NASA Space Sounds

NASA Space Sounds - Information about the recordings and sample sounds of the planets, moons and rings of planets in our Solar System. These sounds are studied by doctors and scientists to this day, and are said to have a profound effect on the subconscious mind. 

For live 24hr sound from space, see: http://www.radio-astronomy.net/

(I didn't know that space had sound untill I found these websites during my sound research)

Surround Sound

Suround sound is a special way to present audio from a film, tv or game, that allows you to feel as you are in the middle of the action. 

These sounds need to be recorded in a special way, either during the production with special microphones, or in the pos production.

The three most popular formats are:

- Dolby Digital

- Neo 6 

- THX (LucasFilms Sound System)

In order to hear surround sound you need:

1- Speakers

2- Receiver that can process the surround

3- Source material that have ben recorded in surround sound.

5.1 Surround stands by 5 speakers with 1 subwoofer.

Surround mixing is becoming increasingly important to all of us, rather than just those who work in audio-for-picture applications.

Dolby Digital - Surround Test (click here to hear)

British Library - SOUND ARCHIVE

Explore FREE of charge, the fantastic collection of 50 000 selected recordings of music, spoken word, and human and natural environments from all over the word.


Each sound has its terms and conditions of usage. You can get copyright free of charge, specially if you are using it for non-commercial research, study and privet enjoyment.





Click here to go to the SOUND ARCHIVE

Film "District 13" - good exercise for ears

About the sound:

- Almost 100% of the movie had music, foley and sound effect. 

- The music and the sound effects are very intense. They are edited so well that we cannot feel when one sound finishes and the other starts.

It is a good exercise to listen the vast use of foley and sound effects.

 WATCH THE TRAILER

Foley and Sound Effect

The Videomaker magazine published three very interesting articles about  foley, they are worth to reading:

1. Real-time Sound Effects: The Foley Way   

 

    Article

2. Creating Sound Effects

     Article

3. Sound FX: Think Outside the Source

     Article

FILM: Lisbon Story - by Wim Wenders

Storyline

The director Friedrich Monroe has trouble with finishing a silent b&w movie about Lisbon. He calls his friend, the sound engineer Phillip Winter, for help. As Winter arrives Lisbon weeks later, Monroe is disappeared but has left the unfinished film. Winter decides to stay, because he is fascinated of the city and the Portuguese singer Teresa, and he starts to record the sound of the film. At the same time Monroe cruises through the city with a camcorder and tries to catch unseen pictures. Later they meet and Winter convinces Monroe of finishing the film.  (imdb)

On the minute 21 of the film, Phillip Winter shows to the children why he has a bag full of props, he starts making foley and the children have to guess which sound he is reproducing.

The first foley is a horse galloping, he uses two half of a coconut to make the sound. I wanted to try to do the same, I bought 1 coconut cut in two half and clean it. This is the result:

Click here to check my video

Starting a take (recording)

The director instructs the sound recordist:   “ Turn over “

Once the recorder is up to speed, the recordist confirms: “Sound speed”.

At this point both camera and recorder are running in sync.

The Director says:  “Mark it”.

The camera assistant or clapper announces the slate and take number and claps the Board.

The the Director says: “Action”.

Take is stopped when the Director says: “Cut”

Sound Report

Sound Recordists normally write down all the information referring to the audio recording session in  what they call a Sound Report.

In the sound report there will be information such as:

Title/Production, Disc/Roll n., Recorder make, Sample Rate, Bit Depth, Timecode

Scene n., Take n., Microphone, Location, Camera Format, Camera Speed and how many audio channels were used to record the audio.

The Sound Report is very important because it will allow the editor to access the information very quickly and as accurate as possible.

Audio Recorder

New technologies have been developed which have made sound recording easier and allow the possibility of skipping mixers and routers although big productions will normally use a mixer as well.

- SSD (Solid-State Drivers), it records data into a memory card.

- Hard Drive Recorders

- And others combine the Two

      

           Solid-State Drive                                                           Hard Drive Recorder

Camcorder

The audio can also be routed direct into the camcorder as is usually done in news gathering and other productions eliminating this way the need to synchronize sound and image in the post-production.

Sound Mixer

Most professional productions use an audio mixer specially for dialogues.

The advantages of an audio mixer are: 
-  Tone Generator - It records a reference tone as point of reference for the editor.
-  Rolls off and cuts - To eliminate rumble, hiss and other undesirable sounds.
-  Quality - Most camera don’t have quality mic pre-amps.
-  Panning & mixing -  Let’s you determine the panning of microphone channels or mix two or
more mics together.
-  Better metering - High quality audio meters and better monitoring.

