Foley is tricky. In a proper Foley facility several mics are used at varying distances so the Foley mixer can record everything from a dry close-up perspective to the full sound of the reverberant room simultaneously. My room is fairly small so I prefer close micing and then matching the reverberant characteristics of the dialog with AltiVerb when I mix.
Sounds that are "wet" (have reverb on them) tend to "fall back" into a mix; the reverb causes the sounds to have less definition - the reflections blend into each other. That is why I personally prefer to record everything as dry as possible. I add whatever amount of reverb I need during the mix so that the sounds retain whatever definition is required at that particular moment. This is not the way it's done on big budget projects; the rerecording team has the recordings of the multiple perspectives so they can pick and choose which one (or a blend of) they want at any given time. And, of course, they may send the sound(s) to the reverb buss as well.
You are going to have to do
A LOT of experimenting. So you have a four-fold task; selecting the Foley prop that gives the emotional content that you want, performing it in sync, getting a decent recording of the performance and blending it into the mix. You'll go round and round until you figure it out.
I usually leave out the sync/performance part of the process until I'm happy with the sound. As I've mentioned before, since I'm not a professional Foley artist I tend to do footsteps for a character all the way through a project so I don't lose the "feel" once I'm "in character." Then I'll do cloth and then props handling for that character. Once I'm in the flow I can get a lot done in a hurry - one or two times to watch and then two or three takes to get the right performance. Sometimes I'll even get lucky and nail it on the first take. But the first few attempts may require a half dozen takes until I'm "in character." This method, however, means having very detailed Foley cue sheets so you are not constantly changing shoes and floor surfaces. So I'll do:
"Mike" - sneakers - concrete
"Mike" - boots - concrete
"Mike" - bare feet - concrete
and then move on to all his scenes on a wood floor. That's because it's more of a PITA for me to change floor surfaces than the footwear. In a proper Foley facility they have pits with each floor surface always available.
One of the biggest challenges - which can be fun - is building your Foley props collection. I usually add a few pairs of shoes with each project (I
love the looks I get when I try on high heels at the Good Will store
) and whatever new things I'll need for the specific project. Keep in mind that the real thing never sounds like the real thing. Also, sounds should be somewhat "bigger" as they tend to get "smaller" as they fall back into perspective during the mix.
You should get "The Foley Grail" by Vanessa Ament. It's a great, fun, informative read and the DVD is fantastic.