Sound for Animation

By David Kamp — composer & sound designer for animation — studiokamp.com

Sound design, sync, and the psychology of "making drawings feel real"

In animation, nothing makes a sound by itself. Every footstep, cloth rustle, whoosh, and room tone is a decision. That's the gift—and the job. You're not documenting reality; you're authoring perception.

Viewers don't experience "picture" and "sound" separately. The brain fuses them into a single event, usually without conscious effort. A soft landing can feel heavy if the impact is designed to read as heavy. A character can feel closer if their voice has intimate proximity, even in a wide shot. Sound gives weight, texture, space, and intention to pixels.

Key Concepts

  • Audiovisual binding: Sound and image are grouped into one event when timing and meaning are plausible.
  • Temporal tolerance (a "window" for sync): Viewers accept small offsets; beyond that, sync breaks and attention shifts to the mistake.
  • Visual capture (ventriloquism): What we see can pull where we think a sound came from—useful for selling off-screen space.
  • Crossmodal illusions: A sound can change what we think we saw (and vice versa), revealing how powerful audio can be.
  • Sonic storytelling: Foley, ambience, and design can carry plot, emotion, scale, and transitions—often more efficiently than dialogue.

Sound as Storytelling

The strongest animation soundtracks don't "support" the picture—they complete it. Sound can communicate what the frame can't: off-screen action, the scale of a room, the distance to a threat, the softness of a character's movement, or the emotional temperature of a scene.

Ambience is not decoration. It's a narrative layer: location, time, and social density in one stroke. Silence is equally active—it can isolate a character, sharpen a cut, or make a tiny foley detail feel monumental. And because animation often makes bold editorial moves, sound becomes the glue: it bridges cuts, sells impossible transitions, and guides attention exactly where the story needs it.

Notable Examples

Several animated films stand out for their approach to sound:

  • WALL·E (2008) — A masterclass in "character through machinery": movement sounds and vocal design carry emotion with minimal dialogue.
  • Akira (1988) — Dense, aggressive worldbuilding: engines, crowds, and impacts that make the city feel heavy and unstable, with rhythm-driven sequences cut tightly to music.
  • Fantasia (1940) — An early proof that animation can be structured around sound: timing, motion, and form built from musical phrasing.
  • Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) — Sound design that matches graphic language: sharp transients, stylized impacts, and distinct identities across characters and universes.
  • The Triplets of Belleville (2003) — Nearly wordless storytelling where foley exaggeration and performance carry plot, comedy, and character.
  • Ratatouille (2007) — Hyper-detailed kitchens: texture, speed, and spatial layering that ground a fantastical premise in believable craft.

Further Reading

  • Audio-Vision: Sound on Screen — Michel Chion
  • Sound Design: The Expressive Power of Music, Voice and Sound Effects in Cinema — David Sonnenschein
  • Designing Sound — Andy Farnell
  • The Foley Grail — Vanessa Theme Ament
  • Sound Design for Film and Television — David Lewis Yewdall
  • Practical Art of Motion Picture Sound — David Lewis Yewdall
  • The Sound Effects Bible — Ric Viers
  • Sound Design Theory and Practice — Leo Murray
  • Multisensory Integration: The Merging of the Senses — Barry E. Stein & M. Alex Meredith

Sources

  • Vroomen, J., & Keetels, M. (2010). Perception of intersensory synchrony: A tutorial review. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics.
  • Chen, L., & Vroomen, J. (2013). Intersensory binding across space and time: A tutorial review. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics.
  • Shams, L., Kamitani, Y., & Shimojo, S. (2000). What you see is what you hear. Nature.
  • McGurk, H., & MacDonald, J. (1976). Hearing lips and seeing voices. Nature.
  • Stein, B. E., & Meredith, M. A. (1993). Multisensory Integration: The Merging of the Senses. MIT Press.
  • Chion, M. (1994/2019). Audio-Vision: Sound on Screen.
  • Sonnenschein, D. (2001). Sound Design: The Expressive Power of Music, Voice and Sound Effects in Cinema.