Recording Foley and Wild Track Sounds

I learnt how to create Foley sounds using random objects and this was to create the effects of fire crackling, rain on gravel, a school, restaurant and a crowded street. To create these sound effects, I used three different sound recorders to contrast the difference in sounds created and what worked more effective. The three recording conditions I worked with were; 
- Voice Recorder
- USB Condenser Microphone
- Rode Boom Mic attached to a HD Camera

In the video above, me and my group created a video with all our Foley sounds we created together. Our first sound between 0:06 - 0:29 seconds was the atmosphere of a Restaurant. To create this sound we used a range of different props such as cutlery, empty beer bottle and a glass bowl. All these elements together formed movement in a Restaurant of all the people eating and staff clinking glasses together. These sounds were recorded on the USB Condenser Mic which caught all the different sounds nicely. The sound was quite loud, therefore we used GarageBand to lower the volume. This was to make all the sounds together sound distant. We added in distant chatter from our school surroundings which we used the Rode Mic with the headphones. This recording device picked up such clear sounds from a far distance away and i thought it was brilliant to use to pick up random chatter. I had also tried picking up the same sounds on the voice recorder, however thought the Rode Mic was a better recorder in that scenario. To add in extra sound to make it officially sound like a restaurant, I added music in the background to convey a jolly, mellow atmosphere. The song choice was by KARD called Afternoon Tea. 

The second sound we created was the school which is heard at 0:34 - 0:58 seconds of the video. We waited for the exact moment of when our school bell rings so we could capture the sound of the bell and all the students coming out of lessons. This created chatter of several students which created the atmosphere of a school. We also used the chatter from the school for the restaurant which I mentioned before. What I also mentioned before was what recording device we used to record the sound chatter which was the Rode Mic and this picked up the sound loud and clear. I also compared this by using the voice recorder. 


The next sound at 1:03-1:10 was the park which I found quite difficult to copy various Foley sounds using props. The sounds I wanted to indicate was wind, distant chatter, horses and the sounds of birds chirping. We had created several wild tracks and put them together to overlap and form the setting of a park. Out of all the sounds I created, this was the most difficult, yet I did not give up and found several different props I could use to create the park noises. I used a big sheet of paper the create wind, classmate Edi to signify birds chirping by whistling into the USB Mic and horse footsteps by tapping cups on the table.
 To convey the bird noises, I used the USB Mic and the voice recorded to contrast the two sounds and see which one sounded better. We was having trouble hearing sound on the USB Mic afterwards and could barely hear the noise we were trying to record. Therefore, I used the voice recorder to record the sounds. This sound was such clearer than the USB Mic when recording the bird whistles.

We competed the sound for rain on gravel and used iced sprinkles and and plastic container to represent the sound for the rain pouring. We wanted the sound to start of slow and then increase to make it sound more realistic. The video on the right reveals my classmate Patryk sprinkling 100&1000's from a high distance and making it fall onto the plastic container. We also tried it on a metal cheese grater to see which material made it sound more like rain on gravel. Playing back these two sounds together and comparing it, I found the plastic sound sounded more accurate. To record this sound I used the USB Mic which picked up the sound really well . I found the sound was too loud, therefore moved the mic further away to make it like more faint. 

Lastly, to convey the fire crackling, I used the USB Microphone and then with the Voice Recorder. I used two different objects to represent the fire which was paper which we scrunched up and tore and lastly a plastic packaging wrapper which I also scrunched up and slowly rustled it to make the crackling noise. Listening back to the sounds we created, we found the plastic wrapper sounded more like rain on gravel and the rice on the plate sounded my fire crackling. Therefore, we made the decision to switch the two sounds.