By Nolan Leahy
If the films “Die Hard,” “Robocop 2,” and “Predator” have something in common, it’s the professional Foley art (sound effects) from Dr. Vanessa Ament, who will be performing live sound effects for WBST in the upcoming radio drama “A Few Houses Down.”
Director Matt Reeder spoke to the cast about the contrast of sounds from the stage into broadcasting, and how Ament’s previous work with the radio drama “It’s a Wonderful Life” reflects a smooth sound translation.
“The year that I worked on ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’ I listened to the rebroadcast, and I was amazed at how different it sounds over the radio than it does live,” said Reeder as he spoke to the cast last week. “There’s certain things that while we’re [performing the radio drama], we can’t really tell – especially from Vanessa and from what she brings to it –the effects that she does on stage to us sound so different than they do when they’re sent through the radio. They’re designed to do that. So when we hear them on stage, we think, ‘Well that’s a strange sound,’ but when you hear it through the radio it makes perfect sense. It really is about that translation of getting the text, the sounds and the experience through the wires of the radio and broadcasted out through the greater central Indiana area.”
Ament says she’s thorough about choosing her sounds so that the exact setting is translated to the audience.
“At the table reading, I said, ‘We need to find out what era –exact decade- this is taking place in,’ because that’s going to change the way we make the cars sound when playing it on the road,” said Ament. “You know, making the sound of it driving on the road. It’s going to sound a little different than I did for ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’ because that was Depression Era, and I made the cars sound different, and it was different road, and it was a different small town. I need to know what era we’re in. These things matter.”
She’s also critical when judging the walking sounds with characters.
“With footsteps, nobody walks the same. The way I wear the shoes –the heaviness of the feet, the way that I walk, the pace that I walk- All of that is going to be dictated by the quality of the character,” Ament said.
Benjamin Strack, who is playing the role of the younger version of ‘Grandpa’ in “A Few Houses Down,” said Ament “does really incredible stuff.”
“She has a 20-plus-year career as a Foley artist in L.A. We do not deserve her, and yet here she is willing to help out and do the live Foley-type sound effects for this radio performance,” said Strack. “Matt’s accolades for her are there because the content she provides through all of those sound effects changes this from reciting a script to being an immersive experience for the listeners.”
“A Few Houses Down” is scheduled to air live on December 14 at 8 p.m. on IPR. For more information on attending the live performance at Sursa Performance Hall, visit Ball State’s website.”
Comments