How To Create a Unique Sense of Place for your Video or Audio Feature
dihope890
6 Feb 2026 18:24
Okay, so you've got a lovely interview or series of landscape panning shots with a beautiful voice over going. Let's say its in a desert. But it all somehow seems a little flat - with no strong sense of place. How do you create that, without the (frankly) amateur option of sticking some (typically generic) music over the top?
To make your feature come alive you need to create a realistic and beautiful soundscape. Let's get back to the desert. How would you do that? First you want a low key subtle 'skyline' running continuously. A skyline is the background sound typical for that place. Nothing too loud, just made quiet bird song, a few insects buzzing. Try not to use a short loop playing over and over - the human ear is very good at spotting those loops, especially if they're short. And make sure that background sound approximately matches the time of day depicted.
Then here and there you might want to add just two or three 'signature' sounds - for example - if its the Sonoran Desert the call of a Cactus Wren or a Gila Woodpecker or a Gambel's Quail. If you want to emphasize airy or movement, possibly a hawk call. Have a search on Pond5 - because there is so much more than the very overused, cliched red tailed hawk/buzzard call. For example the Ferruginous Hawk call on my SFX sound offerings. If the mood is static or a little darker, perhaps a Chihuahuan Raven - which sounds different from the classic raven call - check out the recording Chihuahuan Raven Calls & Soft Croaks. Be careful to not add sounds that are totally disconnected with the topic, the scene, or the mood. You don't want to add southwestern US desert sounds to evoke the Sahara! Or a bird that only calls after dark, when your scene is in the middle of the day. Another example is that a rattlesnake might be a signature creature of the desert you're in, but NOT in the scene you're creating.
However - as a 'sonic motif' to bookmark different chapters of your feature - maybe signal a shift in topic - then you could use a rattlesnake rattle perhaps mixed with a short musical motif, to creatively move from scene to scene. And if you're a game sound designer - there's so much nuance to a sound like a rattlesnake - check out my SFX of a Western Diamondback Rattlesnake Rattle and also the Tiny Rattlesnake Rattle - because there can be a place ... for a baby snake!
To make your feature come alive you need to create a realistic and beautiful soundscape. Let's get back to the desert. How would you do that? First you want a low key subtle 'skyline' running continuously. A skyline is the background sound typical for that place. Nothing too loud, just made quiet bird song, a few insects buzzing. Try not to use a short loop playing over and over - the human ear is very good at spotting those loops, especially if they're short. And make sure that background sound approximately matches the time of day depicted.
Then here and there you might want to add just two or three 'signature' sounds - for example - if its the Sonoran Desert the call of a Cactus Wren or a Gila Woodpecker or a Gambel's Quail. If you want to emphasize airy or movement, possibly a hawk call. Have a search on Pond5 - because there is so much more than the very overused, cliched red tailed hawk/buzzard call. For example the Ferruginous Hawk call on my SFX sound offerings. If the mood is static or a little darker, perhaps a Chihuahuan Raven - which sounds different from the classic raven call - check out the recording Chihuahuan Raven Calls & Soft Croaks. Be careful to not add sounds that are totally disconnected with the topic, the scene, or the mood. You don't want to add southwestern US desert sounds to evoke the Sahara! Or a bird that only calls after dark, when your scene is in the middle of the day. Another example is that a rattlesnake might be a signature creature of the desert you're in, but NOT in the scene you're creating.
However - as a 'sonic motif' to bookmark different chapters of your feature - maybe signal a shift in topic - then you could use a rattlesnake rattle perhaps mixed with a short musical motif, to creatively move from scene to scene. And if you're a game sound designer - there's so much nuance to a sound like a rattlesnake - check out my SFX of a Western Diamondback Rattlesnake Rattle and also the Tiny Rattlesnake Rattle - because there can be a place ... for a baby snake!