Foley Sound Design For Music Makers

By Danny Dignan AKA Imaginate

Since I first started producing music, foley recording has always been alluring because of its versatility. There are many different ways to use foley recordings in music; like Tupperware hits being used as percussion or a bite of food as a crunchy percussive layer. Foley recordings are great starting points for creating samples, like effects and atmospheres through heavy amounts of processing. Whatever the application may be, the most alluring part of foley recordings and samples is their organic nature, which adds a seductive dimension and flavor to a track.

In this video series, I recorded different sounds from various kitchen utensils, and go over some of the different ways that I use them in my music production. Recently, I’ve used foley samples for glitch FX by using a myriad of plug ins and heavy processing, while being conservative with other samples and making subtle changes to layer over drums and bass sounds. The glitch FX samples are self explanatory- used to fill up space in a mix, or during pauses to add some unpredictability to the track. The foley samples with subtle changes tend to be slightly processed food bites that are layered over snares to add some crunch and grit. Others include clips of playing with a chain that are processed in to rich sounding pseudo-tambourines. The point of adding these samples is to add an organic and real element to the electronic drums to make them sound more alive and human.

A sample pack of the recordings I created at Pyramind is available for download and royalty-free use. Whatever application suits your needs, these foley recordings, and those you may capture will add more character and interest to your tracks. I hope you enjoy them.