AS Media - Heartbeat SFX Practical Experiment

The Brief:

-To make my own heart beat SFX

Different ideas:

In my sound effects research of the old radio days, I understand that to create heartbeats, they placed the arm of a record player on a towel or other kind of soft fabric – with the needle actually touching the cloth. Light taps on the fabric translated as low-end thumps when amplified through the record player. The “heartbeats” could then be performed as needed. I don’t know how “good” they sounded, but it’s certainly one method.
– Steve Lee

A buddy of mine created a very nice heartbeat using a large plastic trash can. The plastic popping in and out was very controllable and created two distinct in/out “pumping” sounds.
– Bob Kessler

Take a piece of fabric and hold it with a loose grip. Then quickly stretch the fabric for a pounding, heart-like sound.
– David Filskov

Bare your chest (!), position a microphone pointing at your shoulder region and then make a quick inward pull with your arms and hands and stop abruptly. Keeps you warm as well :)
– David Filskov

Any kind of thump run through a lowpass filter sequenced in a reasonably rhythmic sequence will give you the effect. It might be fun to throw in some “flushing blood” kind of liquid.
– Jamey Scott

Anyone try contact mics on a pulse point? This might work well if you also employ a BP cuff (don’t try it on the one in your neck :)
– David Steinwedel

I double the heartbeat with a kick drum. Filter anything below 60Hz, add an insane amount of mid frequency.
– Jerome Boiteau

Sourced from: http://www.epicsound.com/sfx/

Due to my lack of equipment, the availability to much of the methods previously discussed is limited. Therefore, I decided to use one of the methods, being making the noise with my mouth.

After doing the experiment the sound created are linked below:

-

Evaluation Percussion Noise (made with my mouth)

Pros;

- The right sound levels

- The right volume

- The sound was a deep sound that didn't need any distorting or manipulating

Cons;

- Slightly unrealistic

- The quality of the sound was not up to standard

- No increase in the rate, making it harder to use

Further evaluation:

In my opinion the sound created was useful in portraying a rested heart rate, however to a lesser extent. I feel it would be more useful to have an external professional sound effect as it would make the noise, one more realistic and two, more conventional as it would create a more suspenseful effect as that is the purpose behind the professional sound effects.

Voice-over

Using GarageBand, I recorded a voiceover of me humming the song we use in our film opening for when I'm walking whilst dragging my hand along the bush. I did this as in our storyboard our original plan was to include this, as it creates a creepy,  sinister effect. I hummed the first 20 seconds of the song, and in the recording there was no background noise. 

In our editing process and after watching our film opening, we collectively decided not to include the humming as it didn't quite sound right in the clip. We instead used the sound of a heartbeat which we think sounded better as it created more tension and when we showed it to an audience they said "It made them feel very unsettled and uncomfortable".

AS Media - Heart Beat Sound Effect

The brief:

-To find a heartbeat sound effect

Originally we had the idea of making our own heartbeat sound, this would consist of someone vocally making the noise or using percussion to emulate the feeling of a heart beating. However after some discussion and evaluation, we decided it was best to find one as although making our own would work, it would be more effective to get a more realistic one for the context of our film.

After listening to all of the sounds there was a noticeable difference between most of the synthetic ones made and the actual sounds recorded.

Below is the listed sources along with its type (synthetic or actual)
Sources used:

YouTube - Actual
Sound Bible - Synthetic
Sound Snap - Synthetic
Sound Jay - Synthetic
Audio Blocks - Actual
Free Sound - Actual
Free SFX - Synthetic

After hearing all of them I decided to go through the pros and cons of each sound:

YouTube - Actual:

Pros:
- realistic
- good sound quality
- good sound clarity
- the change in heart rate fits what we need

Cons:
- change in heart rate is quite sudden and "blocky"

Sound Bible - Synthetic

Pros:
- good sound quality
- good sound clarity
- the change in heart rate fits what we need

Cons:
- change in heart rate is quite sudden and "blocky"

- highly unrealistic and sounded off

Sound Snap - Synthetic

Pros:
- realistic
- the change in heart rate fits what we need

Cons:
- change in heart rate is quite sudden and "blocky"

