Audio post-production refers to the creation and sculpting of the sound elements that make an animation come alive. Music, voice, foley sound and ambient noise transform moving pixels into a magical world. We felt our story come alive as each new layer of sound was added.

Our first layer was the voice track, the crucial foundation of the animation. To record our voice track we called on the talents of actors Rob van Vuuren (Myrth) and Rob Hobbs (Detective Deadly Serious), and then roped in our production trainee, Thulani Simantov (Byrth). We recorded at the Wits Digital Arts recording studio with music student Thabiso Lephoto. We initially recorded a version with animation student Andrew Turner playing Detective Deadly Serious, but although Andrew’s delivery was strong, his voice was a bit too young for the Detective.

The voice track was then cut up and used for performance and lip sync animation. The full track was given to the composer, Askari, to begin work on the music.

To form a bond between the action and the environment we added quite a few foley sounds such as hits, scuffling noises and swooshes. Some we had recorded at a mountain park and some were from a sound effects library.

The ambient sounds of the river were added next, and finally, the music.

The final mix was a bit rushed, but we got it out in time for the premiere on the 27th of March. Hooray!

The premiere of the pilot, shown at the Digital Arts Screening Room at Wits University, Johannesburg