Sound f/x Long Ambient Sounds

[laserboy171]

In pre-production of "Later Life" which is set at dusk on high rise terrace 6-8 stories up in Boston waterfront condo. Director wants general harbor/city din at very suble level throughout to create very realistic setting. Thus, I have about 90 minutes of audio 'bed' to create incorporating all the layers you'd hear if you were there in person.

Audiosparx has some great ambient sounds which could be mixed/modified but nothing really over 3-5 minutes.

Can anyone suggest sources for longer tracks? This may be a field recording.

 

[Dionysus]

Perhaps subtly would be a good thing instead of a constant stream of sound a soft series of sounds spread out...

Are there any bridges nearby that have a sounding of some sort? What kinds of ships/boats are in the area? Is there constant ship traffic? Is there a tendency of fog (thus a fog horn)? What other sounds would there be?
Street traffic? Sea Gulls? etc?

We don't want to hear them all constantly...

Often I use a series of sounds mixed together near the top of a scene, fade them out and have perhaps one or two key sounds later on as needed... That way you set the tone of the location without distracting from the 'action'.
Other times you can whip something together that will last the duration... But you don't want it too repetitive (or not repetitive enough) as to distract the audience...

If the audience doesn't even comment on the sound effects afterwards, that usually means you did a great job. If they say anything about them, either they were too much, bad, or the other elements of the production were really lacking so they paid more attention to your sounds then they should have.

A "Soundscape" sounds to me like what you are talking about here.

 

[hyperbuddha]

What about a loop.


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[jkowtko]

Yes, a loop. I wouldn't record anything longer than a minute. So long as you don't have any recognizable distinct sounds within the loop, the audience shouldn't notice that it's repeating.

 

[gpforet]

I do my own field recording for this sort of thing. A few years back I did Holloween Dreams, and had a sound bed of night sounds (crickets, bugs, a few other animal sounds). I'm fortunate to live out in the country a bit, so I was able to capture these late at night (2-3 am). I still had to edit out the occasional airplane or car sound from a road a little over a mile away.

I really enjoy field recording and use a combination of tools including the Zoom H2 and some assorted shotgun condensors. I am always amazed when I fire up the mics late at night, monitoring thru isolating in-ears, at how much noise pollution can be heard even late into the night. Everything from neighbor's loud televisions, air conditioners, trucks engines from miles away, airplanes, etc. I suspect to I'd have to get pretty far out into the woods (several miles) to not hear any of it.

Once I had a few hours, I mixed a few different sounds. With something as complex and non-descrip as wood sounds, it was fairly easy to drop in a frog or cricket here and there. I rendered the file to an mp3, and then used it as a track within Show Cue System with slow fades in and out.

In pre-production of "Later Life" which is set at dusk on high rise terrace 6-8 stories up in Boston waterfront condo. Director wants general harbor/city din at very suble level throughout to create very realistic setting. Thus, I have about 90 minutes of audio 'bed' to create incorporating all the layers you'd hear if you were there in person.

Audiosparx has some great ambient sounds which could be mixed/modified but nothing really over 3-5 minutes.

Can anyone suggest sources for longer tracks? This may be a field recording.

 

[laserboy171]

I'm actually looking for general 'din' of being outside on city balcony overlooking Boston harbor...which could incorporate a lot of different layers, some subtle, some not. I agree the design should be 'unnoticed' as subtlety is king. However, at the same time I want to put people there. The show is 'real-time' 90-mins no intermission, no scene/time changes....so no natural breaks.

Hard time finding good sample of any duration. The 'noise' could be looped but I dont' like looping anything less than 5 mins for this sort of thing. I can 'paint' with other occasional SFX on top.

Textures include a few boats, airplane take-offs/landings (Logan is in plain sight), city traffic in distance, a bird or two (this is dusk/evening), occasional light breeze. I'd prefer occasional SFX vs. constant din, but I think it can work right....if kept really low.

Space is very intimate and seats only 60 people. Immersive theatre to say the least.

Thank you for all the postings!

 

[SHARYNF]

Since you are in MA I suggest you record the track your self. There are some advanced techniques used in games called Adaptive audio which start with a series of stems and then can mix and match them so that you don't have a boring looped track but for what you want to do I really think either recording your self or getting someone there to do it for you would work best.


BUT I did find a site that you might find usefull, they have an hour long city streets track but when I try to access it I get amazon jungle sounds.

City Sound Effects, City Sounds, Free Sound Effects

Sharyn

 

[BNBSound]

Chalk up one more vote for just hitting them with a soundscape at the top and firing off one time SFX here and there to get it done. If you absolutely positively MUST have a constant "din" going on then here's what I would try. A lot of what you hear in the city is just a dull roar, mostly wind and tire noise from vehicles, natural wind on the structures, and building ventilation. I'd roll some pink noise, take the top off with some EQ and use that as your bed.

To add depth to it I'd set the recorder going and start dropping in the occasional car horn, engine rev, ambulance, bad brakes, etc. If you need it timed to scenes you can load up a sampler or iTunes and play them on the fly.

 

[Morpheus]

The problem with having a constant noise, of ANY kind, is that eventually people will tune it out... any anything else thats within the frequency, like parts of spoken words.
So, by wanting a consant 'din' your director is arguably hurting the play... does he/she think the actors don't have much vocal talent?
Also, what's the point in making a 90 minute piece of audio, if people are only going to pay attention to maybe 20 minutes of it?
Opening/closing soundscapes and punctual SFX seem best...

 

[museav]

Great point, the very background sounds they want as an effect are greatly adapted to and 'tuned out' in the real world. I agree with maybe using it more to set the mood at certain points than trying to create a continuous noise.

If they have to have 90 minutes of continuous background noise, you may have to create a subtle bed that is looped, and maybe varying a bit over time, and then add intermittent events such as car horns, ships whistles and so on on top of that. Even then, 90 minutes is a long file and you may still want to create a shorter piece and loop it some limited number of times.

 

[laserboy171]

Agree on not having constant din. Alas, directors are just that!