

Emmy Recognition: The Bear Season 4 earned nominations for both Sound Mixing and Sound Editing, marking it as a standout achievement in TV audio excellence.

Production to Post Breakdown: The team walks listeners through key scenes, revealing how dialog is captured on set, then cleaned and prepped in editorial, and ultimately polished in the mix stage. This comprehensive process offers listeners a rare glimpse into the technical and creative decision-making of high-end audio post-production.

Complex Challenges of Reality-Driven Storytelling: The Bear Season 4 delivers visual and emotional intensity that demands skilled sound work. The team candidly discusses balancing chaotic atmospheres and layered dialogue to maintain clarity without sacrificing authenticity.

Why Audio Pros & Fans Should Listen

This episode is a masterclass in how sound transforms narrative, from intense kitchen scenes to intimate character moments.

If you care about how sound elevates film and TV, this episode delivers technical insight, creative philosophy, and real-world problem solving from seasoned professionals.
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Tune in to the Full Episode

We’re excited to support this discussion as the official sponsor of the Tonebenders Sound Design Podcast. Get inspired by the craft that brings The Bear to life through sound.

Listen to the full episode here.

Whether you're exploring sound design, or simply love immersive TV, this episode is a must hear.

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Sonic Superpower of Fruits and Vegetables

Randy Thom Guest Author

A look at the superstars of vegetable manipulation...

Most of us know that vegetable manipulation, especially breaking and crushing them, is a frequent tactic in foley and general sound effects recording for simulating the sound of certain other things being destroyed like bones, chest cavities, and craniums.
But why do some vegetables and fruits have this particular talent?

It’s mostly not their wetness. Strawberries are among the wettest of fruits but kinda suck at producing interesting sounds.

It’s mostly not that they are alive. A carrot snapped in two is pretty boring.

But let’s look at one of the superstars of vegetable manipulation: the bell pepper.

Watermelons are among the most musically gruesome

A simulated bell pepper made of Styrofoam, definitely never alive … but hollow, with a thin but relatively rigid outer shell, would make a very similar sound to an actual pepper when cracked open, though admittedly a bit of wetness would add a useful layer.

The magic comes from the combination of a rigid layer encasing a hollow or at least soft interior. The internal resonance that happens when the rigid layer is cracked is a big part of the appeal, and the sonically delicious icing on the cake is that the resonant frequency changes dynamically as the shape of the cavity changes in the course of the destruction.

Another factor that favors these kinds of vegetables over a carrot, for example, is duration. A snap of only a few milliseconds in length, what you get when you break a carrot, is almost never going to be as interesting as a more elongated rip or tear that lasts more like a second.

That’s why peppers (the bigger and more hollow the better), and celery, and cabbage, and watermelons are among the most musically gruesome of veggies.

And why they’re so good at simulating and creatively exaggerating the fracturing sound of other objects with hard shells and soft insides, like bones and craniums.

Hollow things in general tend to make sounds interesting to humans, which is why so many musical instruments are comprised of at least one hollow component.

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