- bad sound clarity

- poor download quality

Sound Jay - Synthetic

Pros:
- good sound quality
- good sound clarity

Cons:
- change in heart rate is poor and unprofessional

- unrealistic

Audio Blocks - Actual

Pros:
- good sound quality
- good sound clarity

Cons:
- change in heart rate is quite sudden and "blocky"

- the change in heart rate didn't fit what we need

- slightly unrealistic

Free Sound - Actual

Pros:
- realistic
- good sound quality
- good sound clarity

Cons:
- change in heart rate is in sections and is noticeably and significantly different

- heart rate did not fit what we needed

Free SFX - Synthetic

Pros:
- good sound quality
- good sound clarity

Cons:
- there is no change in heart rate

- unrealistic and slow

After further analysis, I came to the conclusion that the YouTube clip was the best as it also had a good resulting downloading quality and wasn't distorted once place into Final Cut Pro X

Below is the final sound effect that we used:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2_uxjALgdE

Distort ringtone

On iMovie, you can add audio effects to audio to create a distorting effect. Seeing as in our film opening, she drops her phone and this creates a distorted ringtone on an iPhone, I used the typical Apple ringtone and put an effect over it to make it sound creepy.

I tried the 'Muffled effect', but this wasn't creepy as it sounded like she was listening to it in earphones or something. I next tried the 'Telephone' effect, but it had the same problem. The 'Echo' effect was good, but didn't sound as distorted as I wanted it to. I tried the 'Cosmic' effect but this was too distorted and didn't sound realistic. I finally tried the 'Shortwave Radio' effect which was the best, as it is very distorted and clearly broken but sounds realistically different to the original.

Sound effects

The first sound effect that we will need at the beginning and end of our film opening is the stream sound effect. I researched a variety of these online to put over the top of our shots of the stream and the black and out at the beginning. We will use this as an alternative to recording the actually sound of the stream in loose as it will be a stronger sound and will sound more effective.

Here are the two sound effects that we could potentially use for the stream sound effect:

Another sound effect that we want to use at some point during our film opening is an ear ringing silence. I think that we want to uses this when the killer catches the victim and gets stabbed.

Here are some good sound effects that I found:

AS Media - Sound Effect Creation

 

Sound Effects


The Brief;


- To create a sound effect
- Use abstract means to create a sound


Walking Noise:


List of ideas:


- Leaves:
Put a sheet of new and straight aluminium foil on a pillow, and cover with a thin cotton sheet (e.g. kitchen towel or similar), then push on the surface using your hands to mimic the steps. You can overlay this with the sound of snapping twigs to add realism.
-Alessio Sapora


- Swamp/wet mud:
For something walking around in the swamps or wet mud, try: – A big heap of totally wet toilet-paper on your desk… – Mount the mic close up… – “walk” around on it with your fingers… splash away!! Then mix it with whatever Foley footsteps you want.
– Kim M. Jensen
One day I laid out a tarp in my iso booth and did a smash up session with lots of vegetables and melons. At one point, I filled up a bucket of sludge (I believe that would be called a sludgebucket) and abused the contents for a while. I use that stuff for muddy sludgey footsteps, not to mention parts of all kinds of hits, stabs etc. Could be just what you’re looking for. Word of advice though: Do not get rid of the results down the garbage disposal like I tried to do. Cost me $200 in plumbing cleanout :)
– Jamey Scott
I think a wet sponge or rag with the right timing (heel / toes) will do the job.
– Manuel Laval
The best way I found to get the sound I wanted was to fill a 4×2 plastic case with earth and water. We actually made the footsteps with our hands in it.
– Jerome Boiteau


- Grass:
For grassy footsteps I have used newspaper in a plastic grocery bag and softly tapped the bag. It worked out pretty well.
– Spencer Johnson
Old cassette tape – unravel a few tapes and put the tape on different surfaces (carpet, stone etc) and walk on it. Also just rotating it between your hands.
– Mark Estdale
I think a wet sponge or rag with the right timing (heel / toes) will do the job.
– Manuel Laval
The best way I found to get the sound I wanted was to fill a 4×2 plastic case with earth and water. We actually made the footsteps with our hands in it.
– Jerome Boiteau
There are different kinds of grass – green grass and dry grass. People have already mentioned cassette tape for grass but I feel that this sounds exclusively like dry grass. For green grass I use military camouflage. Sounds great and doesn’t compress losing its depth and texture.
– Chris Piggins


