Ambient Sound: An Audible World

Apr 23, 2017
8 min read

Director Akira Kurosawa once said, “The most exciting moment is the moment when I add the sound… At this moment, I tremble” (Bordwell, Thompson, and Smith 265). The importance of sound to film is a well known fact. Though some films of the silent era can be praised on many levels, the advent of sound in movies brought a whole new dimension to the experience. Dialogue and music can add feeling and tension to a scene, but there is a pivotal area of sound that is often overlooked; ambient sound.

BACKGROUND, PROCESS, AND USAGE

Sound and film have been linked since the beginning. Before recorded sound, there would often be an accompaniment for silent films in the form of a piano or an orchestra. This would add to the experience in some minimalistic way (or at least filled the silence) (Bordwell, Thompson, and Smith 263). The use of audio in film started with the invention of the Vitaphone in 1926. This piece of technology was developed by Warner Brothers and Western Electric. The Jazz Singer (1927) is often credited for being the first use of this technology when, in actuality, there was another a year before. The film Don Juan (1926) used Vitaphone to add a musical score and sound effects. Many films followed until adding sound became a common practice. The technology continued to advance past Vitaphone and Movietone (another, later recording technique) (Corey 42). Where films once had long stretches of silence, it is now commonplace to have many dense layers of sound that create a holistic film experience (Bordwell, Thompson, and Smith 263). While a triumphant score or a loud bit of dialogue might be what the audience most often notices, there is a far more interesting aspect of sound design right underneath.

Ambient sound is that crucial part of a film that makes the cinematic universe a real place to the viewer. It is generally diegetic, meaning that it can be heard by the characters in the film. Often referred to as ambient audio, atmos, ambience, atmosphere, or background noise, it is, “the background sounds which are present in a scene or location” (Ambient Sound). Though this may sound simple, it is so much more. “Sound has a spatial dimension because it comes from a source. Our beliefs about that source have a powerful effect on how we understand the sound” (Bordwell, Thompson, and Smith 285). For example, it would be almost uncomfortable in a modern narrative film for someone to slam a door and for there to be no noise. Human experience has taught the viewer that when a door slams, it makes a loud bang. If a character in a thriller mentions that they hear footsteps coming, how would it seem for there to be no footsteps audible to the audience? Or for there to be a scene in a busy restaurant and no background noise from the tables surrounding the main characters? Such is the use of ambient sound.

Also, ambient sound can add context to a scene without ever seeing an establishing shot. Sometimes, this is quite useful, as an establishing shot would seem inappropriate in the film at hand. For example, the film The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) starts with two characters saying goodbye; one is about to board a train. The station is never fully shown, but the noise of a crowd and of locomotives tells the audience exactly where this is taking place. The background noise even gives a sense of scale to the room, as there is a slight echo (Bordwell, Thompson, and Smith 264).

Like other sound effects, ambient sound can be added through the Foley process. This is the process where sound, added in post, is tailored to each scene and action. Here, sounds are fabricated in an “acoustically clean” environment. Simple actions like pouring a glass of water or, again, shutting a door, may be recorded here. However, not all ambient sound is recorded in a studio. Difficult or layered effects like a train might be recorded out in the world. Either that, or a director may just want a more natural sound.

APPLICATION

Eraserhead. Few filmmakers are as talented as auteur director David Lynch. Even fewer are as ingenious as sound designer Alan Splet. Sadly, not enough people know this name. He worked on Lynch’s Eraserhead (1977), The Elephant Man (1980), Dune (1984), and Blue Velvet (1986), and is, perhaps, the most famous person in his field. Though he has since worked on many films, he left his mark on history when designing the ethereal, tense audio of Eraserhead. It truly adds to the nightmarish, dream-like quality of the film.

Most notably, in this film, is the use of ambient sound. Throughout, the simplest sounds in the background are amplified to create intensity and suspense. This is most apparent in the dinner scene. From right when Henry (the main character) starts walking to Mary’s (his ex-partner) house, Splet’s work is apparent. The industrial wasteland in which they live is given a mood through the ambiance, as the constant, oppressive, droning, machine-like noises echo. While Henry crosses a rail yard, some breaking glass is heard in the distance, followed by some dogs barking. From this, one can assume that there are dogs nearby or that they have seen Henry. This is an application of the acousmêtre, or “visualized listening” (Chion 159). These are visuals that can be imagined, heard offscreen. A second later, a dog enters the shot.

Meanwhile, the scene goes to Mary’s house where she is anxiously looking out a window. There is a much louder drone noise heard here that almost seems non-diegetic, but it is later shown to be diegetic. This gives the reader some context to the locations/living conditions of Mary’s household when it is later revealed that the sound is coming from a wide, seemingly bottomless pit.

