Tips for Recording a Sound Effect Library
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by: SFXsource
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In order to record sound effects for a personal or professional sound effect library one first needs a quality recorder. Personally I've tried all sorts of pricey gear and microphones throughout my sonic adventures only to discover that a solid $150 to $400 handheld digital recorder no larger than an old-school cassette tape box suffices to create sounds good enough for placement in any Film, TV, and media project. In addition, these units run on battery power and the recorded files can be dragged onto your desktop via USB.
Be aware, however, that any device you use must record up to at least a 48k sample rate because video uses audio with a 48k sample rate, not 44.1k. Any 44.1k samples you have will have to be upconverted to be used in a video production and this process always runs the risk of audio damage. Because of these potential problems with lower quality files, 48k sound effects are generally valued more by video editors and thus command a higher sale price should you choose to sell your sounds online.
There are two basic types of sound effects that you will be recording: "hits" and "ambiences." Hits are single short sonic events such as a slap, gun shot, or dog bark. Ambiences are longer background elements such as ocean waves, restaurant environments, or playground noises.
Both categories are necessary in order to create a good sound effect library. You merely have to go to location such as a train station and hit record in order to get ambience recordings and thus they are the easiest to obtain. More planning and scheming, however, is required for hits because you need to gather the objects and perform the actions to be recorded (called foley) or you need to wait outside police stations, for example, for that perfect siren sound.
Recording sounds is simply a matter of pressing record on your digital recorder. Although, it is advised to keep the following points in mind as you record since they will make your work more productive and fruitful.
2. Record all of your sounds as "hot" as you can, meaning as loud as possible without overloading the microphone. You need to pull back from your source if you notice a red LED light on your recorder which signals that your incoming signal is too hot. Capturing the strongest signal without distorting is the goal.
2. Purchase a 10dB pad that fits between your microphone and digital recorder will enable you to record sounds with high decibel levels, such as jet engines or weapons. The pad lowers the incoming signal by 10dB and can be found online for $20.
3. Keep background noise out of your recordings as much as possible without being obsessive about creating "the perfect" studio recording environment because positive and unexpected events can occur such as animal sounds or car noises. A good amount of background noise can be filtered out during editing and being to strict about your recording environment will slow your work down to a crawl.
4. Protect the microphone with a windscreen or simply keep your recorder out of the wind by using physical barriers such as trees, walls, or even your jacket, because wind hitting the microphone head will ruin your recording efforts. Sometimes wind noise can be cut out during editing with a high pass filter and cutting frequencies below 200-500 khz but for the most part wind will destroy your work.
5. Keep background music from loudspeakers or live performances out of your recordings. Your efforts will be compromised if you inadvertently include music in the background, such as the music played in a restaurant. This music is copyrighted and if it appears in your ambience recordings you will be violating copyright law.
It is the hope of this author that the simple advice in this article will aid new sound effect artists in their efforts to create a worthy sound effect library. New articles on editing distinct sound effects from these recordings, categorizing these new sound effects, and licensing them are forthcoming.
About the Author
SFXsource's sound effect library that contains a wide variety of sfx types can be visited, auditioned, and downloaded at Download Sound Effects, and Free Sound Effects and Loops
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