- Crops in a field:
Record a bamboo or similar plant (it’ll need to have somewhat dry leaves) being continuously stroked and shaken. Then layer these recordings and use them for the for sound of crops swaying in the wind. For added realism, add some wind ambience as well, and whenever there’s a stronger gust of wind, time the rattling of the bamboo with this to give the effect of the wind picking up in the crops.
– David Filskov


- Metal
Record yourself banging a boot or a heavy shoe against a heater. You can use a pair of boots to simulate a walking pattern.
– David Filskov


Making a walking on leaves sound effect:


Firstly following the source above I placed aluminium foil on top of a pillow, after this, to muffle the pure noise of the foil, I placed down one layer of kitchen towel on top of the foil as shown below

After completing this this the pillow looked like this;














I then with my palm of my hand pressed down onto the pillow whilst rolling my hand forward to create a similar effect to someone placing their foot down onto the floor as seen in the analysis picture below:

 

After I had gotten used to the motion of rolling my hand and making it seamless I recorded the sound below:

Following this I went into post production to create the sound I wanted and made it so that the audio was dubbed over a video of a picture of leaves:

I deleted the video taken of the sound effect so that I could include my own image to fit the sound effect perfectly:


Then I used the footprint sound and looped it so that it sounded like someone was walking:
The final video:

Making a sound effect: A lift door opening

 

I began with 3 glasses.
 

After hitting each of them with my nail, I decided the two wine glasses were the best for the noise I was trying to create. I then filled them with water to see if that would make a difference.

After hitting them both again, I decided the smaller glass made a better sound as it made more of a rounded 'ding' type sound. I filled it with more water to see the effect this would have on the sound. It made it more compressed and faster, so a lot more like the 'ding' of lift doors. 

I tried to find something to hit it with that would make it even more like a 'ding' lift door sound. I tried it with a butter knife, but this was too thin so I tried it with the handle of the knife and this was the perfect sound.

I then put the sound I created over a clip from the TV show Friends of a lift door opening. Here is the final clip.

 

Making a Sound Effect- Practical Task

Production

For this task we were asked to make our own sound effects and then put them on top of an existing video clip.
For this practical, I chose to focus on the film opening of 'Ghost Ship'. At the end of the opening scene lots of bodies drop to the floor as they have been cut in half. For my sound effect, I chose to make a sound effect of a 'body thudding' to the floor.
First of all, I found multiple coats and jackets to mirror the sound of a body falling. Due to the coats being heavy, it replicated the sound well.

I then used my phone to record the sound of myself dropping the coats from a height. After a couple of takes, I had recorded the sound that matched the sound from the section of the video that I was focusing on.

Post Production

The next stage was to crop the video down to the length that was needed for my sound effect. To do this, I 'bladed' the video down to the required shot, (which was of one of the characters falling to the floor) . I then imported my sound clip onto 'Final Cut Pro X'.

I then removed the sound from my video clip to ensure that the original and new sounds did not clash. Next, I put the new sound onto the video clip to finish the task.

Making my own sound effect- Breaking a bone

This video shows two men having an arm wrestle. The man on the left then breaks his arm. I have added my sound that I made to the clip to create it.

I made my sound by getting some celery and snapping it in two. The sound of this sounds exactly like the sound of breaking a bone. I then recorded the sound of me breaking some celery and put it onto final cut.

Once I added the sound clip of me breaking celery I got a video of two men having an arm wrestle where one man breaks his arm off of youtube. I then used clip converter to download the video onto my desktop and add it onto final cut. I then removed the sound from the youtube video and cut it down.

 I then added my sound onto the edited youtube clip and timed it so that the sound went with the video to make my sound effect.

This is a video of me breaking the celery to make my sound clip.