Sweetening is a
sound design
Sound design is the art and practice of creating sound tracks for a variety of needs. It involves specifying, acquiring or creating auditory elements using audio production techniques and tools. It is employed in a variety of disciplines including ...
practice in which additional audio and effects are used to enhance audio already recorded.
In the case of a music performance or recording, sweetening may refer to the process of adding instruments in post-production such as those found on ''
The Sounds of Silence'' by folk musicians
Simon and Garfunkel
Simon & Garfunkel were an American folk rock duo consisting of the singer-songwriter Paul Simon and the singer Art Garfunkel. They were one of the best-selling music groups of the 1960s, and their biggest hits—including the electric remix of " ...
. The original acoustic version of the song features just their vocals with one guitar. Producers at
Columbia Records, however, felt that it needed a little spicing up to be a commercial hit, and so without the consent of the artists, they added drums, electric bass and electric guitar.
[ David (2004). Studio Stories - How the Great New York Records Were Made. San Francisco: Backbeat Books. Cf. pp.94-97."/>]
In
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
, sweetening refers to the use of a
laugh track
A laugh track (or laughter track) is a separate soundtrack for a recorded comedy show containing the sound of audience laughter. In some productions, the laughter is a live audience response instead; in the United States, where it is most common ...
in addition to a live studio audience. The laugh track is used to "enhance" the laughter for television audiences, sometimes in cases where a joke or scene intended to be funny does not draw the expected response, and sometimes to avoid awkward sound edits when a scene is shortened or more than one take is used in editing.
[Levin, Eric. "Who does all that laughing?" '']TV Guide
TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news.
The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008.
Corpora ...
'', April 8, 1978[Iverson, Paul: "The Advent of the Laugh Track" Hofstra University archives; February 1994.] Some shows used this technique very obviously rather than the "in-between" technique (a recording from an external audience, but genuine laughter) described as a
laugh track
A laugh track (or laughter track) is a separate soundtrack for a recorded comedy show containing the sound of audience laughter. In some productions, the laughter is a live audience response instead; in the United States, where it is most common ...
. An obvious sign of this is that the laughter is more or less identical in volume or magnitude, regardless of how extreme the joke is. Sweetening can also be used in a similar manner for other reactions.
See also
*
Carroll Pratt
Carroll Holmes Pratt (April 19, 1921 – November 11, 2010) was an American sound engineer who, along with laugh track inventor Charley Douglass, pioneered the use of prerecorded laughter.
Early life
Carroll Pratt was born April 19, 1921, in Hol ...
*
Charles Douglass
Charles Rolland Douglass (January 2, 1910 – April 8, 2003) was a Mexican-born American sound engineer, credited as the inventor of the laugh track.
Early years
Douglass was born in Guadalajara, Mexico, in 1910 to an American family. His fathe ...
*
Canned heat
Canned Heat is an American band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1965. The group is noted for its efforts to promote interest in blues music and its original artists and rock music. It was founded by two blues enthusiasts Alan Wilson and Bob ...
References
Literature
* Simons, David (2004). Studio Stories - How the Great New York Records Were Made. San Francisco: Backbeat Books. Cf. pp.94-97.
External links
Behind the Scenes: Sitcom 'Laugh Track' Expert of 1980s-
Carroll Pratt
Carroll Holmes Pratt (April 19, 1921 – November 11, 2010) was an American sound engineer who, along with laugh track inventor Charley Douglass, pioneered the use of prerecorded laughter.
Early life
Carroll Pratt was born April 19, 1921, in Hol ...
audiosweetening.com
Television terminology
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