Slow motion sound in videos is fake… Well, most of it is

If there’s one thing the Slow Mo Guys know, it’s… well, slow mo. The clue’s kind of in the name. They produce some of the best slow-motion video in the world because it’s what they specialise in. They live it and breath it. In this video, half of the Slow Mo Guys, specifically Gavin Free, walks us through his editing process and his sound design workflow.

While it might be obvious to some, most of the sounds in their videos aren’t actually what the camera is recording (because it’s usually not even recording audio). Sometimes it is, but certainly not slowed down as much as the video is. Often, though, it’s usually a collection of random other sound effects that just feel right for the mood Gavin wants.

The sound design tricks Gavin shows us in the video might be surprising to some, but many of the principles can also apply to regular realtime footage, too. Even with regular speed non-slow-motion footage, the actual recorded sound doesn’t always give us the feeling and impact that we need.

And that’s how Gavin works through his sound design process. By feeling and by analysing the visual to give him an idea of what he thinks something should sound like. Then he looks for the sounds to create it. And he’s often mixing many effects and samples together simultaneously to create that final sound.

It’s an interesting look into sound design for a type of video that most of us can’t even shoot let alone come up with a good post-production workflow for.