I have recorded 7 different sounds in all different locations. For the purpose of a film company asking for specific sounds like Foley. They required different methods to do them and some with different microphones for best sound quality. The acoustic environment also played a big role as different acoustic environments affected the sound quality greatly for better or worse. Some post-production manipulation was also needed for some sounds to make the most out of them and make them to what the brief wanted but we still had to make the original sound the best possible to make the most out of it. |
The first sound on our brief was a generic speech you would hear on any radio station. It was specific on not giving any specific information on current news stories or music but to speak like a radio host and talk about day to day things like weather and traffic.
This was made with a condenser microphone because it would have the best quality and is what would be used in a radio station. We were stationary in a studio making this possible as condenser microphones are more easily breakable and must not be moved to much. The process was that I would start by introducing the radio station and my friend giving the weather then I finish, trying to sound as interesting as possible as radio hosts do have distinct voices to rake in listeners. The polar pattern was cardioid pattern as both me and my partner were in front of the mic and doesn't pick up any other ambient sound even though there was very little.
The studio is sound proofed shown in the image and sound didn't come out of anywhere else except for us. Any other sound would have been very faint because the walls don't allow sound to bounce off and get very far creating no reverberation in the room. The room is a 'dead room' because of this making it easier to record for a 'live room'.
This was made with a condenser microphone because it would have the best quality and is what would be used in a radio station. We were stationary in a studio making this possible as condenser microphones are more easily breakable and must not be moved to much. The process was that I would start by introducing the radio station and my friend giving the weather then I finish, trying to sound as interesting as possible as radio hosts do have distinct voices to rake in listeners. The polar pattern was cardioid pattern as both me and my partner were in front of the mic and doesn't pick up any other ambient sound even though there was very little.
The studio is sound proofed shown in the image and sound didn't come out of anywhere else except for us. Any other sound would have been very faint because the walls don't allow sound to bounce off and get very far creating no reverberation in the room. The room is a 'dead room' because of this making it easier to record for a 'live room'.
My voice compared to my partners was not picked up as well enough as you can hear me slightly quieter than my partner. You can tell this by looking at the different portions of the total audio recording as the centre is much louder than the beginning and end. You can tell it's speech because of the pauses in between the sounds on the audio recording.
The second was 'Footsteps that sound like they are approaching from behind a closed door'. This only required one person to make the footsteps and no post-production was permitted. This meaning we had to actually record footsteps approaching from a closed door.
We used a portable Zoom recorder for this sound as we had to make this outside of the studio as it was quicker and more convenient though that did harm the quality as you can't hear the sound too greatly behind the closed door. Though that doesn't mean it was bad because it sounded good enough for it to sound like what it was.
The image shows that the microphone is behind the door and pics up the sound of the footsteps in the gap underneath the door. Though listening to footsteps would't sound too loud through your own ears the recorder amplified surrounding sound well enough to hear the ambient wind that is invisible to us audibly, better listening to the outdoor acoustics. The sound of the footsteps goes outwards around the contact between the foot and the floor but the direction was towards the door, increasing the sound with each step forward. I'd make sure to try pressing down my foot with more force evenly from start to finish so it would sound louder as I got closer and also so it could be picked up by the microphone as it was behind the door.
We used a portable Zoom recorder for this sound as we had to make this outside of the studio as it was quicker and more convenient though that did harm the quality as you can't hear the sound too greatly behind the closed door. Though that doesn't mean it was bad because it sounded good enough for it to sound like what it was.
The image shows that the microphone is behind the door and pics up the sound of the footsteps in the gap underneath the door. Though listening to footsteps would't sound too loud through your own ears the recorder amplified surrounding sound well enough to hear the ambient wind that is invisible to us audibly, better listening to the outdoor acoustics. The sound of the footsteps goes outwards around the contact between the foot and the floor but the direction was towards the door, increasing the sound with each step forward. I'd make sure to try pressing down my foot with more force evenly from start to finish so it would sound louder as I got closer and also so it could be picked up by the microphone as it was behind the door.
The gain function on the ZOOM recorder is very important because when you try to pick up a faint sound you should move the polar pattern to a shotgun and gain up until the sound is well defined. In this case the gain wasn't set high enough to pick up the earlier foot steps but low enough to not make the last ones audible instead of completely crumbling the audio. The shotgun polar pattern is best use as the mic was aimed directly under the door and can pick-up sound in only one direction and can also pick up much further away.
