How do we make use of these quiet sounds? Well, when used as a layer in sound design, we suddenly find ourselves in a real space and time. Especially in dialogue editing, room tone sound effects give the depth and sense of reality about space in context. It has a crucial role in story-telling.
It also comes in handy when we need noise reduction after a recording. Simply recording the place without any audible breathing, any impact on the environment, resembles the background noise of the place we record in. Taking a sample long enough, minimum of around 10 seconds should give the recordist the ability to take a picture of the space without the actions that are going to be recorded, and remove it from the specs they want as a final product.
Another need for room tone sound effects may be filling in the digitally blank moments in an audio file. For instance, if we want to portray a sonic scene without any interruption that may distract the audience, very clean recordings and the digital space between those regions will not help us. To give the feeling of continuity, we can fill in the blanks with room tones.
Saliha Turan / Sound Designer