Spandrels in Sound Design

Spandrels In Sound Design

by Randy Thom

Some of you know what a spandrel is.  It’s a byproduct of a design, a byproduct that was not part of the reason for the design.  Originally the term referred to the space around an arch, like in a cathedral. The unintended space around the arch offered a place to be decorative. The area under a staircase is another example.  Architects usually don’t sit down and think “we need an enclosed or semi enclosed volume in this corner of the room, and we can cover the top of it with a staircase.”  The desire is to have a staircase. The space under it is typically a byproduct, a spandrel. Once it exists, you can create a use for it.

I’m always advocating that screenwriters and directors actively plan the sound design for their films, beginning with a lot of thought and discussion in preproduction.  More of that kind of thinking would generate the biggest improvement in film sound imaginable, far more than any technological innovation. But currently, we sound people find ourselves working with lots and lots of spandrels:  the unintentional byproducts of decisions made about other crafts.

The production sound crew is plagued with spandrels.  The actor’s costume makes a loud, undesirable noise:  spandrel.  The location was chosen because it was the bleakest part of town, which also puts it next to a six-lane freeway that you never see in a shot:  spandrel.

The post production sound crew have lots of spandrels to deal with as well.  Occasionally, talent, luck, and hard work can turn a spandrel into something magical.  When George Lucas was developing the visual design of R2D2, safe to say he didn’t settle on a minimalist look so that the sounds it makes would be the key to its charm, but that’s what happened.  Ben Burtt and George worked for about a year and a half developing R2’s voice, because they had to.  Without an expressive voice, there isn’t much to the character. R2’s sounds make it iconic.

Likewise, I feel safe in saying that Spielberg wasn’t thinking deeply about sound when he was developing the shots for the beach battle in Saving Private Ryan.  But his use of slow-motion visuals, a nearly monochromatic look, and unusual camera angles opened the door for Gary Rydstrom to design some of the most astonishing and emotional sound ever.

There will always be spandrels, regardless of how much thought and experimentation go into planning the sound for a film/video/game.  But I have no doubt that fewer sound spandrels and more detailed planning for how sound functions in each scene will make for better storytelling.