Let me elaborate a bit more on the Modern Warfare sounds. The simplest sounds to produce are racking sounds, change of weapon shooting sounds, a grenade or a flashbang hitting the ground. We will need two objects – any kind of ASG or EAG rifle, a glass ball and a deodorant. We may generate sounds from a battlefield, by adding sounds of shootings and firearms to the already recorded voice from a short-wave radio. I guess everyone, who played the second part of the Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 will recognize the introduction to the last mission in this game. Well, the voice of Captain Price, dubbed by Billy Murray, was repeated several times using the Sampler and changing the octave. You can achieve quite a funny effect by speeding up a character’s voice, like in e.g. the Chipmunks cartoon or in the last scene of the Beetlejuice film). In the same way you may transform the sound of a gas burner into the sound of a working plane engine (the pitch of these sounds depends also on the high and medium tone settings in the equalizer).
Movies and Games Sounds
I think everybody remembers a curious shell trick we usually get to know in our childhood. It is cheating on our hearing sense, because in order to achieve the same effect it is enough to cover one’s ear with an open hand. Below I am going to present illusions created by the sound producers from the Wachowski brothers film trilogy or the Matrix film.
One of the prime sound effects in the Matrix trilogy is the "electric rifle". This effect is a lengthened sound effect of fireworks swish outburst and a sound of a mortar bomb flight. Another example is the sound of "leaving the Matrix". In the famous scene, when Neo leaves the Matrix, Neo’s voice was repeated in the same way as Captain Price’s voice was in the Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2. However, in Neo’s case a large number of repetitions was introduced. The same method was applied do generate the sound of transforming ordinary people into agents, and the sound accompanying Agent Smith’s death. In those times it had to be a great burden for computers, due to the number of sounds heard each second. During the combat scenes we hear mostly reversed wind, hand movements or towel flaps resembling the wind (similarly to the kung-fu films, e.g. the Fist of the Legend).
In order to generate the sound of the guards’ tentacles, it is enough to speed up the recorded sound of waving one’s hand inside a leather jacket sleeve, brushing one’s nails against a polyester backpack, or putting on quickly corduroy trousers. Meanwhile, the sound of spreading tentacles can be generated by brushing disposable plastic fasteners against cardboard. The movements of a large group of guards are in fact a slowed down recorded sound of a plastic A4 sheet movement (the sound is similar to the one of a draught). In the Matrix Reloaded film the producers often used the method of slowing down and speeding up the sound, e.g. during the scenes of the chase on a highway. One of the simpler examples of the slowed down sound is a moderated sound made by switching the computer power supplier, used as a sound effect of switching off the ship control centre.
The sound of Mechs walking was produced by hitting a stone against the floor (using the reverberation), as well as the sound produced by the gas shock-absorber (the one found in kitchen cupboards). Switching on a three-part saw (e.g. the one used in the "Tomorrow never dies" film) is nothing else but the sound of a wood saw and the bicycle chain movement. (The sound of the bicycle chain movement appears also in the scene of loading Mech’s ammunition). The sound producers in the film industry often use the sound effects from libraries, not adding any sound effects to them, though (well, let’s say that they quieten them down a bit). Here is one example. The sound producers working on Matrix Revolutions did not bother too much about the scene of giant machines attacking Neo’s ship. The Flak Cannon shot sound substituted self-created shots not from this world.
Now let me introduce a nice riddle. What does Ironman have to do with fishing equipment? Well, in the scene when the film hero is putting on his armour, we hear most of the time the sound of a fishing reel. As far as the use of funny sounds in films is concerned, e.g. in the Terminator 3 movie a bouncing inflatable toy was used as the basis of sounds of hitting the Timpani instrument. At the end of the film the sounds of the falling helicopter doors and squeezing the T-X with it were based on the sound of hitting an object with a frying pan. I also noticed in that film how you may create the sound of closing an old lift – you should record the sounds produced when folding up an ironing board. Referring once more to the Matrix Reloaded film, what is worth noticing is the famous combat scene between Neo and a hundred of agents. If you listen closely to the falls of Agent Smith, you will hear twice the sound of collapsing bowling pins.
I know personally one of the few acoustic illusions introduced by the actors themselves in the Broken Arrow film. In order to mislead the soldiers, a sound of a circular sawing machine was produced via a short-wave radio with the use of a disposable razor.
Let us now concentrate on the 80s. I would like to familiarize you with the methods of producing sounds of the characters in the famous Alien and Predator series, which are impossible to forget. Well, the characteristic sound of Predator’s "chirping" is a sped up sound of chirping with a human tongue, and the loud growl of Predator is an incredibly slowed down pig’s roar. In Hollywood some sounds are joined during the postproduction in order to achieve the desired result. The most characteristic "wheeze" of Predator is a sped up roar of a gorilla and a monkey. Doesn’t it sound hilarious?
Sound Effects as Easter Eggs
In the photo we can see the Six String Samurai film character closing his umbrella, which makes a "peculiar" sound at the same time. This sound was used in the Fallout 2 game during the reloading of a Gauss rifle and "filling up" the car with thermonuclear cell. Another curiosity in the Fallout 2 game is a sound not used in the game itself, but hidden in the game files. It is the sound of a talking robot. Another example is the Stalker game, where a snarl of a mutated wolf is a slowed down lion roar.
Let’s solve another riddle. What does the Starcraft game have to do with the Broken Arrow film, with the Enslaved game trailer and the opening of the animated series X-Men Evolution? Well, the sound effect heard when clicking at the Academy building, was also used in the Broken Arrow film (the scene of jumping from a train), the Enslaved trailer (the scene of jumping from the top of the mountain) and in the X-Men Evolution (the roar of the Beast). It is not a plagiarism, though! That sound was recorded by means of the Foley Artist and was then added to the sound library, which has been used till today in the game and film production. It reminded me of the famous "Wilhelm Scream", which is the sound used in more than 100 films, not mentioning one movie, where it was used a couple of times. As far as the most famous sound libraries used in games and films are concerned, these include Rick Viers’ Blastwave FX (he wrote a book entitled "The Sound Effects Bible"), Tommy Tallarcio, Lucas Film, Warner Bros, BBC and Columbia Sound Library.
Sound libraries are used in many games and films and are a perfect alternative to hiring all kinds of sound engineers and using Foley Artists. In the majority of the films produced in the 90s, the sound libraries of the following companies were used: Lucas Arts, Warner Bros, Hollywood Sound Effects. Considering games, the most popular sound database was Tommy Tallarico Sound Library.
Let me now present a few examples of using the same sounds in a few media. What may be the connection between a war game World in Conflict, a shooter game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, and the Air Force One film ? The answer is: the radio chatter sound. In the game from the year 1995, entitled Command and Conquer Red Alert, the scream of a dying soldier is the same sound which was used in the Dungeon Keeper game (it is heard especially clearly while torturing the creatures) and in the Gothic series (in the scene of the main character’s death). I discovered the largest number of "mysteries", when I was slowing down and speeding up the sound "live" (i.e. changing the frequency and sampling the sound without the time-consuming processing, e.g. in the Wavelab programme), thanks to the Maya44 card manufactured by the ESI company.
I will end this part of the article with one more riddle. What sound makes your blood freeze when you hear it behind your back in a kitchen? The sound of crashing porcelain plates.
About the author: Piotr Koczewski started working in the game development industry in 2006 as a Musician and Sound Designer. In 2008 he released an ambient music album inspired by the post-nuclear SF, called "Wasteland Theme". In 2009 he co-organized the Video Games Live concert in Poland. You can listen to Piotr`s music at his website www.piotrkoczewski.com.
Having been responsible for delivering voiceover recordings to a wide variety of projects over the years, including video games, corporate presentations, radio commercials / TV commercials and instructional videos, I've seen the good, the bad and the downright ugly in voice recording, voice talent and dubbing techniques.
Go to the pro's
First of all, voicing and recording audio voice over work may sound easy to you and me. You listen to the narrator during a nature show on National Geographic, and you may be thinking to yourself, "I could do that. It's just speaking!". Well, I've got news for you. It's tricky. It's hard to get it right. It takes a lot of practice.
