The companion collection to June’s theme!  

I must give credit for the inspiration to @EnosDesjardins and @rene_coronado who were discussing on Twitter the other day how train sounds were amongst their favourite background atmos FX.  I wholeheartedly agree so have decided to make it this month’s theme.

This time around, instead of the close, clean detail that was required for June’s ‘Trains: Design’ collection, we need more distant train sounds that are suitable for use in background atmospheres.  Similarly to the requirements I described for the Street Voices’ collection in July, these train sounds need to exhibit more of the acoustic characteristics of their surroundings but cannot be so distant that they are swallowed up by, for example, urban roar.  

The litmus test with these type of FX is whether they still sound good played at low level (as they will be when used in atmospheres).  If there’s a surge of skyline noise when you fade the train sounds in and out then your chosen location is too noisy or the train is too distant.  

Also, does it still sound like a train when played at low level?  I guess you could call this the ‘What the f*%k is that?’ test!  Imagine people who haven’t heard your train recording before, such as a director or producer, hearing it mixed in with the dialogues, music and atmospheres at a dub.  If it is perceived as an indistinguishable clatter or hum rather than as a distant, evocative train pass, it is very likely to get dropped immediately – and quite possibly with the aforementioned expletive question given an airing too!  In short, try to be objective about what your recording can really add to an atmospheres tracklay.

Personally, I intend to visit various overground London transport locations where I’ve noticed interesting acoustics while travelling around over the last year or so.  For example, the train tracks in Acton station lie at the bottom of a deep embankment; a railway bridge I walked under in Chiswick made a great boomy sound as a train passed over and, just today in Richmond, I noticed a train crossing one of the rail bridges over the river that made a really interesting sound too.  

These are just a few London-based ideas I happen to have had.  However, trains are one of the most sonically diverse forms of transport that exist and rail tracks slice through virtually every different form of landscape in the world so the possibilities should be endless.  Good luck with your collecting!

Quite a simple theme this month after quite a tricky one in July.  So simple in fact, I don’t think it’ll really need much explanation.  

I think it suffices to suggest that you provide some individual rings or buzzes and then a variety of multiple patterns too.  It is really important that you let the reverb tails of your bells or buzzers subside completely before triggering the next ring or buzz (unless you’re doing a multiple ring of course) otherwise their usage becomes very limited.   The only other advice I’ll offer is that for your contribution to be as useful as possible, I would ask that you submit recordings of your chosen bell or buzzer from 3 different recording positions (but submitted as one track):

1. Exterior, from the POV of the bell ringer
2. Interior, close / direct (i.e. standing quite near or below it in order to get a clean recording of the bell itself)
3. Interior, a bit more ambient / indirect (perhaps in the next room along from the bell – not too distant but just far enough away to pick some of your house or flat’s acoustics)

Last of all, please don’t forget to put a vocal ident or slate (including your name) on your recordings otherwise I won’t be able to accept it.  And that’s about it  – let’s get collecting ding dongs and bzzzzzzs!

The human voice can evoke so much meaning and emotion.  Therefore, it is an invaluable vehicle for expressing the mood of a location.  As a result, this month’s theme is one of my favourite types of sound effect for creating interesting and evocative soundscapes. 

This theme lies somewhere between ‘exterior crowd’ fx and crowd ADR.  It is not general chat or crowd sounds.  It is more specific than that, and should only consist of one or a few people.  It is not crowd ADR, it is more distant and worldized than that.  The voices need to be raised, if not shouting, in order to carry over this distance.  

These type of recordings are perfect for poking through between dialogue to give a scene character.  Using distant voices in this way is a really effective way of controlling the vibe of an environment –  making it seem anything from intimidating or welcoming to posh or slummy.

A couple arguing in a courtyard; a drunk shouting in an alleyway; noisy scaffolders: a baby’s cries heard from an open window; or a few people talking loudly and laughing in the park – these are the sort of sounds I’m after.

Two important points:  

1. As usual, it is vital that these recordings contain minimal background noise.  They are not atmospheres, they are fx which need to be able to fade in and out without a surge of traffic noise or other general crowd sounds.  
2. Distance is crucial.  Too close and you are basically recording those people’s conversation.  Consequently, a can of worms is opened with regards to model release forms and privacy infringement, etc.  Instead, you need to be distant enough so that you are indirectly recording the voices.  If you stick a mic out of your window and someone is shouting down the end of the street then I would say that no privacy is infringed and you are ok to use that recording howsoever you please.  In contrast, if you make a stealth recording of a couple having a private, heated conversation in, say, a cafe, then I would argue that you have perhaps invaded their privacy and it could be unwise to start using that recording in commercial projects.  Common sense will hopefully dictate what is suitable, but a good guide is to consider whether you are recording someone actively or passively / directly or indirectly and whether they are imposing their voice on your environment or you are invading their privacy.  On the flip side, it will not be possible to use the recording as spot fx if the voices are too distant because the accompanying noise of the surrounding environment will surge in and out too much. 

One last point:  Please specify where your recordings were made.  It is vital that the title or metadata of these FX reveal what country they are from (and also mention if the location is somewhere where the language may be other than the native tongue, eg. Chinatown!)  

Other than that, good luck with your shout-hunting and I look forward to hearing the results!

Very excited about this one.  I have two young boys so inevitably I watch quite a lot of kids’ TV at the moment.  There’s a lot of great kids’ shows around these days but one of my boys’ favourites is called Chuggington which I’ve always thought had particularly good sound FX in it.  So, I’m very pleased to announce that this month’s theme has been requested by the show’s sound designer, Richard Spooner:

“So this is another slightly selfish audio topic as I am starting sound design on a new series of “Chuggington” next week, which is a pre-school show about .. eergh .. trains.