Tips for Recording a Sound Effect Library
In order to record sound effects for a personal or professional sound effect library one first needs a quality recorder. Personally I've tried all sorts of pricey gear and microphones throughout my sonic adventures only to discover that a solid $150 to $400 handheld digital recorder no larger than an old-school cassette tape box suffices to create sounds good enough for placement in any Film, TV, and media project. In addition, these units run on battery power and the recorded files can be dragged onto your desktop via USB.
You must make sure that any recorder you purchase records up to at least a 48k sample rate .wav file because audio for video is prepared as 48k. Any 44.1k samples you have would work fine on a CD but for DVD usage they will have to be up-converted to 48k which can result in "aliases," sort of sonic ghosts that compromise the quality of your recording. Also, 48k sound effects command a higher price on downloadable sites because their sound quality is simply better due to more samples per second of audio.
There are two basic types of sound effects that you will be recording: "hits" and "ambiences." Hits are single short sonic events such as a slap, gun shot, or dog bark. Ambiences are longer background elements such as ocean waves, restaurant environments, or playground noises.
Any quality sound effect library needs both types of sound effects so you should be intent on recording both types. Ambiences are the easiest to obtain because they require only being at a location, standing there, and recording. Hits, though, need more planning because you often need to do foley to get what you need or wait around at various locations for the right moment, such as visiting a new mother and her newborn in order to capture that perfect baby cry.
Recording sounds is simply a matter of pressing record on your digital recorder. Although, it is advised to keep the following points in mind as you record since they will make your work more productive and fruitful.
1. Make sure that you record as "hot" as possible, meaning with the loudest signal that does not clip or overload the microphone. If you notice a red LED light blinking when recording it means that your incoming signal is too hot and you will want to pull back your mic a bit from the source. You want the loudest signal without distortion.
2. Purchase a 10dB pad that fits between your microphone and digital recorder will enable you to record sounds with high decibel levels, such as jet engines or weapons. The pad lowers the incoming signal by 10dB and can be found online for $20.
3. While you want to minimize unwanted sounds and noise in your recordings as much as possible, do not obsess over finding the quietest recording environment because great sound effects can occur unexpectedly such as a beefed up motorcycle cruising by. If you are too uptight about getting that perfect recording environment you will slow yourself down in your efforts to gain content and just remember that you can always filter much background noise from your recordings during the editing process.
4. Keep your microphone out of the wind while recording by standing strategically behind wall, trees, or parked cars because wind hitting the head of the microphone will compromise your recordings. Through the editing process and by cutting lower frequencies you can often minimize wind noise but for the most part wind will render your recordings useless.
5. Keep background music from loudspeakers or live performances out of your recordings. Your efforts will be compromised if you inadvertently include music in the background, such as the music played in a restaurant. This music is copyrighted and if it appears in your ambience recordings you will be violating copyright law.
These tips are simple and meant to point an aspiring sound effect artist in the right direction toward the creation of a sound effect library for use or for sale online. Future articles will discuss the process of editing, categorizing, and marketing these raw recordings.
You must make sure that any recorder you purchase records up to at least a 48k sample rate .wav file because audio for video is prepared as 48k. Any 44.1k samples you have would work fine on a CD but for DVD usage they will have to be up-converted to 48k which can result in "aliases," sort of sonic ghosts that compromise the quality of your recording. Also, 48k sound effects command a higher price on downloadable sites because their sound quality is simply better due to more samples per second of audio.
There are two basic types of sound effects that you will be recording: "hits" and "ambiences." Hits are single short sonic events such as a slap, gun shot, or dog bark. Ambiences are longer background elements such as ocean waves, restaurant environments, or playground noises.
Any quality sound effect library needs both types of sound effects so you should be intent on recording both types. Ambiences are the easiest to obtain because they require only being at a location, standing there, and recording. Hits, though, need more planning because you often need to do foley to get what you need or wait around at various locations for the right moment, such as visiting a new mother and her newborn in order to capture that perfect baby cry.
Recording sounds is simply a matter of pressing record on your digital recorder. Although, it is advised to keep the following points in mind as you record since they will make your work more productive and fruitful.
1. Make sure that you record as "hot" as possible, meaning with the loudest signal that does not clip or overload the microphone. If you notice a red LED light blinking when recording it means that your incoming signal is too hot and you will want to pull back your mic a bit from the source. You want the loudest signal without distortion.
2. Purchase a 10dB pad that fits between your microphone and digital recorder will enable you to record sounds with high decibel levels, such as jet engines or weapons. The pad lowers the incoming signal by 10dB and can be found online for $20.
3. While you want to minimize unwanted sounds and noise in your recordings as much as possible, do not obsess over finding the quietest recording environment because great sound effects can occur unexpectedly such as a beefed up motorcycle cruising by. If you are too uptight about getting that perfect recording environment you will slow yourself down in your efforts to gain content and just remember that you can always filter much background noise from your recordings during the editing process.
4. Keep your microphone out of the wind while recording by standing strategically behind wall, trees, or parked cars because wind hitting the head of the microphone will compromise your recordings. Through the editing process and by cutting lower frequencies you can often minimize wind noise but for the most part wind will render your recordings useless.
5. Keep background music from loudspeakers or live performances out of your recordings. Your efforts will be compromised if you inadvertently include music in the background, such as the music played in a restaurant. This music is copyrighted and if it appears in your ambience recordings you will be violating copyright law.
These tips are simple and meant to point an aspiring sound effect artist in the right direction toward the creation of a sound effect library for use or for sale online. Future articles will discuss the process of editing, categorizing, and marketing these raw recordings.
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SFXsource's sound effects library which contains a huge variety of sfx categories can be visited, auditioned, and downloaded at Download Sound Effects, and Free Sound Effects and Loops
posted by Marcondes Allen at 1:25 AM
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