Last week my company was hired to produce the Norwegian voice dubbing for a short instructional / advertising video about a lifestyle product. I had recently been introduced to a lady of 49 who has a really nice voice in everyday use, and we had been chatting about voiceover work, so we decided that she should be given a chance to voice this video. And if the client accepted, she would be paid. So, she was given the text and given an hour to prepare, and then sat down to record.
Now, this lady had never even spoken into a microphone before, so you can imagine that it was a challenge just to get her to direct her mouth correctly towards the microphone and then keep it there! Just a simple thing like that, it's something you don't even have to think about when you're dealing with a professional voiceover talent. But dealing with a beginner, it's just one of the many things that get in the way of getting a good result.
We spent over two hours trying to record a 2-page manuscript. Because this lady had absolutely no experience, I had to say each sentence to her, and she would try to mimic my tone and style, into the microphone. It was a challenge, to say the least. Every sentence had to be done many, many times and before we'd got through the two pages of manuscript, we had 120 minutes of recordings, with "good bits" scattered throughout.
I spent 4 hours the next day going through the recordings, trying to piece together something usable by copying, pasting, cropping, moving, using one sentence here, three words there spliced together with another three words from 5 minutes earlier in the recording. It was a nightmare!
In the end I had wasted 6 hours of my own time and 2-3 hours of the talent's time, and what I was left with was an "almost passable" 5 minute audio file which didn't really sound very good. It was too fragmented, voice intonation all over the place, loud plosive (big "booms" on the P's, B's etc) and a very uneven volume, intensity, and tone of voice.
It wasn't her fault. She was just like the rest of us -- somebody who thought it sounded easy, who had been listening to people speak into a microphone for money, and figured that she could do that as well. Well, she might be able to do that one day, but she needs a lot of practice first! It was my fault, for thinking it could work, for being a cheapskate, trying to save money and thinking I could get away with using somebody who wasn't experienced.
The next day I had to call in the professional after all. I hired an experienced voice over talent who has spent years honing her skills both as a voice dubbing talent and as a theater / stage performer. She instinctively knew how to position herself to the microphone, to speak with a clear and confident tone, at an even, pleasant speed, intensity and tone throughout. The whole thing was done in 45 minutes and the result was perfect.
In my next article I will write a bit more about the actual technical challenges and tips on how to overcoming them, to record good voiceover audio. In the meantime you may want to check out the voice over demo MP3's that we have available via our websites. You can find American / U.S. voiceover talents and English / British voiceover talents at the Shockwave-Sound.com voice over page, or you may want to try Norwegian Lingo if you're looking for Norwegian voice over talents.
We got an email today from a person who had seen some gun sound effects on our site for a couple of dollars, and he didn't understand why we felt that it was right to charge money for our sounds, when he was in fact able to find completely free gun sounds and free sound effects for download on a different site. Who do we think we are? Charging for something that can be gotten for free somewhere else?
My short answer would probably be: Hey, if you look in the dumpsters, you can most likely find free bread! Yet, every day millions of people actually buy bread in the supermarket. Despite the availability of free bread, they prefer bread that (a) is better, and (b) they know where it came from.
Yes, there are sites where you can find completely free sounds and download them for free. The problem is: You don't know where they came from. The sites offering completely free sounds most likely just downloaded them free from some other "free wav sounds" site, at some point. And they figured, hey, we downloaded these for free, they are freely available on the internet already, so we'll share them for free as well.
Free river sounds can be found
Some sounds could of course be entirely legal, created by somebody who wanted them to be shared freely. That is possible. However, more often these sounds have at some point been ripped from a DVD movie, or from a video game, or from some other source that was actually copyrighted. The problem is, you don't know. And do you really want to risk legal action or threats of legal action, licensing problems, possibly having to remove the sounds from your project at a later date, because it ultimately turned out that the sound originally came from a copyrighted source? For the sake of saving 3 dollars?
I didn't think so.
And this is of course why people are willing to pay a few dollars for sound effects on a site such as ours. Not only is the sound quality much more consistent. The free sounds you can find range from "awful" to "great" in sound quality. On our site, the sounds are all professionally created, all 100% legally sourced and licensed, created by us and our contracted professional sound engineers, and legally licensed to you, or your company, for use in your projects.
For some, this is worth a few dollars.
On a side note, we too offer some of our sounds completely free. If you join up with us with a free user account, you'll find 5 completely free sounds - all completely legal and professionally created - available to download from within your user account. 5 new sounds are chosen at random, each week.
Searching for the right sound effect can be a challenge. But one secret is to play the “sounds like” game. This technique is perhaps the basis for the craft of Foley. When a bullet punches through the chest of an actor, a Foley artist doesn’t actually fire a gun into a stunt double to get the right sound. Instead, they take out their creative frustration on a piece of fruit or a vegetable (however, there have been cases when the sound designer is bent on a bit more realism and will actually fire bullets into the carcass of a dead animal). The goal is to breathe life into a sonically dead track by finding practical sound sources that work.
Of all the sound effects needed for a film, Foley is by far the most lacking type of sounds found in most sound effects libraries. But, if you exercise a little brain power, you can find stock sound effects that might work for your Foley track. For example, a footfall on the right surface could also double for a “set down” of an object. Keep in mind you should consider tweaking whatever sound effect you plan on using so that it fits the project. The sound effect of a car door closing might be the exact make and model of the car in the scene, but if the sound effect was recorded out in a field somewhere, it won’t work for a scene inside of a parking garage. In this case, add some reverb to the sound to help it match the rest of the scene.
When looking for the right ambience, don’t just think about the environment in which the scene takes place, but also think about the mood of the scene. Additionally, you can use a good ambience track as the core sound for a background, but build other sounds into that ambience to make it the perfect track for your scene. Adding dog barks and a distant lawn mower sound to a bed of bird chirps and then filtering out some of the high frequencies can work great for a scene that takes place inside of a kitchen. This gives the sense of a subdivision outside of the window. For a night scene, replace the birds with sound of crickets, use less dog barks and ditch the lawn mower.
Remember to use your ears and not your eyes when searching for the right sound. Don’t just think of the name of the object listed in the description of the file. Think in terms of the texture that the sound has. Hard, soft, grainy, fluffy, thick, and thin can be useful clues when searching for the right sound.
In one film that I worked on there was a scene that took place in a public bathroom. After a gross, but funny event, the actor places his hand on the stall door to stop himself for stumbling. The chances of having a sound effect called “Hand On Bathroom Stall Door” was a long shot, if not a hopeless cause. What to do? Unfortunately, our prop room didn’t have a stall door and it seemed like a complete waste of time and money to spend a couple of hours going out into the field to record the sound. So, we played the sounds-like-game and found the sound of a plastic tub impact. With a little EQ and a healthy dose of reverb, we were able to blend that sound into the track and add life and desperation to our poor character trying to keep from stumbling.
Sound effects libraries and download sites have far more sounds than you think. This is especially true if you remember that you can layer, blend and cut several sounds together to design a unique sound effect from the elements. You might not have the right monster growl sound in your library, but combining a horse whinny with a reversed pig screech and sprinkling in a little gargle of mouth wash could help you create a monster that will make your audience jump out of their seats.
You can use sound effects at face value (i.e. this is a sound effect of water splashing on pavement) or you can use the texture of the sound effect as an element or something else altogether (i.e. the water splash becomes blood splattering all over the pavement). You can also use sound effects expressively. A perfect example of this is a bell ring when someone gets an idea. Obviously, thoughts don’t have sound, but you can use a sound effect to express what is happening internally for the character.
A funny example of an expressive use of sound effects is the door bell in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. The Griswolds are anxiously awaiting the arrival of family members who will undoubtedly wreak havoc on their Christmas. When they arrive they ring the door bell. The first ring is a practical door bell. The next ring is a lower pitched door bell ring, followed by an even lower pitched door bell ring. The feeling of dread is felt throughout the house as the sound effect indicates how the characters feel about what the door bell sound means to them. While this example is a bit over-the-top and comes across as cartoonish, this technique can be used more subtly to help underscore the emotion of an event. Remember, music (a collection of sound waves put to rhythm) moves us emotionally. Good sound design does the same thing.
Sounds-like is a creative way to get the most out of a sound effect library or download site. Description names are a helpful way to scan through a list of sounds, but don’t forget to focus on the texture that each sound has. You’d be surprised how sounds that have no practical relation can be used together to create the sound you’re looking for.
