SOUND DESIGN
Imagine the Unimagined
With over twenty years of experience, we’ve devised and crafted stunning sound worlds for some of the most demanding global filmmakers, artists and brands.
From our 4-studio complex in Central London, we’ve delivered award-winning work for the likes of Sir Paul McCartney, Nike, SKY, Sony Records, Jimmy Choo and Jaguar to shamelessly name-drop just a handful.
_the world is one big sonic playground...
We hear possibilities in everything around us.
From the tackiest of thrift shop props to state of the art equipment – everything is fair game. Nothing is off limits.
The breathtaking ends always justify the weird and wonderful means.
At the end of the day, it’s about delivering a truly engaging, ownable audio experience that genuinely deepens your story or message.
_SELECTED WORK
Just some of the creative pies we’ve had our dirty little fingers in…
_Just some of the folks we’ve made noise for…
_What we do
We cover all aspects of sound design and audio post from Foley and field recording, through production mix and tracklay.
From immersive installations in Beijing, Hollywood features and South American broadcast ads to Milan fashion week events, a FIFA World Cup Bid and Fortune 500 company audio branding – we love the sheer variety of projects we’re lucky enough to work on.
- Foley
- Sound Effects and Ambiences
- Field Recording
- Dialogue Recording, Cleanup and Mixing
- Voiceover Recording and ADR
- Tracklay and Editing
- Dubbing Mix
- Mix Spec Compliance and File Delivery
- International Versioning
BEANTIOBVIOUS
_Our Approach
We build and design our sounds from the ground up – tailored meticulously to the needs of the project and team. We don’t use presets.
We’re sonic magpies – always listening out for that something unique.
So whether travelling with the field recording rig (or simply a phone), or in the studio live room with a case of props, we make it our business to communicate your narrative in the most bold and unignorable way possible.
Creative Director // VML
_OUR STUDIOS
This is where we create. Delivering a world-class racket...
Complete with four sound-isolated luxury control rooms and two live rooms in the heart of Central London, our studios offer one-stop audio facilities for sound-design, mix and all aspects of recording and audio post-production.
_The studios
- Central London location (WC1)
- Spacious, air-conditioned client environment with natural light
- 2 dedicated Foley and VO recording spaces
- 4 control rooms covering stereo, surround and ATMOS immersive formats
- Top of the range equipment and custom character pieces
- Remote dial-in setup for pristine, sync-locked HD sound review
- Dedicated 256-bit encrypted client portal for easy file versioning and delivery
Nestled in a beautiful tree-lined mews in Holborn, surrounded by a plethora of boutique coffee houses and local eateries, our studios are spacious, air conditioned with natural light. Coupled with a good splash of colour and finished with stylish mid-century furniture, we work tirelessly to create an environment conducive to producing creative work with our clients.
_Let’s create something extraordinary together...
+44 (0)20 7404 7227
_When the gear, meets the idea…
Imagination is our most important tool.
But it’s complemented by an enviable array of equipment including state of the art processors, class-leading microphones and cupboards full of the weirdest and most wonderful noise-making objects and toys.
Whether it’s manipulating a rubber cake tin to create the sound of the world’s biggest treadmill, sugar dropped on balloons for the audio identity of the UK’s largest commercial broadcaster or a knife run through a pepper to create a guttural scream of an alien, the end’s always justify the often very strange means.
_How Sound Design can change the Story
Here at The Futz Butler, designing the sound world of any project always starts with understanding the filmmaker or creative team’s intent.
What story are we trying to tell? What do we want the audience to feel?
Ultimately what type of reality are we creating (and why)?
Even the subtlest of changes in the sound are subconsciously understood by your audience and can change the way your message or scene is received.
Simple example…
This audio clip contains the sound of boiling water and cold water being poured.
Can you tell which is which?
(btw. the answer’s at the bottom of this page)
_There’s never just one way to sound design a project
Would your project benefit from an unadorned, gritty docu-style of sound design? Or maybe something that’s intentionally hyper-real and cinematic?
As with music, small adjustments in the sounds we use can radically affect the tone, messaging or mood.
For example, do we want to fill the environment with lightness and air? Or create a mood of ominous unease? The weight of a footstep, expensiveness of an object or the sound of a breath can directly impact the feeling of a scene.
Check out the way this short scene can be made to feel quite different purely through the sound design and mixdown choices.
The first mix makes the scene feel far grittier – edgy, almost dangerous compared to the second, which establishes a more positive almost rom-com mood.
Our sounds will always perfectly match any visuals on screen, but we can steer how that action feels in the audience, in a multitude of directions to realise your specific creative vision.
_Why WORK WITH US?
- Award-winning sound designers with 20+ years experience
- State-of-the-art studio facility in Central London
- Focus on understanding the creative vision and how to bring it to life with sound
- Unique, ground-up sound design approach tailored to the needs of you and your project
- Our anti-obvious approach to creativity finds exciting new ways to tell your story
_what our clients say
General Manager // Songkick
Founder // Monday Nights
Director of Global Content // Sixt
_Ready for a chat?
People work with people, not companies.
We were raised on good manners, reliability and rolling your sleeves up and putting in the graft. Look after the small things and the bigger picture takes care of itself.
Because there or thereabouts… is nowhere near.
+44 (0)20 7404 7227
_What Is Sound Design?
Sound Design can cover a whole range of audio elements, disciplines and professions
Sound design on the one hand embodies the craft of intentionally designing what something sounds like. The hands-on process of creating, capturing or processing sound effects (SFX), Foley, ambiences, field recordings, diegetic/non-diegetic audio, even some location production sound as well as a term music producers use for the act of shaping the way an instrument sounds often with electronic equipment.
But the term sound design is also frequently used as a loose catch-all for the department (or person on smaller projects) that oversees all these different and seemingly disparate processes. It’s often interchangeable with the phrase audio-post production (or audio-post for short).
_We have one simple definition of sound design...
to tell the story with sound
Our job as sound designers is to create an immersive world that supports and deepens your story.
Whether it’s messaging for a brand film or developing the narrative of an 8-part series. The audio choices we make bring words, characters and environments to life, enhancing the audience’s experience and understanding.
_We’re here to help you uncover a better way to express your ideas through sound
+44 (0)20 7404 7227
(PS – the second sound in the example above was hot water)!
