Video: How Foley Footstep Sounds Are Made

 
According to Foley artist Stefan Fraticelli, who’s worked on TV shows like “Parks and Recreation” and “Fargo” and movies like the “Conjuring” series, footsteps are the most challenging sound for a Foley artist to master. Finding the right footwear, surface, and sync is not always straightforward. For example, if he has to match a pair of high heels on-screen, real heels will produce an unpleasant sound against rocks or dirt, so he’ll use sneakers instead. And if he wants to create creepy creaking sounds on a wood floor in a horror movie, he’ll have to do it with just socks on so the sound fully comes through. Meanwhile, Stefan needs to have a really sharp ear for the subtle differences between the sounds of different types of rocks, because it won’t sound right if his Foley materials don’t exactly align with what’s on camera. Finally, keeping up with all the action on-screen involves a lot of practice in everything from rhythm to proper weight distribution. Sometimes, it sounds better to create tap-dancing sounds with your hands instead of your feet.

Want to get Foley editing right? Having worked on more than 180 Foley projects, sound supervisor Yuri Pridachin from Foley First shares his essential tips, insights and lessons learned in this in-depth guide:
 

Heikki Kossi is a renowned Finnish Foley artist who has worked on 100s of films – and in this in-depth interview, he shares his insights, workflow, and lessons learned from decades of doing Foley sound:

Steve Carell and Greg Daniels co-created a Netflix series that’s like The Office of space bureaucracy. Here, Foley duo of Vincent Guisetti (artist) and Aran Tanchum (mixer) discuss the approach to Foley for comedy: