Question: How do I make film type sound effects?

S

slayerment

Metal
How would I go about making a sound for a ship fly by or even some type of mechanical movement? I'm very lost on how to achieve these kinds of sounds. Is there special hardware or software I need? I would appreciate any help. Thanks guys :).
 
You can record "normal" mechanical things, then speed up or slow them down.
There are also many free sound effects on the web, try google and use "wav" in your search. Example: "space ship wav" or "engine wav"


You should be able to find lots of sounds.
 
Yea, I can find those kind of sounds on the net, but they seem kind of weak and low quality, and plus I would like to make them myself... if I could get pointed in the right direction. I'm really interested in the type of sound effects youd hear while watching the opening to the evening news on ABC or CNN. Those type of I guess 'ambient' sound effects. That just kind of make a nice powerful noice, you know? I guess its kind of hard to explain. If somebody could help me out in telling me where to get started or how these types of sounds could be achived it would be great. Thanks for your response gorbyrun, if all else fails I think I'll resort back to google.
 
i heard studios make some effects just recording normal things and then editing them a little
 
If you would be more specific about your needs, I might be able to help. I have been collecting and using sound effects for over 25 years. You want a "ship flyby." Is that a spaceship, a steam ship, or an airship? Do you want stereo or mono? How long should the flyby last?
 
Have you seen how they made the Pod racer scene in Star Wars 2? Different car engines/machinery manipulated/layered. For the ships on Naboo they had a rasor in a metal bowl.. for the blaster sounds, striking metal ropes holding up power towers.

Foley... creating sounds that don't appear on the screen.

Be creative... for ship flying past go out into the field and record cars going past on the free way.. take it back to the studio, slow it down to 75% or slower then adjust panning for the position of the element on the screen. That is just a simple example.

Mind you I haven't needed to do this myself, but i've always had a keen interest on how this stuff is done.

Porter
 
Thanks for the great replies guys :). I guess my next question is, how would I go about recording these sounds? Do I need some super fancy mic and equipment to get started? I also have a JP-8000, do you think that will help any? Thanks for your time guys...much appreciated.
 
You can use anything to record sounds. At a minimum I would recommend a decent mic and either a Dat or mini disk. It depends on what you want the recorded quality to sound like.

Naturally a condensor mic will get you the best sounds (but may also pick up other sounds you don't want) and you with need phantom power (or a battery). A PZM mic can wook well also. But I've gotten good samples with something as basic as an SM57 into a cassette.
 
Derek Verner said:
The standard for 30 years was the Nagra for field recording. You can get a Porta One on ebay that will do the job.
Click to expand...

Being a Tascam fan, I recommended the only Tascam I know of that runs off internal batteries. Sound effect recording is not as critical as music and, usually, it will be modified anyway.

Did you know that the sound effect of the spaceship hatch opening in Orson Welles' martian invasion broadcast was made by unscrewing a mayonaise jar lid held down in a toilet?
 
There is an awesome program called Audio Mulch. It's still in the beta stage, so you can get it for free right now. It can basically take a sound and run it through any, and I mean ANY combination of effects and plug-ins. Any sound imaginable can be created with it.
 
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