Hi Bryan, what’s your overall approach to trailer sound?
My approach is really from several angles at once:
First I realize that it is my job to make the film makers happy and to make a trailer that is exciting or captivating for the audience. You only have a short time to tell your story and draw them in so the vision needs to be clear. You can’t leave it up to the mixer to figure out, you have to lay it out so that it sings on its own.
That said I take the music and the story into very strong consideration. I try hard to compliment the music and express the sonic story as much as possible. Working with music is an art in itself that involves both pitch and rhythm but telling the story within that context can be very tricky… especially if you want it to be exciting. Clarity is key.
What makes for a great trailer soundscape?
Soundscapes can tell sorts and reveal concepts that music can’t because it is based on sounds that are grounded in life, unlike music. Music is great at expressing feeling and emotion on a subject level. but sound design is rooted in life experience. The sound of a train of in the distance, a jet fighter ripping by or even ring of a gunshot.
We all can relate to those ideas because we all have been collecting those sonic images our whole lives… through life, through cinema and in our dreams.
A great soundscape is one that pushes what is familiar into a new experience
I think what makes a great soundscape is one that pushes what is familiar into a new experience. One that makes you collect all of the sonic images that bring to life all the images.
What are your favorite tools for trailer sound creation?
Having great sound source is key and knowing what will and what will not work is very important. I am all about processing chains.
I have saved templates that specific processing chains I like to use for certain things, I have racks that I have saved in Soundminer and lately I have been doing a lot of that same thing with Patchwork. That is a great plug-in that allows you to stack processes from top to bottom and left to right with an overall dry/wet control. I use Waves TransX quite a lot.
I like the GRM stuff, Soundtoys, Melda and a host off odd ball processors. I am always looking out for different processes and tools for shaping sound. Lately I have been having lots of fun with Reaktor. The Twisted Tools stuff is great and Meltedsounds Whoosh is endless fun.
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Medieval Battle contains a wide variety of sounds taken straight from the battlefield. Unleash the full force of your army with effects from a diverse range of medieval weaponry, crowds, horses and battle charges. There are also battle cries, screams and shouts to make the audience feel like they are right there on the frontlines. To bring you the most organic and natural battle sounds, we recorded actors performing in a quiet exterior location. All sounds were recorded in 24Bit 96kHz, allowing for further sonic manipulation.
If you think your sound collection is in need of some reinforcements then this is the library for you! Medieval Battle is ideal for use in Film, TV and Game projects, and will make a perfect addition to your sound design arsenal.
Here are the included folders:
Crowds: Crowd rushes and static battle cries in a natural exterior location make these effects perfect for building the bed of a huge Medieval warzone.
Female Voices: 4 individual female actors perform multiple vocalisations including screams, grunts and efforts.
Sword & Shield Hits: A variety of sword and shield hits performed by weapons and combat experts.
Male Voices: 4 individual male actors perform multiple vocalisations including screams, grunts and efforts.
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Cars, trucks, motorcycles at different speeds on a rural road in the middle of nowhere during summer.
From left, from right, from both sides, single vehicle or several at the same time.Recorded simultaneously with an ORTF and a AB microphone stereo pairs.
Gear used:
Sound Devices 788T
MKH8020 stereo pair
MKH8040 stereo pair -
Crisp, clean, crunchy and closely mic’d impacts with various types of pebble and dust debris.
I recorded all these sounds with my brothers during a trip home to Ireland.
Close to our home (out in the middle of nowhere), there is a little quarry with a lot of sand, dust, stones, rocks and some grass. There was also a broken plough there that gave some nice stone on metal impact sounds.Equipment:
2 Line Audio OM1s
2 Line Audio CM3s
Røde NTG3
Tascam DR10025 %OFF -
Recording of a BSA M20 WW2 motorcycle with a 1 cylinder 500cm3 engine with 4 gears.
The BSA M20 WW2 motorcycle sound collection features 322 sounds in 12.02 gigabytes of audio. It showcases a British 1940 Birmingham Small Arms Company military bike and the sound of its 1 cylinder 500cm3 engine with 4 gears.
The sound bundle offers 20 synchronized recordings of onboard, exterior, and performed sound fx. The 7 onboard perspectives record sounds from the engine, exhaust, and onboard locations such as the seat and frame, all of which are also mixed into three pre-rendered tracks with driving at steady RPM, ramps, and gearshifts. The 9 exterior perspectives include turning on and off, departing, arriving, and passing from multiple perspectives and distances from slow to fast speeds. These are paired with performed Foley of handlebar clutch and brake, kickstarting, and more.
The package includes Pro Tools and Reaper mixing sessions, as well as full metadata embedded in every clip.
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Sci-fi Guns Sounds
146 modern guns sound effects divided into more than 15 different types of guns:
– Electric Revolver
– Cannon Gun
– Blaster Rifle
– Low Gun
– Alien Guns
– Automatic Gun
– Old Shotgun and Old Cannon Shots
– Explosive Gun
– Grenades
– Compressed Air Gun
– And many more… Check the Tracklist PDF to see the full list of sounds included in the packSoundcloud Preview
Tracklist PDFMore about the pack:
– Apart from shot sounds, there are reloading & handling sounds
– There’s also the ”Stab” sound and the ”Hit Marker” sound.