Henry enters the house and meets Mary’s mother, Mrs. X, and her father, Mr. X. A faint suckling noise is heard in the background. Here, Splet and Lynch use this sound to add extreme tension. As the conversation between Henry and Mrs. X becomes more heated, the suckling noise becomes louder. At the conversation’s peak, the noise is unbearable, made even more so by the industrial echos, wind, and droning of the pit outside. The suspense is somewhat dissolved when the source of the sound is shown; a dog nursing her pups.

Later, at the dinner table, Henry is asked to carve some genetically-modified tiny chickens. When he cuts into one of them, it starts oozing some form of liquid (assumed blood). The most unsettling gargling and fluid noises are heard from the tiny beast’s secretions. Here, Splet plays with the normality of sound. One might not expect to hear such a loud reaction from such a little amount of liquid, making the fact that they do hear such noises even more disgusting.

This is not the only instance in which Eraserhead uses ambient sound in a very unconventional way. Throughout the film, there is almost no score or soundtrack. Instead it has been entirely replaced by ambient sound. The metallic clangs and deep drones heard in the distance are so fitting. Without this ambiance, Eraserhead would not be the classic it is today.

Stalker. Director Andrei Tarkovsky has done in seven feature films what some directors could not do in hundreds. He has established himself as one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. Tarkovsky is praised for everything from his shot composition to his themes. His sound design is just as impressive as any of the other technical aspects in his films. They are some of the quietest films containing sound, but every bit of audio used has a purpose.

Stalker (1979) is one of his greatest feats in using ambient sound. This science fiction film is assumed not to happen in Russia. There are very few establishing shots of the country before they enter the Zone, however, the viewer knows almost everything they need to about their living conditions. Post opening credits, the film begins inside Stalker’s home. Like Eraserhead, industrial noises can be heard in the distance. This time, though, the viewer is given a sense of scale. A train is heard from a distance and slowly gets louder. When the noise reaches its peak, it sounds as though it is directly outside the building. Stalker moves into the kitchen and footsteps are heard offscreen. This is another use of the acousmêtre.

Afterwards, another sound is heard. Water drips and flows all around them without ever being seen (inside the home). The audience can infer that this might be a generally damp place. Either that, or it may have rained recently. The water can be heard throughout the whole film, adding cohesion or, what Sergei Eisenstein would call, synchronization of the senses, meaning, “making a single rhythm or expressive quality [to] bind together image and sound” (Bordwell, Thompson, and Smith 264). The building creaks and pipes bang around the characters. One can hear that this is an old building. After Stalker leaves, birds are heard, but never seen, creating a more complete world. Tarkovsky not only uses ambient sound to create normalcy, but to provoke motion, create an immersive filmic universe, and to convey his themes and symbols.

Upstream Color. Upstream Color (2013) is a culmination of the application of ambient sound in both Eraserhead and Stalker. It uses ambient sound to create mood and to give context (in a film with rarely any). Directed by Shane Carruth, this is complex film. One could watch this film over fifteen times and still miss something. But above all else, this is a film about sound. Audio is such an important part of this experience, not just to the technical presentation of the film, but to the story. Carruth mixes diegetic and non-diegetic sounds to create a montage and cohesive piece of art through sound.

The use of ambient sound throughout Upstream Color is both incredibly realistic and fantastical at the same time. Certain scenes immerse the viewer in a world of sound to the extent that it feels tactile. This is such a hard concept to convey that it is quite admirable. For example, after the main character, Chris, wakes up from her hypnotic experience, she sees parasitic worms crawling under her skin. She attempts to cut them out with a kitchen knife. The first stab is out of focus and partially offscreen, but it is the most unsettling and poignant. This, of course, is because of the sound. It is extremely realistic and almost painful to the viewer.

This physically empathetic response elicited by the sound is then multiplied later. There is a montage that lasts roughly five minutes not connected entirely by visuals, but by the background audio. Meaning, before the shot changes, the sound flows to the next location. It effortlessly moves from copying a file, to a faucet, to a stream, to rocks sliding against the walls of a curved tunnel, to a sewing machine. This use of ambient sound creates a rather emotional and impressive scene that would, otherwise, seem unrelated and confusing.

CONCLUSION

Ambient sound is one of the most important aspects of sound design. It is more than just background noise. It creates a universe, builds themes, forms cohesion, and even can elicit emotional responses from the audience. If used correctly, it can add an entire dimension to a film that can be admired on its own. People like Alan Splet, David Lynch, and Andrei Tarkovsky may have paved the way for the creative use of ambient sound, but it is being used just as effectively today in modern auteurs like Shane Carruth. In the words of Alan Splet, “it’s sad that other films aren’t made that way, you know. Most films are such a mechanical process; they come, they work on it, and they leave, you know. That’s kind of too bad” (Godwin).

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