Considerations When Making Sound Effects and Background Noise

Things to do, and keep in mind, when recording, and making, sound effects and background noise. I have a love for audio dramas, and want to make my own from time to time. This is less of an exact how-to and more of a set of rough guidelines and tips to help in the process of getting into sound design. This is not comprehensive list at all, it will contain a few how-to-achieve the sounds, but mostly just a few things to help the brain juice get flowing in the correct channels.

1. Audio is the make-or-break of many forms of media, if the audio is lacking then the whole project is likely to suffer greatly. Make sure to be very calculated when working on a project involving, and especially relying upon, audio.
2. Keep alert to the sounds around you and their possibilities, you never know when you'll stumble upon a sound that would be perfect for something you hadn't even considered.

There are a few things you should ask yourself and think of when it comes to general sound design:

1. What is happening in this scene and what sorts of things in it make noise?
2. What is the balance in making a realistic-sounding background without making it overwhelming to the senses?
3. How can these noises be achieved with a little bit of creativity and the resources around me?

To add proper ambience feel, you will want to get a base recording to start off with of the environment your scene is set in. This means just getting a recording of the "dead air" (aka the environment without any extra added sounds) in a similar/simulated or same environment.

A few specific examples:

1. When the scene is set inside a vehicle. Consider that the space is very enclosed and usually well sound-insulated. So for this example a similar simulated environment could mean a small, walk-in closet with lots of clothing for sound dampening.
2. A castle, the walls are dense but the space is fairly open.
3. A cave, can be dense or echoey depending on what sort of cave the setting is in.

There are a few things you should ask yourself when it comes to background sound design:

1. What noises would be found in this environment? Are there any noises that could happen but not always such as flies buzzing past or a ventilation system turning on or off?
2. What would noises sound like in this particular environment?
3. What do these noises convey?

Action sounds! Not something I'm good at yet but let's take a crack at a few of the possibilities.

1. Old trick: upside down cups clopping up and down to simulate horses hooves galloping.
2. Tires screeching, sirens, engines revving. Be sure to be safe when trying to get these for yourself.
3. Mellee battle: swords clashing and hitting against each other and shields, spears and maces hitting shields
4. Bows: can use the noise of stretching a unfilled balloon for a more cartoony sound of drawing back the bow string. Thud of releasing the string and the brief whistle and/or whoosh of the arrow flying through the air to the thud of impact.
5. A metal slinky is great for making electrical burst noises or laserblaster noises.

When it comes to animal noises we have several options: artificial sources, human imitations and recording the actual animals. This last one can be a bit tricky in most cases so we are going to look a little at the first two options. If doing these sounds for an audio drama it can be rather tough to convey exactly what is desired since animals do not tend to be always making the noises commonly attributed to them (barking, clucking, mooing) and usually it is opted to go the animal noise voice-actor route.

1. see if any of your friends know how to make any animal noises and keep a list of them. Usually people who have owned or been around a certain animal for a time will know how to imitate it fairly well.
2. Squirrel chattering can be mimicked roughly by curling a coin between pointer and thumb, making a hollow with the rest of the fingers and tapping quickly on the quarter with a different coin.

A list of common noises associated with certain animals to help know what you should aim for in deciding on a direction for animal sound design in a given project:

1. Bird noises:
2. Parakeets have a high, quick chirp and also do a series of chirps or scolding.
3. Cat noises:
4. Meowing: chipper when greeting or pleased - how common this is depends on the type of cat but generally less common.
5. Dog noises:
6. Barking. brief, expressive woofs. Panting, growling, whining.
7. Jangling collars and leashes, and shuffling around (their nails can also make a click-clackey noise depending on floor surface).
8. Gnawing on surfaces (especially hard materials like bones and sticks)
9. Chicken noises:
10. Quiet clucks and a sound that resembles a chicken version of purring, typical and angry clucking.
11. Scratching, pecking on things, sound of their pointy toes scritch-scratching/click-clacking on hard surfaces as they walk
12. Roosters, crow
13. Duck noises:
14. Quacking - tends to vary between quieter, rhythmic quacking and loud, repeated quacks
15. Rodents:
16. Guinea pigs, rhythmic high pitched squeak, slower and/or heavy scurrying
17. Mice, little squeaks, scurries quickly and a lot
18. Rats, chatter, squeak
19. Squirrels, chattering, scolding
20. Barn animals: They tend to do a lot of snuffling, shifting and grunting.
21. Horses neigh, nicker, clomp their hooves
22. Cows, moo, heavy, dense clomping
23. Sheep, baa, bleat, smaller clicking/clomping of their cloven hooves
24. Pigs, snort, squeal. Older tend to have heavier sounding movements, tend to be slower. Young piggies can be faster and lighter.

1. Traffic: Honks, beeps, sirens.
2. Riding in a vehicle: accelerating and braking, going over bumps
3. Bikes: bicycle chains, bicycle bell & the sound of pedaling
4. Trains: (steam) Whistles, steam being released, chugga chugga chugga. General train noises: going over bumps in the track or going around corners or into a tunnel. Electric: the sound of air rushing past outside the train, the hum of electricity.
5. Plane: Compressed space/area, deep hum of flying, and air conditioning being pumped in.
6. Helicopter: the ain't called choppers for no reason - chopchopchopchop of the blades

Ways to make sounds for squishy, squelchy monsters, unappetizing food or pits of goo and glue.

1. Cooked macaroni. I've found that Kraft macaroni specifically has this really squish-squashy noise to it. After cooking until soft, strain it and then while it is still plain, record the sounds of it being moved around with a utensil or being shifted around in the strainer.

1. Cornstarch - the oldie but goodie way to make snow sounds. Press down on a box of cornstarch to sound like a footstep in the snow.
2. Fire - crinkle a largish amount of plastic to simulate a campfires crackles and pops.
3. Beeping, bloops and clicks for a modern or futuristic tech setting
4. Rub a filled balloon or let the air out slowly for blurbles, squeaks and shrieks.