Footsteps through the snow, galloping horses and making Spongebob suddenly speak in Dutch as if the animated sponge was born here, these are all things that sound artist Tijn van Weteringen from Sint Oedenrode takes care of on a daily basis. He arranges the sound of countless major films from his studio. “You just have to name a movie and I think we’ve done something about it here.”
The walls of the corridor of the sound studio in Diemen, where the sound artist works, are paved with film posters of Hollywood animation blockbusters: Tom and Jerry, Garfieldthe Despicable Meseries. Van Weteringen worked on them all. “We are always busy, we mainly work on films that are showing in the cinema,” he says proudly.
A lot of work is dubbing: Spanish or English films where music and effects already exist, but the film must be re-recorded in Dutch. “But we also do films where all the sound still has to be made. Then you have to think about everything.”
Background noise
Also live-action films such as Wicked and the remake of Avatar: The Last Airbender are sometimes ‘coloured’ with a complete background sound palette. “On a film set, they are mainly concerned with recording dialogue as best as possible. For example, footsteps are not recorded well at all,” the sound guru explains. “Most shots still have to be redone.”
The sound paradise, where the steps and thundering sounds for the films are made, is Van Weteringen’s small studio in an office building in Diemen, North Holland. The room is no bigger than a student room, with a low-hanging microphone.
Making footsteps
The door swings open and he proudly shows off his domain. Then Van Weteringen bends down and pulls the bright red carpet aside. The three hatches each appear as a kind of Pandora’s box of the sound world under the carpet. One by one he opens the shutters. A container of gravel and sand appears under one hatch. In the second there is a grass mat. In the third tiles, pebbles and twigs.
“These are different surfaces. Here you make street noise, for example.” He steps into the container with tiles, grabs a handful of sand and sprinkles it over the paving stones as if he were seasoning a piece of meat. “If you throw some sand on it, it gives a nice extra crackling effect.”
Old tricks
In one of the bins there is a jumble of old tapes, stuck together and interwoven. “That’s a very old trick.” He takes the bunch of tape and stands on it, stamping hard a few times. “This makes it sound as if the actor is walking on grass.”
A cupboard full of attributes should not be missing. Complete with a coconut to simulate horse hooves, old boots, shoes and loafers for walking sounds, a tomato to squeeze for gory scenes and a sock filled with cornstarch to simulate snow. “Sometimes I stand in the thrift store testing things for sound. People look strange, but I don’t care,” laughs Van Weteringen.
Another studio is hidden behind a large white door in the hallway. There is currently a lot of stomping, clapping and shuffling of tape to prepare the sound design for the next film. What will be the next film where Tijn’s sound can be heard remains a secret for now. He remains tight-lipped about what projects are coming up.