In modern society, we take sound effects very much for granted. They are used everywhere from films and television shows to games and toys. But the sounds we hear are not always recordings of what they perceive to be. The task of sound design is one that requires thought, creativity and experimentation.
If you’re an aspiring sound designer, getting access to a microphone, recorder and a spur of a bit of old fashioned creativity will enable you to create almost any sound effect you can think of. In fact, you’ll be amazed at how simple it can be to make great sounding effects from things you have all around you.
Here are 5 sounds I have recently had to create and the methods that I used:
1. Bone Breaking Sound Effects (Using Celery)
Surprisingly, when celery is snapped or crushed it sounds very much like what we expect bones breaking to sound like and is a technique used by some of the world’s best sound designers. You can try recording quick breaks, slow twists, crushing it between two hard objects and much more. Here is an example of a bone breaking sound effect using celery
2. Karate Chop or Leg Movement (Using Cables or Sticks)
Often in a karate scene in a film, the movement of a fast arm chop or leg kick is exaggerated by adding a ‘swish’ or ‘whoosh’ sound effect to the movement. Flicking a cable through the air fast is one option. As the cable cuts through the air it creates the ‘swish’ or ‘whoosh’ sound nicely. You may find a cable a little hard to control for specific sound lengths or styles. In which case a bamboo stick works very well and gives you much more control. Just be careful not to hit anyone, yourself or your equipment! Here are some examples of karate movement sound effects using cables and sticks
3. Lion Roar (Using Your Own Voice)
Unless you work at a zoo you’re going to find it very difficult to gain access to a lion and even if you do, you have to rely on it feeling in the noisy mood. A much easier option is to use your voice to make the sound.
The easiest way to do this is to take an actual recording of a lion roar. You can easily get a recording from a free sound archive online or from recording one off your TV.
Using audio editing software with a pitch shift plug-in included, raise the pitch of the lion roar up to that of a human voice range and now try to emulate the sound with your voice. Record your voice mimicking the lion roar and then pitch your voice recording down to the level the lion roar originally was. Now your voice recording is transformed into a hungry lion!
4. Heavy Stone Door or Object Scrape/Drag (Using a Drinking Glass and Tile)
There are a number of ways this sound can be made but I favour this method as it uses small objects found easily around the home. Using a porcelain tile (or the rough base of a porcelain baking dish) scrape a drinking glass over the surface. You can try this with the base of the glass against the tile/dish or the rim and each has a different sound.
Using audio editing software with a pitch shift plug-in included, lower the pitch of the recording down. The lower in pitch the recording is the bigger and heavier the ‘stone’ door/object will sound.
You can also try adding some salt to the surface of the tile/dish which will provide a grittier sound.
5. Underwater Ambience (Using a Stream or River Recording)
Hydrophones (underwater microphones) are expensive to buy and probably won’t be part of your everyday recording kit so finding a way to create a deep underwater ambience without getting wet is probably a better idea. Using a stream or river recording is an excellent and convincing method.
You’ll need to record a shallow stream or river (preferably one where the water can be heard running over rocks or stones rather than just a rush of deep water). Using audio editing software with a pitch shift plug-in included, pitch the recording down (the deeper underwater you want it to sound, the lower in pitch you’ll need to process the recording to). The sound of the water running over rocks and stones now mimics the deep water movements and bubbles you’d expect to hear at the bottom of the sea!
About the author: Alan McKinney is the owner of Fat Sound Effects, a professional sound effects library. He also creates custom made sound effects on demand.
In the first part of the article I presented some curiosities of sound design. In the second part I would like to to familiarize you with some more advanced methods of sound creation and the effects you may achieve in this way. However, before I proceed to the topic of advanced sound design, I am going to tell you about some sounds that I managed to create at home.
Home Made Sound Effects
One of the simpler home made effects is the sound of a light bulb short circuit. We may record it by unplugging the desk lamp cable from the socket or pushing the lamp switch very slowly.
Another tool we may use are hex keys. We can use them to create the effect of opening or closing doors, or to imitate the sound of a skeleton key (moving a metal belt part of tracksuit will also create a similar effect). Meanwhile, opening and closing every part of a penknife (Swiss army knife) will enable us to create the sound of clicking for the game menu or for opening a new column).
One of the most interesting experiences related to conducting a test task for The Witcher 2 game producer were the sounds accompanying the moment, when Geralt enters the inn during a snowstorm. The sound included footsteps on the snow. It was not an easy task, because the temperature outside reached -20 degrees, therefore walking around with the recording equipment was not possible. I used a package of coconut cereal to create the desired sound (you can use also poppy seeds or flour).
Let us now proceed to the Steampunk world sounds. We are likely to need some kitchen equipment. Tampering with a handle of a French fries cutter will create a sound of moving metal limbs. An iron with a steam function will provide us with the sound of long or short draft of hot air pushed into the outside. We will achieve the sound of a moving piston by placing the microphone closely to a hinge of the microwave oven door, and opening the door rapidly, so that the hinge will make a complete movement into the wide-open and back (the condition is we need to record the sound as a loop). If you lived in big city you probably travel between districts by bus or tram car. I recently moved to a big city and I noticed how many sounds a single bus makes (bus luggage doors, slowed tram doors sound effect and even sound effect of stopping the tram car.)
Crumpling a rectangular piece of aluminum baking foil with your fists creates a sound of walking on extremely dry grass (if we fold the middle part of the foil a little bit, the sound will become more intense). Now one more trick: the aluminum baking foil will resemble the sound of wind blowing through windows curtained with foil. All you need to do is blow at it a little bit.
During such a trivial activity as ironing clothes, I was adjusting the iron’s temperature by turning a little knob. While doing it, I heard a sound, which seemed to me as a small robot speaking (this sound is also similar to opening a vault).
Now, let’s cool the atmosphere a little bit, shall we. Stabbing a knife into a frozen bread roll resembles the sound of driving an alpenstock into a frozen rock wall.
If we speed up a little bit the sound of opening the DVD drive in a laptop, the outcome will resemble to sound of a trap.
Using the effects
Let me come back to the scene with Geralt for a while. A strong and long-lasting reverb resembles the atmosphere of an inn or a church in the best way. The reverb is a frequently used effect, nevertheless its most important parameter is the time of the reverb. For example, in order to resemble a heartbeat, one should add a kick drum to the sequencer, and then add the reverb with the time amounting to 0.5 second (the sound of the heartbeat will differ, depending on the kind of kick drum chosen by you). When recording loud sounds, we need to switch on the limiter, so that the volume will not exceed 0 db. On the other hand, in order to make a quiet sound more audible, we may use a compressor at the headphones during the recording process.
When I was training at a gym, the sound of screwing weights to dumbells reminded me of the opening doors. Hitting the neck of the weights at the wall resembles the sound of crushing the doors open with a battering ram or shooting concrete with a bullet (after adding the reverb). I do not recommend theses ideas, if you live a in a block of flats.
I am the kind of person who listens to music from dawn till dusk, even within moments after getting up. One evening, when I was falling asleep, little headphones stubbed against each other, reminding me within one second about tossing dices during the monopoly game.
The effect of noisy sound from vinyl disc can be achieved when we add Grungelizer plugin in mixer from the Cubase application.
Another method of recording the sound of sharpening a sword is shuffling a metal belt against a metal kitchen chair.
Military Sound Effects
As I am a military lover, I play war games very eagerly, and I even more eagerly create sound effects of this kind.
You can achieve the effect of voice from walkie-talkies in three ways. The first one is by turning the guitar amplifier on (in order to get a mild white noise); remember to minimize low tones in the equalizer and the distortion effect. Depending on the modulation of the guitar amplifier’s knobs, the white noise will be more intense or more crackling. I really recommend recording it all live with the mixer effects turned on. The sound of a walkie-talkie being switched on can be achieved by changing the pace and the pitch of the white noise.
The sound of a voice giving orders with a gas mask on can be achieved by increasing the bass frequencies and decreasing the high frequencies in the equalizer.
You can produce noises disrupting the walkie-talkie conversation by e.g. blowing air into the microphone. I remember that when I was a child, I used that method playing with the walkie-talkie by blowing long and slow breaths into the microphone, and then quick and sudden ones. It was the first sound I have ever created: the noise of a landing plane.
