Audio production tools author Foleysoft has announced Footsteps, a Kontakt 6 Player sample library for the creation of realistic Foley for film and television production.
Foleysoft Footsteps’ collection comprises six types of footwear – Barefoot, Sandals, Sneakers, Women Heel, Men Heel and Boots – all using a six-layer engine. It includes 14 different surfaces – including Asphalt, Carpet, Grass, Gravel, Leaves, Hardwood, Metal, Planks, Rocks, Snow and Dirt – with which editors and sound designers can create footstep sounds that match onscreen action, using the full step, heel step and front step samples with walk, pace, run and scuff options also available for all footwear types on all surfaces.
By providing separate trigger options for using the front sample separately to the heel sample of each step allows wider variety and options that helps create realism – for instance, if an actor is walking far away and a front step sample plus heel step sample does not sound realistic, then using only the heel step sample can get closer to creating a sound that matches the actor’s perceived environment.
Equalizer, Compressor and Reverb effects for each footstep type provide immediate control over the sound’s tonal balance, dynamics and spatial characteristics using onboard audio processing that streamlines workflow. Enhanced sound flexibility continues with four microphone positions – Close, Mid, Room and Far – enabling the footsteps’ character and spatial positioning to be fine-tuned within a mix.
Foleysoft Footsteps also provides seven Cloth options for each footwear type – from Cotton to Jeans and even Chain Leather – to complement a character’s onscreen wardrobe.
The library is aimed at anyone involved in DIY audio postproduction, so suits work on indie films or low-budget television shows. It is also worth noting that after a film or television show is mixed, a subsequent Fully-Filled M&E mix without the original language dialogue is made available to international dubbers with which they can create a new version dubbed into their own language. It is an unfortunate fact of the matter that a lot of natural sound effects – especially footsteps – that were captured during location recording are removed in the process of doing so, necessitating recreating all of those sounds so that they match the original.
Foleysoft Footsteps is a royalty-free sample library, with a single license valid for individuals or studios (on however many computers are needed in a studio). Working with Native Instruments’ free Kontakt 6 Player plug-in, it is compatible with any DAW, and also works with Midi hardware and software, enabling triggering of step samples from a hardware controller or smartphone and tablet-based applications. The package included a template for Midi Kinetics’ Lemur controller app for Android/iOS.
