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Posted 27 February 2012 - 06:25 PM
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Posted 26 June 2012 - 10:07 AM
I have just a little bit of experience creating sound effects from developing The Trouble With Robots, here are my tips for beginners:
1. Minimize background noise. Turn of unnecessary equipment, close windows, and avoid recording when something noisy is happening nearby. Put the microphone as far away from your computer as you can. It's easy to see the difference these things make by recording silence in different conditions and comparing the levels of fuzz you get - and this is much cheaper than sound proofing!
2. Try to make your sounds as loud as possible without 'clipping' (which is where the sound waveform goes above the top or below the bottom level that can be recorded, resulting in a crackling sound). This is preferable to recording a quiet sound and amplifying it a lot, because that will also amplify the noise.
3. Record lots of variations of each effect. This way you can choose your favourite, and potentially introduce alternatives if the sound is played frequently.
4. Experiment with speeding up and slowing down recordings. As a rule, speeding up a sound makes it sound like it came from something smaller, whereas slowing it down makes it sound like it came from something larger. The latter is particularly useful if you're recording household objects which are typically smaller than the game objects you want to represent.
5. Be patient. Often you won't get the sound you want on your first attempt, so try different things until you have something that sounds good. If a particular effect is troubling you then don't give up, but put it down and come back another day with fresh ideas.
- Geoffrey White
Edited by Geoffrey, 26 June 2012 - 10:23 AM.
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Posted 16 January 2013 - 12:15 AM
Pretty nice article and info here
I am just starting to get into SFX at the moment and wondered what kind of microphone is best as an "all rounder" to use in a home studio for SFX/voiceover recording?
It pretty much depends on your budget, man. The Rode NT1A is a pretty good option to start with. It has a ridiculously low noise floor (which is a must when recording foley or sound effects), it's very affordable (around $270) and is built like a rock. If you have a bigger budget, Earthworks has some incredible studio microphones (especially the QTC50).
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Posted 18 February 2013 - 11:20 AM
Awesome thread! This made me laugh -
Contact: firstname.lastname@example.org Sound Design/Generative Music Demo: youtube.com/watch?v=OyEzyaUV6zE
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Posted 21 May 2013 - 02:45 AM
Wow, thanks! I'm as green as green gets when it comes to SFX, so this will work as an encyclopaedia for me at the moment.
I also have a question and please excuse my poor level of knowledge in this area: Are there microphones specially designed for SFX? I'm thinking of doing some voice recording as well, does that mean I have to buy 2 mics? One for SFX and one for voice? Or does one good quality mic suffice for both SFX and voice?
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Posted 23 May 2013 - 11:24 PM
Answer is yes and depends on the level and quality of your production and your audio skills.
Good general microphone that isn't too expensive second hand could be something like a Sennheiser MkH-416 which can be found for $450 - $600 - they are fairly directional so good for focusing on directly what is in front of the mic cutting out side noise like a telephoto lens. We've used this particular mic for doing a lot of voice over where the room changes where you're recording. They usually require recording equipment or a external sound card that can provide power.
Microphones can be grouped into large and small diaphragm (size of pickup on the microphone) - larger usually are used for Voice as they capture all the tones and harmonics of a voice up close.
You can research what other people have bought when starting out recording their own sounds. Building a microphone kit takes time and practice. It's sometimes cheaper to rent one for a specific task rather than own a whole lot of them.
Most people start off with a portable recorder like a Zoom H4n or a Sony PCM-D50 with a wind shield and hand held pistol grip / windjammer kit (like the ones sold by Rycote). Usually require a quiet room, or some sort of noise blocking setup as they are general use. I've recorded sfx in a closet padded with a feather duvet and pillows to create a quiet space. I've recorded voice over for games this way too.
Edited by GroovyOne, 23 May 2013 - 11:54 PM.
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Posted 02 December 2013 - 03:38 AM
There is this software too: www.dspanime.com . Cheap and fun to use. It can create several random variations of the sounds it creates and export them towards a game audio middleware like Wwise or FMOD, creating all the events, work units and whatnot automatically.
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Posted 27 November 2014 - 06:33 AM
I've recently been trying to record my sound effects lately, mainly just learning the ropes and trying some new things out. I gotta say, it's a lot of fun! haha. I worked with another guy from my uni on a post production video last year, we redid a section from some Battlefield 3 gameplay footage, that was so much fun. Voice acting was terrible haha. Can check it out here http://www.samplefolk.com/2014/10/sae-post-production-assignment/. But anyway, I bought the new Zoom H6 recorder and a NTG1 shotgun mic. Some handy hardware there I tells ya, just make sure you can record when outside is quiet also and the house is quiet. You may think it's quiet, but once that gain has been applied, you hear EVERYTHING haha. Damn crickets I tells ya.
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Posted 28 November 2014 - 09:25 AM
You may think it's quiet, but once that gain has been applied, you hear EVERYTHING haha.
Yeah every once and a while when I'm doing footsteps or anything where I have my mic aimed at the floor I can pickup the subway trains as they go by. Which is pretty far underground... and I'm on the 2nd floor. Also I never do motion foley right after lunch because you can pick up some crazy stomach noises.
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Posted 29 November 2014 - 07:23 PM
Haha serious? That would be rather frustrating at times I can imagine, never would of even entered my head that it would pick that up. Ah yes, I've experienced the stomach noises, didn't know what it was at first haha. Also controlling your breathing, hate when those come out, usually at the worst time.