Remind yourself when was the last time you cut something and where do you keep your home scissors. The sound of hitting scissors against a metal hanger, which usually lasts not even a second, may be used in the GUI or for creating soundtrack for the cut scenes with the GPS elements, as well as a sound of choosing or abandoning some piece of equipment during the game.
In order to create sounds for the close quarters combat scenes, e.g. the sound of line movement generated by the character sliding down the rope from heights, you will need a pair of headphones with a cord and a laminated A4 piece of paper (if you do not have one, you may as well use a wooden back of a desk).
The sound of turning knobs at a sniper’s rifle can be achieved by recording the sound of a digital or reflex camera’s zoom, speeding the recording up a little bit.
Kontakt 4 the Sound Sequencer and Sampler
When I was creating my own album Wasteland Theme 2, I needed the sound of a quick measurement taken by a Geiger counter. So I launched the Cubase programme and Kontakt 4 Sampler with the snare sticks sample with arpeggiator and change octave to higher.After while I played one arpeggio notes on my keyboard I realized how great is the Kontakt Sampler is.
The sound, which irritates us most every morning, can be transformed into a warning alert in a helicopter or a plane, by changing its pace and making it lower by one octave. Of course what I have on my mind is the alarm clock.
One day I was walking from my kitchen to the living room, immersed in thoughts and at the same time consuming salty sticks. All of the sudden I dropped my food and the salty sticks hitting the floor created a sound of falling shells from a rifle’s cartridges. (If you do not find this product in a shop, you may also use toothpicks.) I was surprised to discover that, because the sound effects of guns belong to the most difficult to produce (well, unless you risk losing your hearing and equipment at a military training field or at a shooting range).
A long time ago, when I did not have good – quality screens at my disposal, my studio work companion were small high-tone loudspeakers, which I had purchased back in the 90s. When I was turning the volume up at those loudspeakers, having turned on the phantom power microphone beforehand, I was causing a feedback in the form of an extremely high-pitched sound, irritating ears. (It was very similar to the one used in the “Lost” drama TV-series).
About the author: Piotr Koczewski started working in the game development industry in 2006 as a Musician and Sound Designer. In 2008 he released an ambient music album inspired by the post-nuclear SF, called "Wasteland Theme". In 2009 he co-organized the Video Games Live concert in Poland. You can listen to Piotr`s music at his website www.piotrkoczewski.com.
In films and on TV, we've all seen those nutters who walk around with big headphones and mobile sound recording equipment, recording every sound they come across on their path. Well, I'm not afraid to admit it - I'm one of those guys.
I've been seen on train station platforms in the arctic north of Norway, on a white sandy beach in the Caribbean and, most recently, on the streets of Athens, Greece - even on the hills of the Acropolis itself - and recorded sounds. (The photo on the left shows me, at the Acropolis). And I'm now happy to be able to present all of the resulting sound files to you here at 1SoundFX.com, available for download in glorious High Definition 24-bit WAV audio.
Athens, Greece is a very busy place. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, the city is bustling and oozing with heavy traffic, busy streets, noisy mopeds and motorcycles and millions of people. Everywhere. All the time. For someone like me who's from a quiet little seaside town, Athens can be overwhelming, invasive, and very exhausting. My first recording was that of the most heard sound in Athens: City street traffic. Cars, buses, mopeds and motorcycles seem to compete for the loudest noise levels in this city.
Next, I recorded the sound of the central City plaza, called Sintagma Square. It's a quite small square full of people, a 50/50 mix of tourists and locals mixing it up in the cafes, and with traffic on all four sides. From the middle of this square you can hear mostly people chatting, with more distant sounds of buses, cars and motorcycles on the road system surrounding the square. (The photo on the left showing people, cars and taxis on the corner of Sintagma Square).
I also enjoyed bringing my audio recording gear into the city's Flower Park, a little "green lunge" in the heart of Athens where people bring their kids for a day out, or just to take a few minutes break from the stress and bustle of the office or the city. The park is connected by a whole network of little footpaths in a somewhat, quite frankly, confusing web with signs pointing this way and that way. Standing in the park I managed to capture this rather nice sound of the breeze blowing through the leaves of huge trees overhead. A little bit further into the park I came across a very large bird cage, an Aviary. Inside were lots of small birds tweeting away happily. (Photo on the right shows park entrance).