– There are single-shot sounds but also loops (Rotary cannon)
– These SFX are suitable for Sci-Fi games but also for warfare, modern warfare ones.
– Intuitive file naming
– All you’ll ever need regarding Sci-Fi Gun Sounds
[Format]
All files are in:WAV – Stereo 44.1 Khz, 16bit
OGG – Stereo 44.1 Khz, 16bit[Use them again & again]
Use the sound effects over and over, in any of your projects or productions, forever without any additional fees or royalties. Use the SFX in your game, in your trailer, in a Kickstarter campaign, wherever you need to, as much as you want to.
[Professional audio services]
For custom music, sound design, sound engineering or any other game audio services, please send a mail to: audioalchemiststore@gmail.com
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The past few years have seen a lot of sound designers creating their own libraries and releasing them independently of any publishers. What does this mean for sound designers such as yourself?
I am a big fan of Independent sound libraries because they make it easy to expand your possibilities at what is usually a very reasonable cost. Most of the independent libraries are recorded at a high quality and you know when go for something that for example Frank Bry has recorded that it is going to have all of the character you need it to. But there are a lot of great independent library makers out there and they deserve a lot of credit for making our lives a lot easier.
Have you considered making your own indie trailer SFX library?
Here is one I get asked quite a lot. The short answer is no. As I work on a trailer I am essentially coming up with a whole pallet of sounds that fit the style of the whole trailer campaign, from the first teaser until the featurettes. Some trailers campaigns have 15 different trailers to them and for each one there has to be a consistent style to them that makes a connection with the feature film. The reason why I have not considered an indie trailer sound library is because those sounds really belong to the life of the trailer.
Right now I am focused on making the best tracks I can.
What are the three most important things to get right when doing sound for trailers?
First you better get the music ironed out correctly. It amazes me sometimes how poorly the music editorial can be on some trailers. Second is the Dialogue.
Clean, understandable dialogue seems like a given but it is one of the hardest challenges in trailer audio.
Having clear, clean, understandable dialogue seems like a given but it is one of the hardest challenges in trailer audio.
Last is the sound design and sound effects editorial and how it relates to the music and dialogue. I think it is obvious but worth mentioning is that having a skilled mixer to make the trailer come together is vital. Their choices on what to play and not play ultimately shape the product into what it will be. My goal is to give them as little to think about as possible.
How has sound for trailers evolved during the time you’ve worked with it, and what trends do you see in trailer sound – and trailers in general?
Trailer sound has changed in dramatic ways. Trailers are now big business with composers, vendors, producers, editors and studio creatives all having a deep interest in how the get made. Trailers are all over the internet with websites dedicated to trailer content, websites dedicated to trailer news and trailer music companies being listened to like pop music on the radio.
I think if you went back 15 years or so you would find a very different trailer world. The industry has evolved but so have trailers. The visuals have gotten better, the audio and the audience for them has grown. I like artistically stylized trailers, what I don’t care for are commercials that are trailerized. I understand there is a market out there for that it is just not what I am personally in to.
So yeah I have been a part of it for a long time and I have seen a lot of changes. I hope that the industry continues to change for the better.
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from a myriad of independent sound creators, all covered by one license agreement
- a few highlights:
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Frozen is a collection of ice impacts, scrapes, debris, slides and more taken during a miserably cold winter in the arctic tundra of Massachusetts. These recordings were meticulously recorded, edited, named, renamed, edited again, re recorded, then re-renamed (you get the point) to give you the best quality ice library you can get.
The library roughly is broken into two sections, raw and processed. Raw is designed for sound designers to go wild with: stretch, distort, compress, and more to your hearts content. The processed section is for designers and content creators on the go. If you’re on a tight deadline, pulling some sounds that are already going to get you close to where you need to be is imperative. These processed versions play very nicely even when not designing ice.
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Gun Sound Pack contains 266 gun sound effects. Guns included: Pistol, Revolver Pistol, Shotgun, Rifle, Sniper Rifle, Semi-Auto Rifle, Sub-Machine gun, Machine gun.
A perfect collection of gun sounds suitable for all types of sound designers, video editors, game developers or anyone who needs a large range of high quality gun sound effects ready to use out-of-the-box. Designed specifically for games, video and other media by award winning sound designers.
This pack also includes a variety of 150 bonus sounds effects from our full library Pro Sound Collection. ALL sounds from Gun Sound Pack are included Pro Sound Collection, so if you need more sounds including bullets, silenced guns, explosions, footsteps, death screams plus MANY more be sure to check it out before purchase.
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The EFX BLACK POWDER Weapons pack is a collection of 19th Century pistol, revolver and rifle weapon sounds.
The collection includes recordings of 1777 AN IX & Lepage pistols, REMINGTON 1858 & RUGER OLD ARMY revolver, 1777 AN IX, 1822 TBIS, GIBBS, LEE ENFELD, PARKER HALE rifles – as well as a number of salvos from black powder rifles.
Travel back in time and recreate classic gunfights and shootouts with this collection of vintage weapon sounds.
+ free sounds with every issue: