How To Record Sound Effects
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Cost, of course. They want to begin gathering sound effects, but lack the budget of sound pros. They are intrigued by field recording. They are excited to learn more. They want the experience of creating samples now.
Does that mean sound quality is linked to expense? In a way. Will a $200 recorder match the sound quality a $7,000 kit? Of course not. But budget field recordists welcome this. They accept that a bit of hard work and inconvenience is a good trade for beginning field recording now.
Your first option is to choose subjects carefully. You may have trouble recording computer mouse movement and clicks without a silent environment. Your gear may limit what you can record as well. Inexpensive recorders often have hissy preamps that prevent recording these sounds.
Save quiet sounds for later. Instead, focus on recordings you can capture without spending $200 an hour in studio time. For instance, pursue atmospheres such as crowds, traffic, and birds. Find specific sound effects in naturally quiet environments.
These steps cultivate the experience you need to begin. They build a strong sound effects library. They will immerse you in the field recording community. They lay the foundation for a career in sound.
Regarding sound effects, remember that less can be more and that you are not trying to replicate and create every single sound in a scene. Instead, visualize your theme and focal point and stick to it.
It is easy to get lost in a sea of ideas and details. We have all been there, so trust me when I say that checklists are your friend and that the single biggest investment you can make in your project is good planning.
Create a list of your scenes and then break down the elements that make up each scene. Once compiled, you can start working through each of them and iterating through a process of foundation level sounds and detailing.
The fine art of sound acting and performance has more in common with playing an instrument than just making sounds. Timing is everything because the better you play along with your video, the less editing will be required to make it all fit.
I will go into more detail on making and combining sounds later on. The core of foley lies in having the room and inventory to perform and record in. Full disclosure: you will need an ample supply of stuff, doodads and general bits and pieces with which to produce your sounds.
In order to get your foley in sync, you should run a video monitor with your video proxy, transport controls and an SMPTE counter so you can time and execute your movements. That is honestly half the fun and where foley gives the feeling of a musical performance in having to play along with so many elements, especially overcoming the need to make mistakes while recording.
A shotgun microphone is always my first choice when recording sound effects because of the directionality, balanced frequency response and sensitivity. Shotgun mics work equally well out in the open as they do in the studio. This will be our microphone of choice for the rest of the article.
Video projects use sample rates of 48KHz as a standard. High Definition video has been the norm for a decade now. This is great news for audio engineers because we now have a great excuse, a pronounced reason, to use higher sample rates.
Clapboards offer a simple and effective way to create transients that can be synchronized and keep your project organized. You can go one step further by labeling your takes to include take numbers, sound effect name and technical details.
Earlier on, I mentioned the need to have a good supply of shoes on hand. During foley try altering the shoes you are recording with, try wearing them on your hands or feet. Mimic the motion of walking and ask yourself the following questions:
When working with lots of different sounds, you need to keep your workspace tidy by keeping your sounds trim. Cut away unneeded parts that can interfere or clutter your soundscape and audio tails that have no place in your scene.
Time and pitch share a close bond, especially when you go back to tape recording. Slowing a tape down would also shift the pitch downwards. Digital audio allows a lot more control and separation across the two.
Pitching a sound down a few semitones can give a sound the feeling of more power, the opposite applies for pushing the pitch up. A subtle application can be used on dialogue to give the voice a different age quality.
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Keep in mind, there are sound effects to record all over your home, as well as right outside. Birds chirping, dogs barking, the wind, doors closing, etc. There really is no limit to how vast a personal sound effects library can be.
In a world of portable digital recorders, vast sound effects libraries, unlocked picture, uncanny CGI, ASMR, and artificial intelligence: What is modern Foley? And why do filmmakers, sound designers, and audiences still hunger for it?
"Aside from its shorthand use amongst the post production world, 'Foley' as a word has changed as filmmaking and sound design culture have become more global, democratic, and open to the public. This extra bit of awareness has been a blessing and a curse."
"A rich collaboration among hard FX, library FX, field recordings and Foley art drives home the emotional, textural, and performative sounds of stories. A good sound team has the grit to just get those perfect sounds for each and every scene."
Necessity is the mother of invention, and I'm lucky to be coming up in the generation where we have the time honored traditions of Foley artists paired with the high quality and wide breadth libraries of the 21st century. Truly understanding what great Foley artistry can do for a film, is to understand that its very performative nature will likely keep it around for as long as we make moving images.