Whilst walking from the hotel toward the Acropolis, my ears caught the familiar sound of lots of noisy kids playing in a back yard. I couldn't see the children because they were separated from the city traffic by a huge wall, but I could hear them just fine. I set up and recorded a few minutes which resulted in this rather nice sound of young children playing in a school back yard.
At the Acropolis I recorded various sounds, but here's a limitation of the media of sound itself - it can't really reveal the historical setting or archeological and historical importance of the Acropolis with its Theater of Herod Attica or its Panthenon. The sounds, when taken out of context, are just sounds of people chatting, and that's the best I can do unless you can imagine yourself at that place while closing your eyes and listening to the sound recordings. (The picture on the left shows the Theater of Herod Attica, at the Acropolis).
Whilst in Athens I wondered the streets for hours and I was lucky enough to come across lots of buskers. Don't know what a busker is? It's one of those guys who will sit in the street with a guitar, or an accordeon, or what ever instrument they play, with their hat on the sidewalk in front of them, in the hope of having some coins donated by people passing by. I came across several of these people and actually became quite good friends with one of them. He was a Bouzouki player, playing traditional Greek folk music on his Bouzouki for the enjoyment of tourists and locals alike. I actually recorded three different songs of his; here they are: Bouzouki music 1 - Bouzouki music 2 - Bouzouki music 3.
On another street in a different district of the city center, I came across another old Greek guy playing the Santoor. (They seem to prefer the term "Santori" locally). I recorded two songs by this guy: Santoor music 1 - Santoor music 2.
I also captured the sounds of a very fast moving little Jazz band. These 4 guys would quite literally play for a few seconds in one spot - maybe for one minute - and then move on to the next spot, a little further down the street. People hardly had time to get their wallets out and donate a few coins, before the band had taken off and were not only to be heard 20 meters down the road. Wow... what a stressful, hurried band! Here they are: Street jazz 1 - Street jazz 2.
A friend of mine gave me a tip about an indoor food market, he said I had to go there and record the crazy sound of people shouting over each other about their meat, fish and vegetable products. And he was right - this place was completely crazy. I mean, I thought Athens in general was a stressful and busy place, but the city itself seemed like an oasis of calm compared to this market place! Here's one sound of people cackling and shouting at the meat market. Here's another dense crowd noise from the food market of Athens. And here's a sound from of the fish market noise, that's just another area of basically the same market hall. While I was there I also shot this little video clip with my cellphone. The video and sound quality isn't good, but it will give you an idea of the "feel" of this place. I got to tell you... I don't envy the guys who work there. After spending about 45 minutes in there for sound recording, I felt completely exhausted, like I needed a stiff drink and somewhere to lie down. But that's Athens for you. :-)
In this blog I haven't talked about all the sounds I recorded on my trip to Athens. There are plenty more. They are in amongst the well over 100,000+ other sound effects that we have available here at 1SoundFX.com. Thanks for reading!
The Shockwave-Sound.Com Team manages the excellent royalty-free music website www.Shockwave-Sound.com - serving fresh new stock music each week since April 2000 - and the sound effects website www.1SoundFX.com with more than 100,000 sound effects online for instant listening, purchasing and downloading, for royalty-free use in media.
Sound Effects as Easter Eggs
Let’s solve another riddle. What does the Starcraft game have to do with the Broken Arrow film, with the Enslaved game trailer and the opening of the animated series X-Men Evolution? Well, the sound effect heard when clicking at the Academy building, was also used in the Broken Arrow film (the scene of jumping from a train), the Enslaved trailer (the scene of jumping from the top of the mountain) and in the X-Men Evolution (the roar of the Beast). It is not a plagiarism, though! That sound was recorded by means of the Foley Artist and was then added to the sound library, which has been used till today in the game and film production. It reminded me of the famous "Wilhelm Scream", which is the sound used in more than 100 films, not mentioning one movie, where it was used a couple of times. As far as the most famous sound libraries used in games and films are concerned, these include Rick Viers’ Blastwave FX (he wrote a book entitled "The Sound Effects Bible"), Tommy Tallarcio, Lucas Film, Warner Bros, BBC and Columbia Sound Library.