Monitoring & Audio meters

Audio levels are measured in decibels, dB.
ANALOGUE AUDIO  the highest volume level reading is 0 dB.
DIGITAL AUDIO  once audio reaches 0 dB a nasty distortion can show up. The level reading in the UK for digital audio is -20 dB and for music is -12 dB.


VU Meter (Volume Unit) - The VU (Volume Unit) meter has been used since the very beginning of the audio broadcasting and recording industry. The reading of the volume indicator should be 0 VU

PPM Meter (Peak Programme Meter) - A peak programme meter (PPM) is an instrument that indicates the level, loudness or volume of an electronic audio signal. It was originally developed in 1938 by the BBC as a superior alternative to earlier types of meter, which were not much use for monitoring peak audio levels.

 

How to minimise wind and unwanted noise when using a shotgun

There are couple of accessories you can add to the microphone to help minimising unwanted noise.

- Shockmount – anti-vibration holder

To protect your recording from knocks and bangs. 

    

- Windprotections - There are many different kinds of wind protectors, from a basic foam windscreen to a heavy-dutty windscreen. It is essential to have couple of protectors specially when recording outside.

eg: wind jammers, softies, dead cats, smoothies, blimps, zeppelins, etc.

Most common types of microphones used in film and video productions

Shotgun

Shotgun is a type of microphone that is a long narrow tube

Long Shotgun & Short Shotgun

- longer shotgun: usually has a narrower angle of acceptance of sound

and rejects more sound from the sides, also referred to as "off-axis”.

- shorter shotguns: will usually pickup more sound from the sides and will not  isolate a single element as much as a longer shotgun will.

Microphones

Microphone is a device that converts sound waves into an electrical signal.

-       Dynamic Microphone:

It is used for general proposes, live vocal, drums, etc. it doesn’t need energy supplier.

-       Condenser Microphone:

Is normally used in studios, it is very sensitive to loud sound. This type needs electric energy to work; it can be connected to batteries or phantom power. The phantom power is the system that supplies energy through the same cable as the audio.

Directionality of a microphone:

-       1- Cardioid

-       2- Hypercardioid

-       3- Omidirectional

-       4- Bi-directional

Pick up patterns (red):

                     1                                   2                                   3                                  4

Lavaliere (Wireless) Microphone

Lavaliere microphones can be classified into two categories:

Omni-directional - picks sound fairly well from all sides

Uni-directional - picks sound from a very narrow area! It has a similar pattern to that of a shotgun or hyper cardioid. It must be aimed at the person’s mouth.  They mostly use by news presenters.

A wireless system consists of a single transmiter and a single receiver.The most modern ones use a UHF (ultra high frequency) band which is considered more effective  and less crowded than VHF (very high frequency) band.

BOOM TECHNIQUE

Boompole - How to handle


- To reduce Handling noise, grip the pole firmly but not rightly
- Avoid excess hand or finger movement

- Some boom operators wear gloves to reduce finger sticking

- Hold the boom parallel to the floor and high above your head

- Keep your arms closed to your head, like a capital “H”

- Try to position the microphone as close as possible to the action

- Be very careful not to include the mic in the shot

Do we need permission to record sound in public places?

NO. There is no need to require permission.

Before start recording sound in public spaces, I sent an email to Film London to confirm with them if I need any permission to record sound in public spaces, including Big Ben and other London landmarks. 

What do they mean?

ADR - Automated Dialogue replacement 
Recorded dialogues with high levels of background noise or any other type of problems       must be re-record using a process called ADR.

The actor/actress watches the image repeatedly while listening to the original dialogue recorded on headphone as a guide. She/he then re-performs each line to match the words and lip movements.

Foleys

Foley is the art of recording sound effects that are missing in a specific scene of the production such as steps, door handle, the rustling of clothing and others.

The Foley technique was named after Jack Foley, a sound editor at Universal Studios.

A good foley artist basically becomes the actor in certain scenes for the sounds to be realistic and convincing.

The foley crew normally involves the artist or “walker” who makes the sound and a technician who records the sound.

    Walking surface for the production of all types of footsteps

Room Tone
A location’s “aural fingerprint”, room tone is the natural sound of a room without the interference of any other sound.

A microphone placed in two different empty rooms will produce different room tones for each.

Room tone is recorded during production sound recording and is used to match and fill the production sound track to provide a continuous sound background.

