WCL Sound Design ENPRO

What is sound? The sound profile of a movie and also of a documentary film contributes in decisive manner to the overall quality of the product. The sensory perception of man allows him to associate certain noises or sounds to a specific environment. Therefore it is very important that the picture we see in a movie is supported properly with the right audio environment.

Historic documentary material often does not have this asset, that is, most of black and white material was recorded without any original sound. In other cases the material was elaborated at the time of its becoming with contemporary techniques which today often have become obsolete. In order to satisfy a modern audience the sound profile of a movie has to be adapted, modified, and mostly build anew from scratch. This process is called "sound design".

The action on the screen does not become real to the spectator if it is not accompanied by the proper noises and sounds. For example, if you see a man beating a nail with a hammer, and you don't hear anything, you will perceive that as a kind of dream, something not real. But if the clash of the hammer on the nail comes in the proper moment, maybe anticipated by a tiny, nearly not perceivable "switch" of the air, the thing becomes real!

Scenes taken in different locations can be unified in a seemingly homogeneous environment, just through the use of sound. For this purpose our archive contains also a great collection of sound and noise masters which can be used for these purposes.

Another important asset of the sound profile is the music, which helps to create the proper moods and dramatic situations of a documentary, and underline specific characters or actions. We have contacts with composers and musicians which help us in this task.

Last but not least there is the most evident aspect of the audio, the different voices of the protagonists, which have to be embedded properly into the sound profile, so that they don't stick out excessively but are still well comprehensible. For the language editions these voices have to be dubbed and synchronized in the respective languages. The location of our studio in Moscow gives us the advantage to have access to many artists of different nationalities, so that dubbings in various languages, English, French, German, Spanish, Italian and many others, can be organized in relatively short time.

The sound engineering of a documentary can take well 50% of its production time and the artistic value of it is not to underestimate. If you need assistance in this area, we would be glad to be considered your partner. Just let us know what you need and we will see how we can help you.