Ahhh... the question that most people ask me when I tell that I am a foley artist. What the hell is foley? From your question you have already answered a lot of what foley is but the main point of contention in defining foley is what is a canned effect and what are foley effects. Like, for example, a punch. You canb get these foleyed punch effects off of most cd's but you are limited in texture and authenticity. All punches on these cd's are foleyed. And it takes time to go through all the punches to find the right one and by the time you as the editor, has found the right one, the foley artist has probably done it and it is fresh and original. The same goes for body falls, blood and guts sounds, bones being broken etc. It is so much faster to do it in the foley stage than to sift through dozens of blood squirts. But for door slams, engines, gunshots, ambiences, bird sounds, animal sounds, walla's etc, they are definitely cd effects.

It is not uncommon, and pretty much a necessity that sfx editors and foley artists will help each other to develop and sweeten the sound. A good example would be a car that needs a special feel to it.

I generally discuss things with the editor and we talk about what needs to be sweetened so that we do not double up on sounds and waste our time.

So basically foley is the extra spice along with the more prominent spices in the big stew of post production. They put the human in all the movements and feel of the film. There is nothing worse than a film that does not have foley. It is empty and lacks soul and the organic feel.

Also, check out Andy Malcolm's website for his company "Footsteps". He talks about doing on location foley. Great stuff.

Ahhh... the question that most people ask me when I tell that I am a foley artist. 

What the hell is foley? In your question you have already answered a lot of what foley is, but the main point of contention in defining foley is what is a canned effect and what are foley effects. 

Like, for example, a punch. You can get these foleyed punch effects off of most CD's, but you are limited in texture and authenticity. All punches on these CD's are foleyed. And it takes time to go through all the punches to find the right one and by the time, you as the editor, has found the right one. The foley artist has probably done it, and it is fresh and original. 

The same goes for body falls, blood and guts sounds, bones being broken etc. It is so much faster to do it in the foley stage than to sift through dozens of blood squirts. But for door slams, engines, gunshots, ambiences, bird sounds, animal sounds, walla's etc., they are definitely CD effects.

It is not uncommon, and pretty much a necessity, that SFX editors and foley artists will help each other to develop and sweeten the sound. A good example would be a car that needs a special feel to it.

I generally discuss things with the editor, and we talk about what needs to be sweetened so that we do not double up on sounds and waste our time.

So basically foley is the extra spice along with the more prominent spices in the big stew of post-production. They put the human in all the movements and feel of the film. There is nothing worse than a film that does not have foley. It is empty and lacks soul and the organic feel.

Also, check out Andy Malcolm's website for his company “Footsteps”. He talks about doing on location foley. Great stuff.