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вЂњThe top picks we used in the movie were birdseed, rice, quinoa, sesame seeds, and sifted sandbox sand,вЂќ Fox says. Recall that she and her colleagues tested out 15 different types of materials to see which would most closely resemble the sound of shifting sand. вЂњVisually, you can see that whenever a door is opened, sand blows inside, so we incorporated a fine layer of sand in interior spaces as well,вЂќ Fox says. If realistic footsteps are tough to perfect, Fox says recreating realistic footsteps in the sand was even more nuanced and took several attempts to get it just right. ItвЂ™s just like acting with shoes,вЂќ Fox says, although sometimes a Foley artist will need to go barefoot, too. вЂњThe rest of the magic depends on our ability to get into character and perform the footsteps as the character on screen. ItвЂ™s actually the Foley Mixer (the recording engineer) who moves the sound around in space as weвЂ™re performing.вЂќДЄccording to Fox, this is achieved by balancing the main microphone with other microphones that are mounted throughout the room. вЂњWhen we perform footsteps for a character on screen, the microphone stays in one spot, so we have to walk in one spot in front of the microphone and make our footsteps sound like they're moving like the characters on screen.

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вЂњIt takes a long time to learn how to вЂwalk in place,вЂ™ as itвЂ™s called,вЂќ Fox shares. The delicacy required to make these types of sounds means that sometimes a Foley artist will have to hold their breath for an uncomfortably long time to get the sound just right without any additional noise-like breathing (!)-ruining the take.ДЇox says another tough sound to perfect is writing on paper, but that the hardest is creating realistic footsteps. вЂњHere at the studio, we use a Zoom H4n to record from time to time, so whatever you can get your hands on is probably something you can work with.вЂќ The Technical DetailsД®ven with premium tools, it can be difficult to nail some of the most common, gentle sounds, Fox says, вЂњlike when people rub their hands together, or someone scratches their head.вЂќ

вЂњMost entry-level gear is pretty capable of recording high enough quality sounds for a good Foley track,вЂќ Fox explains.

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Audacity, for example, is free, while other affordable options include Adobe Audition and Logic Pro X.

You donвЂ™t need to purchase this kind of premium equipment to try your hand at Foley, though. Inside Percy's Mission To Hear the Sounds of Mars вЂњWe generally use the same shotgun mics that are used as boom mics on set,вЂќ Fox explains, adding that the Sennheiser MKH 60 seems to be the most common pick. You donвЂ™t need a bunch of equipment, Fox says, but the tools that you do need are highly specific to the field. Like every skilled craft, Foley requires a few tools to create high-quality recordings.

We spoke with Fox about the artistry that Foley work requires, what a career in the field looks like, how you can try your hand at it, and most importantly-what it was like to create the sound effects for Shai-Hulud, the behemoth sandworm in Dune (skip ahead to the 2:40 timestamp in the trailer for a sneak peak). It challenged us to find creative ways to turn FoleyвЂ™s most inexpressive surface into sounds that convey the dynamic emotion in that story.вЂќ вЂњ Dune was a pretty monumental project for us. Sand doesnвЂ™t really vary much from step to step, no matter how you step, so itвЂ™s really hard to express a performance and capture that expression in a recording,вЂќ Fox says. вЂњItвЂ™s basically every difficult thing about Foley put together. вЂњSand doesnвЂ™t really vary much from step to step, no matter how you step, so itвЂ™s really hard to express a performance and capture that expression in a recording.вЂќ Even in the trailer (above), you can hear the sand whooshing from the outset. And they had to get it right: sand is literally everywhere, and is central to the plot of the film-most of the action takes place on the desert planet Arrakis, and the main conflict hinges on a valuable material, called вЂњspice,вЂќ which must be extracted from the sand. The sound effects for the sand, alone, required her team to test out about 15 different materials, from chia seeds to quinoa, to get it just right. Working on Dune was no small feat, she explains. вЂњIвЂ™m the one physically making the sounds in front of the microphone, while a Foley mixer records the sounds, and a Foley recordist fine-tunes with editing,вЂќ Fox tells Popular Mechanics. That way, the audio effects are in sync with the footage. Typically, a Foley artist records their sound effects in a studio while watching scenes from the production that theyвЂ™re working on.

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Foley artists like Fox specialize in creating and performing sound effects for film and TV shows.

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