Acousmatic Foley

: a theory and practice of sound dramaturgy

Abstract

Acousmatic Foley is a practice-based research around the shared foundations of foley art and musique concrète. While foley is traditionally tied to image and acousmatic listening defined by the absence of visual source, both practices rely on performing and manipulating recorded objects, foregrounding their sonic qualities over visual identification. Central to both is an acousmatic mode of listening, one that focuses on sound’s internal features, rather than its source.
The theoretical ground of the thesis connects these ideas to historical developments in both fields, tracing the evolution of foley within film post-production and the parallel emergence of musique concrète. It draws on the fact that, much like acousmatic composers, foley artists select and perform objects for their sonic potential. Their work is compositional in nature, involving a relationship with materiality that is intrinsically related to the gesture and the texture of the sound-object.
Acousmatic Foley proposes a sonic dramaturgy grounded in these practices, toward the performative and fictional aspects of the work itself. For this purpose, this thesis is structured in two parts: a theoretical discussion of the historical and conceptual links between foley and musique concrète, and a practical reflection on the acousmatic compositions that constitute the portfolio. Together, they put forward an approach of sound that is, in its core, dramaturgic and fictional.

Date of Award	6 Oct 2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Bangor University
Supervisor	Andrew Lewis (Supervisor)