Diegetic Sound

Sound whose source is visible on the screen or whose source is implied to be present by the action of the film:

•Voices of characters

•Sounds made by objects in the story

•Music coming from instruments in the story

Diegetic is any sound originated from source within the film’s world and it can be:

•On screen -  when the source that produces the sound is seen

•Off screen -  when the source that produces the sound is not seen

Non-diegetic sound

Sound whose source is neither visible on the screen nor has been implied to be present in action:

•Narration

•Sound effects added for more drama

•Mood music

Non-diegetic sound  comes from a source outside story space.

Establishing sound

Sound that establishes the character of the surroundings from the very beginning of a scene.

Establishing sound is usually removed or regularly reduced in volume during dialogues but may return as reestablishing sound.

•Traffic sound

•People cheering in a stadium

•Sound of people dinning in a restaurant

Sound Motif

A sound effect or combination of sounds that are associated with a particular character, setting, situation or idea through the film.

The sound motifs condition the audience emotionally for the intervention, arrival or actions of a particular character.

The use of sound motifs can help shape a story that requires many characters and locations and so it helps unify the film and sustain its narrative and thematic development.

Soundtrack Music

Music of a specific scene or character made specially for it or already recorded by a pop group or singer.

Music helps to dictate the emotion of a scene and can be only in one part or throughout  the film.

Reverses

In the broadcast world of TV reverses are the interviewer’s recorded questions.

Interviews are normally shot with only one camera, the camera person records first the interviewee answering all the questions. Once the interview is finished the camera person then records the interviewer asking the questions (reverses).

Later at the station the video editor will edit the images intercalating them making sure it looks and sounds like it was shot with two cameras.

Wild track

Wild track is sound recorded separately to be synchronized later in the film or video.

It can be recordings of dialogues (extra lines) or atmos sound when the camera is not rolling any more.

Digital Audio Connectors

Digital audio connectors enable digital audio equipment to transmit digital data.

Interfaces

AES/EBU    - Supports 24-bit signals and two channels. It uses the standard XLR connector

S/PDIF        - Sony/Philips Digital Interface Format is a two channel format, it uses RCA                   

                       phono sockets with standard coaxial cable.

The formats bellow use a separate word clock generator, usually a BNC video type also used as a timecode in/out connector.

TDIF   - (Tascam Digital Interface) developed for Tascam DA88 a small multichannel machine with eight tracks. It uses a 25-pin type D connector.

ADAT  - (Alesis Digital Audio Tape) Multitrack recorder, it uses standard Toslink optical connectors and cables to transmit eight channels.

MADI   - Multichannel Audio Digital Interface connects a multitrack recorder to mixing consoles. It carrries 56 channels of audio on a single high-grade  coaxial cable.

                      

Bit depth & sampling rates

Most audio file formats use a variety of bit depth and sample rates

Bit depth

16, 24 and 32 

Sampling rate

44.100Hz, 48.000Hz, 96.000Hz and 192.000Hz

48k is common for video

16 bit  44.100Hz    standard for CD

Sample Rate & Pulse Code Modulation (PCM)

PCM   encodes audio waveform as a series of amplitudes in the time

           domain. The sampling takes place at precise regular intervals

           controlled by a quartz crystal clock.

           For successful recording the sample rate must exceed 40 kHz,

           that’s why audio CDs have a sampling rate of 44.1 kHz.

           However 48 kHz is the standard sampling rate for broadcasting.

Analogue to digital

To enable computers and hard disk recorders to record and edit sounds,

those sounds must be digitized.

Digitized audio is a series of “snapshots” that we hear as countinuous sound.

     

                           Analog signal                                Resulting sampled signal

Sample rate defines the number of samples per second measured in kHz

The more samples there are, the higher the quality.

BIT DEPTH         limits quantities such as  dynamic range  and  signal-to-noise ratio

wide dynamic range

For  each 1-bit increase in bit depth, the dynamic range will increase by 6 dB.

24-bit digital audio has a maximum dynamic range of 144 dB.

16-bit maximum dynamic range is 96dB.

Bit depth is only meaningful when applied to pure PCM (Pulse-code modulation)devices.
MP3 and other lossy formats are non-PCM formats

SAMPLE RATE   limits the  frequency

AC3

AC3 is a compression system used by Dolby which produces excellent  

results.

AC3 uses “temporal or psychoacoustic masking” to compress the

signal by a ratio of about 12:1 in comparison with the original recording.

AC3 compresses a multichannel signal down to two tracks and is normally

used to encode audio on a variety of formats, such as DVD, Digital TV and

Dolby Digital Film prints.