Beyond the ‘Whoosh’: How Sound Brings Stories to Life
- makdm
- Oct 13
- 2 min read
As we get deeper into spooky Halloween season—and especially since the day I'm writing this is the 13th (even if it’s a Monday)—I’m reminded how much I enjoy adding sound effects to sweeten edit projects (when appropriate).
Beyond the overused “swoosh” edit transition, the right sound effects can completely elevate the tone and storytelling of a piece.
Before I ever got into video post-production, I started out in radio, where sound effects, music, and the human voice were all we had to tell a story. Most often, it was for commercial spots—where we had to grab a listener’s attention and hold it for 30 to 60 seconds to get the message across.
Even now, with AI tools reshaping post-production, nothing replaces the instinct of knowing how a single sound can shift emotion or change the entire mood of a scene.
Sound effects can enhance nearly any project, whether purely audio or paired with visuals. Imagine a dialogue scene with no background noise—just two people talking in silence. Add a little ambient sound, and suddenly you know more about the setting. Are they in the city? The countryside? An industrial space? Even the absence of sound can be powerful, drawing focus to the characters or creating a sense of intimacy or isolation.
And of course, Halloween offers the perfect playground for sound design: the howling wind, shutters banging in the distance, thunder rumbling from an approaching storm, the rattle of chains, the moans and whispers from beyond the grave. All simple audio cues that can paint an eerie picture in our minds—and pull us straight into the Halloween mood.
© 2025 - Mike Konstan - MAK Digital Media, Inc.
