Top 5 Books On Sound Effects and Foley
If you want to do something different or something original that would make a big difference, record your own sound, process them and establish your own style.
You will have more control and flexibility than using stock sounds and samples.
In this article, I have shortlisted a list of Top 5 Books on Sound Effects and Foley to help you learn all the things you need to know about sound effects. These books will answer your questions everything from how to record sound effects to how to edit and use them properly.
Top 5 Books On Sound Effects
Here’s a list of Top 5 Books On Sound Effects:
- The Sound Effects Bible – by Ric Viers
- The Foley Grail – by Vanessa Theme Ament
- Sound FX: Unlocking the Creative Potential of Recording Studio Effects – by Alex Case
- The 3-Delay Framework – by Nathan Nyquist
- Shaping Sound: A Practical Guide to Audio Effects – by Alek Palmersmith
The Sound Effects Bible: How to Create and Record Hollywood Style Sound Effects
The Sound Effects Bible: How to Create and Record Hollywood Style Sound Effects – by Ric Viers is a complete guide to creating, recording and editing sound effects.
Ric Viers is known as the "Rock and Roll Professor of Sound". In his nearly two-decade career, Ric has become the world's largest producer of professional sound effects libraries.
Why Do I Recommend This Book?
In this book, Ric shares the techniques, processes and procedures for creating sound effects. He covers topics like microphone selection, DAWS, field recorders, basics of digital audio, designing editing studio, building a foley stage, working with FX and more.
This is a practical how-to book that gives insight and ideas on how to create sound effects on your own. This book features a good background in sound production, recording techniques, and mics.
Reading this book will help you create your own sound effects and be a great source for anyone who wants to get into sound design.
Who Is This Book For?
A must-read for anyone interested in recording, editing, or creating sound effects.
The Foley Grail
The Foley Grail: The Art of Performing Sound for Film, Games, and Animation – by Vanessa Theme Ament features Foley techniques that will help you to create a good quality sound for any medium, be it film, television, radio, podcasts, animation or games.
Vanessa Theme Ament is a musician, academic, award-winning Foley artist and best-selling author.
Why Do I Recommend This Book?
In this book, the author provides history, modern techniques and references to help you learn how Foley is designed, crafted and edited for any project. She shares nuts and bolts of performing sounds and everything that is required of Foley for a film or project.
This book features advice, tips and tricks with various well-known sound artists sharing their own techniques for handling props and all the tricks of the craft. They share behind the scenes, stories and their own perspective on how technology has changed over the years.
Reading this book will help you understand how Foley is used to enhancing the quality of sound.
Who Is This Book For?
A must-read for everyone interested in making a career in Foley. Whether you are a novice or a pro, there’s something everyone can learn from this book.
Sound FX: Unlocking the Creative Potential of Recording Studio Effects
Sound FX: Unlocking the Creative Potential of Recording Studio Effects – by Alex Case features a thorough overview of the most important signal processing effects used in the modern recording studio.
Alex Case is an audio engineer, educator and author who specialises in audio and acoustic.
Why Do I Recommend This Book?
In this book, the author covers amplitude based, modulation based and time based effects. Effects like compression, distortion, reverb, equalisation, pitch, delay and more are discussed at leangth.
He shares basic to advanced real-world techniques used by professional sound engineers to create commercial-standard music.
This book provides examples, illustrations, website links of FX to give the reader a practical exhibition of all the effects mentioned in this book.
Reading this book will help you understand everything from the basics of sound effects, the use of sound effects, as well as the session workflow.
Who Is This Book For?
Anyone interested in learning to use sound effects properly and to apply these effects more creatively.
The 3-Delay Framework
The 3-Delay Framework: Learn The Step by Step System for using Delay Effects to get Bigger Mixes – by Nathan Nyquist features techniques and presets to help you discover the exact way to use delay perfectly in a mix. Nathan Nyquist is a musician, audio engineer and author of many bestselling books on audio and sound effects.
Why Do I Recommend This Book?
In this book, the author provides a step-by-step approach to use the perfect amount of delay in mixes to produce great-sounding mixes. He shares his insight on how to use delay with reverb, EQ, distortion, chorus effects, automation and side-chaining. He explains the various uses of delay and its impact on the other elements of your mix.
Reading this book will help you understand the difference between analogue and digital delays. You will learn to mix the delay properly and to use the right delay timing.
This book goes in-depth and provides an excellent introduction to using delay that features specific settings for you to try. This book will teach you to use the 3-delay framework correctly and help you get a better sense of depth in your mixes.
Who Is This Book For?
Delays are a key to make you more sound rich and beautiful. Delays can make your mix sound dream like, if used correctly. They can also make your mix sound washed out, if used incorrectly.
Everyone should read this book and learn to use delays correctly and precisely.
Shaping Sound: A Practical Guide to Audio Effects
Shaping Sound: A Practical Guide to Audio Effects – by Alek Palmersmith is a practical guide to signal processing that features information on each audio effect.
Alek Palmersmith is a musician, recording engineer, live sound engineer, producer, educator and author.
Why Do I Recommend This Book?
In this book, the author provides information on each sound effect categorizing them based on their type. You will learn about all FX one can think of. EQ, compression, reverb, gating, delay, pitch-shifting and more everything is covered.
He shares his methods, tools, techniques in detail on different devices to help you work with sound effects.
This book also features references to various popular songs with explanations on how sound effects are used. Reading this book will help you understand how to use sound effects and their impact on the final mix.
Who Is This Book For?
A must-read for aspiring engineers or anyone who wants to learn to work with sound effects to produce well-sounding audio.
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