Creating excitement and adding your own unique signature style to your music are just two possible benefits of incorporating Foley and textures into your work.
In this article we explore 5 ways you can use Foley and Textures creatively in Music Production.
Contents
- What Foley Is And Why We Use It
- Why You Should Try Using Foley In Music Production
- 5 Creative Ways To Use Foley In Music Production
What Foley Is And Why We Use It
‘Foley’ is a term that refers to the natural sounds of our environment, how we interact with it and the objects and living things within it.
Foley is most commonly used to refer to the reproduction of sound effects (such as Footsteps) which are then dubbed into Media like Films and Games.
It is used to transfer our audible experience as humans into media in order to inject life and realism for the viewer.
Why You Should Try Using Foley In Music Production
Incorporating Foley into Music Production can be a very inspiring process.
It can also yield amazing results.
Due to the sheer number of sounds that fall into the category of Foley, the application and result is almost always unique.
Using Foley in Music Production can:
- Colour your Music with pleasing subtle audible details, brilliant for headphones and home listening environments.
- Add a unique dynamic to your style, depending on how you personally choose to incorporate Foley sounds into your work.
- Create excitement, detail and complexity in otherwise quite dull/uninteresting areas of your track.
- Create a setting for your track, allowing for a theme to be established or enforced by atmospheric environment loops such as jungle sounds.
It is certainly a useful tool at your disposal as a Music Producer.
If you haven’t experimented with Foley in Music Production yet, give it a go and you might discover something that really revolutionises your creative work.
Or even better, helps you to define your own signature sound.
Read on to discover 5 creative ways to incorporate Foley and Texture sounds into Music Production.
1. Add Interest And Excitement To Drums
Layering Foley and Textures into your drums can create fantastic results.
Experiment with FX processing and patterns to create Rhythm parts from the Foley elements.
From there, keep layering more and more Foley sounds into your drums to create a complex audio layer.
Foley and Textures are non-Musical and (in most cases) lacking musical harmonic content like drums, so they compliment each other very well.
2. Create An Atmosphere And Convey Moods
Environmental recordings can be used to theme your song and create a space in which you want to transform the listener to.
There are countless examples of Producers using environmental sounds to create atmosphere.
If you want to hear some, check out some of the Lo-Fi Hip Hop available on Youtube to hear the countless sounds and ways it can be used.
It may be an old song, but Breaking Into Heaven by The Stone Roses is a Classic example of how Environmental Jungle Sounds can be used to create a masterpiece:
The Stone Roses Producer’s Simon Dawson and Paul Schroeder set the example for how environmental audio can be processed and used as a tool to transition into Music with a similar timbre.
3. Layer Into Bass Sounds To Add Unique Character
Using noise within Synthesis is a popular way of adding brightness, grit and intricacies in the mid or high frequencies.
Foley can be used in the place of computer generated noise for a more characterful and unique result.
Many software synths allow you to use your own samples and recordings within the plugin as an input for the synth.
Alternatively you can layer in the samples on the arrange page of your DAW, allowing for more samples to be used, cut up and controlled simultaneously.
4. Create Interesting Fills and Experimental Sound Design Phrases
With all of the variety and forms Foley can take, its an ideal ingredient for those of you looking to experiment and try something new.
Aphex Twin is a great Artist to look to for inspiration on working with Foley experimentally and impressive examples are littered throughout his entire catalogue of work.
5. Inject A Layer Of Intricacy Into Your Track
The real golden nugget that Foley and Texture can bring to Music Production is the audio detail it can add.
This can provide a very pleasing experience for the listener when done well.
Remember there are no rules, your creativity is your limit!
Looking for Textures and Foley sounds to use in your work?
This Article is brought to you by KAN Samples.
Pro Audio Tools for Producers.
Subscribe For Free Samples
You Will Get:
✅ 100% Royalty Free Samples For Music Production.
✅ A Free Demo Pack of our latest Product.
✅ Free Demo Packs of all Future Products.
✅ Unsubscribe any time.
✅ No junk mail.
KAN Samples 
Pingback: 7 Creative Mixing Techniques To Help Improve Your Drum And Bass Mix – KAN Samples