truly present at the scene, watching Antelope grazing
through the Savannah is what it's all about. The quality
of these recordings and sound effects can be measured
by the impression that they leave on an audience.
The field recording process is a bit more challenging than
recording a sound effect inside a convenient, sound-treated
studio. Based on the purpose and source of the sound that
you're trying to capture, your requirement in terms of
equipment will also vary. One of the most important things
that you need to keep in mind while field recording is that
you need to hear exactly what you're capturing, and as
a result, headphones are indispensable. If the intended
source of sound is at a distance in a specific direction,
then shotgun mics are the way to go. These mics cancel
out audio from the sides and the back, which results in
an extremely directional pick-up pattern. If the desired
source is more ambient and not directional, a combination
of cardioid mics for stereo imaging or a stereo microphone
itself can be used. Handheld recording devices from
companies such as Zoom are also a good option in an
affordable price bracket. While recording outdoors, one of
the most common challenges is wind. Companies such as
Rycote have developed windscreens that do an amazing
job of drastically reducing wind noise in your recordings.
In today's world, where we expect everything at the tips
of our fingers, it would be foolish to not touch upon the
convenience of pre-recorded sound effect packs. Available
for cheap or in a lot of cases, for free, these packs have
samples of most conventionally used sound effects such
as creaking doors, breaking bottles or gunshots. You
can also find more specific sounds if you spend enough
time looking online. While these are easily available and
ready to use, they often lack in quality, creativity and
uniqueness, whereas the recordings made by Foley artists
and field recordings are done to serve the purpose of
providing a wholesome experience to the viewer/listener.
In the case of high-budget productions, professional Foley
artists whose focus is recreating these sounds are put to the
job. What is extremely fascinating is that a lot of times the
sounds that accompany a certain visual are created using
completely unpredictable and strange techniques. For example,
the sound that accompanies the visual of person walking on
thick snow is often produced by recording the sound made by
footsteps on small pile of sand in a studio. These techniques
are named after sound effect artist, Jack Foley who worked on
a number of Hollywood films, developing unique methods for
performing sound effects live and in sync with the visuals.
While a lot of these sounds are recreated by using a different
set of materials to produce suitable effects in a studio,
sometimes the producers or film-makers prefer to have actual
field recordings of the environment. A perfect example for
this kind of a scenario would be a wildlife documentary.
The ability to immerse a viewer, who might sitting in his
apartment in Bangalore, to make him feel as though he is
Another important factor is giving these sound effects
an aural depth of perception and directionality. Whether
you're watching a film at a movie theatre, at your home
audio system or on your headphones, stereo imaging plays
a huge role in determining how your ears perceive the
sounds and correlate it to the visuals. For example, a shot
of someone running across a hall, from the left to the right,
needs to be accompanied by footsteps with consequent
panning. Effects like reverb and echo make a great deal
of difference in defining the distance between the source
of a sound and a listener as well as the environment in
which the sound is produced in. A perfect example would
be to pair a shot of someone walking towards the camera
in large hall with the sound of faint footsteps drowned
in a hall reverb. As the person get closer, the volume
of the footsteps increase as the reverb decreases.
These techniques are not limited to films and videos but in a
variety of other media such as video games and, obviously,
music. In certain genres of music, portraying soundscapes
plays a huge role. Electronic genres such as psychedelic
trance heavily employ the use of field recordings and sound
effects to establish trippy soundscapes. Instances such as
Agalloch, a black metal band, tapping on a deer skull to
create a beautiful and meditative percussive element on
their track “The Lodge”, are proof of the results that can be
achieved when these techniques are used with creativity.
The
Score Magazine
highonscore.com
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