There was also the sound the sound of a cup being filled with water. This didn't have to be long and I wanted to make the most out of it. This was done in in the toilets below as this was a tight room that had a lot of reverberation and made sound much louder as it bounces off the walls. There were no window and a thick door so sound didn't escape anywhere. I recorded the cup being filled and made it overflow as it wasn't big enough to last the 8 seconds required. The microphone polar pattern was set on as super cardioid because I wanted to catch the reverb coming from the room to amplify the sound and enhance the feeling of the water pouring into the cup.
The early attack is of the crackle of the microphone as was held in the air then after the water starts pouring into the cup and you notice the sound of the water fill up the cup as it changes from low to higher pitch. This had a much longer sustain because it was one continuous sound as shown in the yellow box. The sound got higher and ended with a abrupt stop.
The generic Conversation in an ambient room of people talking could not be done well enough in one recording but in two separate one layered on top of each other. This because the background ambience would be too loud and over take the main conversation. The ambience was recorded in the in our sixth form common room as there is always a fair number of students in their at, nearly, any given time of the school day. The room is fairly large and the students were on the outer edge of the room, as the microphone was in the centre as shown, making it easier to not pick up any specific conversation but having all of them overlap each other creating perfect ambience. The polar pattern for this recording was a cardioid as I wanted to catch all the sound any adjacent direction of the microphone. The room was a generic room with no acoustic treatment and sounds bounced around, in and out of the room. The speech was created in the studio that I recorded my generic radio speech to not get any background noise. The actual conversations is just idle chat so it fits in well with the background and sounds realistically acted because we were just talking in general.
Here you can see the two layered recordings the top is the recorded speech because its sound waves are much bigger and has more pauses than the ambience as it is quieter but doesn't stop at all. Both attack straight away because conversation was put in the middle rather than the beginning because they ambience had already started so this seemed seamless. The ambience seems to retain it usual frequency throughout with the exception of a door slam where it show the peak.
The sound of the train was one of the more easier sounds to make because it was an actuality sound meaning an actual sound recorded on location. However that didn't mean it only took one take as outdoor acoustics had interfering unwanted noise like gates closing. Other things like wind noise didn't affect the overall recording because the train was loud enough to be the centre of attention. I recorded the train beginning to end rather than cutting it off for to get actual time. As this was outside the noise of the train went in all directions then disappear. Ideally I wanted to catch the sound of the train passing by but could not use a shotgun as I would have to aim at a moving object which would interfere with the sound because the microphone is very sensitive to shaking meaning it must be left stationary. The polar pattern i was left with was the cardioid as it records above and adjacent sound but might still record the background atmosphere.
The sound of a train is good for ADSR as it shows each stage quite clearly. The attack signifies the trains coming and the yellow box shows where the train passes me as it becomes much louder here then fades out because it has already passed. The sustain is very loud and long to tell its one sound and almost no pauses so its one sound beginning to end.
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The whistle was required to use an actual whistle and to be done in a large sports facility which wasn't available at the time so I used another large hall that had similar level of reverb as the sports hall. The room was very long and easily reached from one end to another as it bounces around the room. The mic was set in the centre to catch all of the room with a cardioid polar pattern. The room's acoustics was very helpful to imitate a spots hall because the recording sounds similar to that of any small sports facility. The whistle was at the end of the room as instructed but also help emphasise the largeness of the room though it had a lower ceiling than the sports hall.
The whistle was short as I couldn't' hold the sound long enough and some of the sound bite was filled with filler. But the main sound sustained as shown in the image below. This had a similar effect of that of the train but not as powerful.
For this one I could't get 30,000 to 50'000 people in a football stadium so this required me having to use post-production but I still needed more than two to make the original recording. I had acquired 4 others, not counting me, to help me with this. We recorded us basically yelling, chanting, screaming, cheering for a few minutes, all in the direction of the microphone. The polar pattern was cardioid because it was best to catch all the people around the mic and could catch the room reverberation. The Sports hall was big and sent all vibration off the walls and ceiling creating a sense of massiveness.
I created three layers of the same track which all most worked perfectly but you could notice that the sound was repeated I also used a logic feature called space designer, computer based software, which does what it says and can create massive space which shows in the edited recording. This was a constant sound similar to that of the ambience except it being much louder and closer.