The sound of movies

From the consoles of her studio, one woman can render a film unforgettable, write and

THE distinctive thrum of a lightsabre in the keening calls of velociraptors as they prowl around a theme park gone wrong in the tyres squealing and metal crunching in a high octane, white-knuckled car-racing scene of Oh, the glorious sounds of movies and the memories they evoke of the glorious age of cinema.

Sound effects may not be the first thing we think about in a good movie. But that, in essence, is the making of good sound. After all, good sound, unlike a good image or scene, is at its best when it goes unnoticed. Yet, every individual who watches a film knows too well that the choice of music, soundtrack and any other voice presented in the film affect the viewer’s perception of that particular film.

We remember the sounds somehow and unconsciously associate them with the movies we watch. Hence, the familiar ominous heavy breathing of Darth Vader triggers a memory of that black caped villain whenever we hear it.

We walk into Mocha Chai Laboratories, Singapore’s first boutique digital film lab. We’re here to meet director of sound and foley artist Lim Ting Li who has been doing sound for films since 2004.

With more than a decade in this industry, the award-winning sound-meister has notched a number of accolades, including the Verna Fields Award in Sound Editing at the prestigious MPSE Golden Reel Awards 2014 in Los Angeles, Best Sound Designer award at the Underwire Festival 2013 in London and Best Soundtrack award at the 1st Singapore Short Film Awards in 2009.

She was also selected as one of the two sound designers in 2010 to attend the Asian Film Academy headed by Abbas Kiarostami at the Pusan International Film Festival.