The pink cat and the orange cat face each other on a rock under a cloudy sky

Akantilado

Sound designer and mixer: all of the film’s sound apart from Noah Bots’s score.

Watch the film (1:11)

A Howest DAE student animation about two cats and a golden ball in a jungle. I assembled and edited more than 200 sounds for the cats and the jungle, and made the stereo and 5.1 mixes.

2024, four months, REAPER. Noah Bots, of the Royal Conservatory of Ghent, wrote the score.

Ambience follows the camera

I built the jungle from five background layers: leaf rustle, distant animal calls, running water, wind and a low room tone. I balanced them by how close the camera is.

For the 5.1 mix I split the jungle into three zones: the canopy, the ground level and the distance.

Wide: thick branches and hanging vines, with the orange cat high on a limb and the pink cat on a branch below
Wide shots: wind, water and distant animals open up and stay under the music.
Close: the orange cat leans over the golden filigree ball, with jungle leaves behind
Close shots: insects, leaves and claws on bark come forward.

The orange cat and the pink cat

I matched the Foley to the animation: paw steps, branch grips and moving plants.

I gave the orange cat heavier steps and a lower voice, and the pink cat lighter steps and quicker vocalisations.

Close: the orange cat beside the golden filigree ball, with leaves and a tree trunk behind
Close: the pink cat crouched low on a fallen log, looking down at the ground