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Akantilado

Two cats. One cliff. 200+ hand-made sounds for a jungle that hums, rustles, and never goes quiet.

Role Sound Designer
Type 3D Animation
Duration 4 months
Collaboration Noah Bots (Ghent Conservatory)
Reaper Foley 5.1 Surround Spatial Audio
Aerial view of 3D jungle
Pink cat creature
Orange cat with golden orb
The Project

The Animation

Two cats chase a golden orb through a jungle canopy. One of them goes over the cliff. I built every sound in this film from scratch - 200+ custom samples. Paw steps on wet leaves, claws digging into bark, plants whipping back after something brushes past them. The jungle itself is five ambience layers that shift depending on where the camera is: close to the ground, you hear insects and leaf rustle. Pull up to the canopy, and it's wind and distant bird calls. Worked with composer Noah Bots from Ghent Conservatory - he scored it, I did everything else. DAE Howest, 2024.

200+ custom sounds. Two cats. And a cliff.

Technical

Approach

Jungle Ambience

Five layers running at all times: leaf rustle, distant animal calls, running water, wind, and a low room tone that gives the jungle a sense of depth even in silence. They crossfade based on camera distance - close shots are insects and detail, wide shots are wind and canopy. There's always something going on in the background.

Creature Vocals

The two cats needed to sound like different animals, not the same sample pitched up and down. Orange gets a lower, throatier voice and heavy footfalls - you feel him land. Pink is higher, quicker, lighter on every surface. You can tell which cat is moving before you see them.

Foley

Every paw step, every claw grip on a branch, every plant that snaps back after they push through it. All custom, all synced frame by frame. When the orange cat climbs a tree, you hear bark cracking under his weight. When the pink cat runs across leaves, you hear them scatter.

5.1 Mix

First a stereo mix for cinema, then a full 5.1 surround version. I split the jungle into three spatial zones - canopy above, ground level around you, distance behind. When the camera is in the trees, the surround channels fill with leaves and wind. When it drops to the ground, the surrounds fill with ground-level detail and the space feels denser.