Foleysoft Foleysoft Footsteps

Innovative audio production tools provider Foleysoft announces the availability of Foleysoft Footsteps - forging ahead with making big strides into creating realistic foley footsteps for film and television production as a revolutionary sample library for Native Instruments’ free KONTAKT 6 PLAYER plug-in, offering an extensive range of features and customisation options to enhance the sonic footstep experience of any scene - as of October 31…

As a cutting-edge sample library that brings a new level of authenticity to foley footsteps for film and television production, Foleysoft Footsteps’ comprehensive collection comprises six types of footwear - namely, BAREFOOT, SANDALS, SNEAKERS, WOMEN HEEL, MEN HEEL, and BOOTS - all accessing a six-layer engine. It includes no fewer than 14 different surfaces — including ASPHALT, CARPET, GRASS, GRAVEL, LEAVES, HARDWOOD, METAL, PLANKS, ROCKS, SNOW, and DIRT - with which editors and sound designers can effortlessly create realistic footstep sounds that perfectly match onscreen action, thanks in no small part to 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.

Duly developed by Los Angeles post-production professionals all too familiar with working in the television industry to tight deadlines for the likes of big network players such as Disney, Fox, Sony, and Universal, yet still setting themselves a high bar for creating quality work with experience of using custom foley in samplers, Foleysoft Footsteps has a few tricks up its sleeve to offer a variety of options to users when it comes to creating realistic foley. For example, by providing separate trigger options for using the front sample separately to the heel sample of each step if needed allows for more variety and options that not only translates into 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 sometimes get closer to creating a sound that matches the actor’s perceived environment - but also gives Foleysoft Footsteps a competitive edge.

EQUALIZER, COMPRESSOR, and REVERB effects for each footstep type provide Foleysoft Footsteps users with immediate control over the sound’s tonal balance, dynamics, and spatial characteristics as a welcomed onboard audio processing capability that streamlines workflow while ensuring seamless integration with other sound elements. Enhanced sound flexibility continues with four distinct microphone positions - CLOSE, MID, ROOM, and FAR - enabling sound designers to precisely tailor the footsteps’ character and spatial positioning within the mix, thereby creating the desired depth and realism in the audio production. Put it this way: all play their part in providing an immense amount of step variations when working with Foleysoft Footsteps.

Foleysoft Footsteps also provides seven separate CLOTH sound options for every footwear type - from COTTON to JEANS and more besides, even encompassing CHAIN LEATHER - that complement a character’s onscreen attire, allowing sound designers to enhance the realism of the scene by accurately capturing the additional audio textures associated with different clothing materials.

Foleysoft Footsteps is effectively aimed at anyone involved in ‘DIY’ post-production audio work, so suits sound designers working on indie films or low- budget television shows - not that big-budget television production personnel pushing up against tight schedules should be dismissive of what it has to offer. Indeed, it is also worth pointing out here that after a film or television show is mixed, a subsequent so-called Fully-Filled M&E (Music & Effects) 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. On the face of it, then, Foleysoft Footsteps also comes into its own for filling in those ‘missing-in-action’ sounds.

Since there are so many new media outlets out there today, new challenges sometimes arise and a real foley artist, although preferable in an ideal world, might not always be available - or even affordable, for that matter. Foleysoft Footsteps is designed to be there to help whenever that happens - and all without tech or licensing issues getting in the way. With all that in mind, then, it is a royalty-free sample library - buy it once and use it anytime, forever, 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 - itself designed to host all of the German giant’s sample-based instruments, as well as third-party products made for the platform - that is compatible with any DAW (Digital Audio Workstation), it also works with MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) hardware and software, so users can choose to trigger Foleysoft Footsteps’ step samples from a hardware controller or smartphone- and tablet-based applications. As such, Foleysoft has helpfully included a useful template for MIDI Kinetics’ popular Lemur controller app for Android/iOS, so triggering those step samples from an iPad, for instance, is about as easy as it gets.

Foleysoft Footsteps is available as a revolutionary sample library for Native Instruments’ free KONTAKT 6 PLAYER plug-in at an introductory promo price of $129.99 USD for a limited time - rising thereafter to its regular price of $149.99 USD - directly from Foleysoft’s online Shop.

www.foleysoft.com