Foley

Everyday sounds performed and recorded to match the picture. The footsteps you hear were almost never the ones you saw.

Foley is the sound of the world, performed: footsteps walked by an artist on studio surfaces, fabric moved, cups set down, all in sync with the picture and recorded clean. Location sound rarely survives usable; the world's audible presence is rebuilt, pair of hands by pair of hands.

Almost never the ones you saw points at the deeper craft: foley is not replication but performance, steps carrying the character's weight and hurry, a coat expressing its wearer. Done well it is unnoticeable; switched off, scenes turn ghostly. It is the audible case that realism is constructed, detail by deliberate detail.