Be creative with the items you find. If you find a metal that can ring out, there is a good chance you will be able to use it to make your sword sounds. If not, it will usually make a nice bell sound.
Layer your sword sound with kicks, impacts, punches, other hitting sounds to create some nice sword hit sounds. This is a great way to make it sound like the sword is hitting another person, box, or object.
Layer different metal sounds together to fill out the body of the sword sound effect. If you are creating a hit sound, then lower 1 or 2 audio sources down by 12 semitones or more. At the very least, have a deep bass layer, a body layer, and a top shing layer for your sound.
There are no fast and hard rules for creating sword sound effects, but it can be done using everyday items you can find in your home. Be creative and have fun. And for those who do want to be hardcore about it, you can find some real swords HERE.
That's exactly what the latest episode of Twenty Thousand Hertz, a podcast exploring the origins of the most recognizable sounds in the world, set out to do. Host Dallas Taylor spoke to Rosenfeld about his early work on Minecraft (way before it was a global hit) and how he made some of the game's most ubiquitous sounds.
At the time, Rosenfeld didn't consider himself a sound designer. He sourced sounds for Minecraft from Freesound.org wherever he could. Whenever he hit a wall with the limitations of the free library, he'd have to make them himself. And some of them, as it turns out, are pretty weird.
Like, did you know that the spider's maddening screech is actually Rosenfeld's water hose pitched up in a synthesizer? "I was originally like, 'What do spiders sound like? They don't sound like anything,'" Rosenfeld said. It turns out there is one spider, the Camel Spider native to the Middle East (and apparently isn't technically a spider), that makes a rattling noise when threatened. Rosenfeld wanted to use that noise, but in "middle-of-nowhere Germany" he wasn't about to get a microphone near the real thing. So he made one up by sampling his hose, and now we have the sharp screech that makes me want to swing a sword whenever I hear it.
I was especially interested in Minecraft's distinctive dirt digging sound. That "crunch" you hear as the block finally breaks apart was originally the player's default footstep. "They were awful footstep sounds. Walking on grass sounded like eating Cheerios." You can hear this unpleasant old version in the episode. Eventually, the sound was sped up and shortened to produce the crunch effect and Rosenfeld found a less aggressive stepping sound. Digging still kinda sounds like you're chewing on rocks, but it's immensely satisfying.
Oh, and Creeper explosions? Those are pitched-down gunshots. "I didn't have explosion sounds, but a thing you can get on the internet very easily is gunshot sounds," he said. This one really threw me for a loop, but it makes total sense. Creeper explosions do sound pretty strange compared to a traditional kaboom. It has more bass, like you can tell it's not producing some big fireball. Gunshots are themselves micro explosions, so it's really an inspired solution.
I came away from the episode with a stronger appreciation for how hard it must be to make a game sound distinct when you're an independent creator with limited resources. Ironically, Rosenfeld's DIY workarounds for more traditional sound effects resulted in a unique soundscape that has stood the test of time. A decade later, there's still no game that sounds like it.
The episode is a pretty fun time, so I encourage you to give it a listen. Rosenfeld also goes in-depth into Minecraft's soundtrack and the awkward audio bugs that limited how it could be used in-game. Sprinkled throughout are extremely correct assessments on the game from Taylor's seven-year-old daughter, such as, "It is a world of squares totally."
Morgan has been writing for PC Gamer since 2018, first as a freelancer and currently as a staff writer. He has also appeared on Polygon, Kotaku, Fanbyte, and PCGamesN. Before freelancing, he spent most of high school and all of college writing at small gaming sites that didn't pay him. He's very happy to have a real job now. Morgan is a beat writer following the latest and greatest shooters and the communities that play them. He also writes general news, reviews, features, the occasional guide, and bad jokes in Slack. Twist his arm, and he'll even write about a boring strategy game. Please don't, though."}), " -0-10/js/authorBio.js"); } else console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); Morgan ParkSocial Links NavigationStaff WriterMorgan has been writing for PC Gamer since 2018, first as a freelancer and currently as a staff writer. He has also appeared on Polygon, Kotaku, Fanbyte, and PCGamesN. Before freelancing, he spent most of high school and all of college writing at small gaming sites that didn't pay him. He's very happy to have a real job now. Morgan is a beat writer following the latest and greatest shooters and the communities that play them. He also writes general news, reviews, features, the occasional guide, and bad jokes in Slack. Twist his arm, and he'll even write about a boring strategy game. Please don't, though.
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