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Film & Television vocabulary · Sound and Music

Sound effects

Meaning in film & television, with examples

/ˈsaʊnd ɪˌfekts/nounCore term

In film & television, sound effects means: Recorded or created sounds, other than dialogue and music, that are added to a film to make actions and places feel real, such as doors, cars, rain or explosions.

In Turkish: ses efektleri, efekt sesleri

How it is used

Shortened to SFX or FX. Sound editors take sound effects from libraries, record them on location or create them in a Foley studio. Ambience, or atmos, is the background sound of a place, like traffic or birds.

Example sentences

  1. The sound effects for the storm were recorded on a ship in the Black Sea.

  2. Can you add some traffic sound effects under this street scene?

Common collocations

  • add sound effects
  • sound effects library
  • sound effects editor
  • special sound effects
  • FoleyEveryday sound effects such as footsteps, clothes rustling or a cup on a table, performed and recorded in a studio in sync with the picture.
  • sound designThe creative work of creating, choosing and shaping all the sounds of a film so that they support the story and the atmosphere.
  • soundtrackThe music used in a film or series, often released as an album. Technically it also means the whole recorded audio of a film: dialogue, effects and music.
  • ADRAutomated dialogue replacement: re-recording an actor's lines in a studio after the shoot while they watch the scene, to replace bad or changed dialogue.

More terms: Sound and Music

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