Sound Design?

[KatMaestro]

Hello fellow garage band's musicians, what are you techniques and advices on recording sounds? What type of mic should I use for outdoor recording? What program is best for mixing and mastering the sounds? Do you often mash up two or more samples to create something new? And what are you advices on that?

Thank you for your time :)

[Lich]

For general 'LichLord' percussion I'm doing for something at the moment (indoor recording), I'm literally running a long XLR cable from my Interface to my Shure mic which I've setup in the kitchen. Literally banging pots, pans and knives together and taking samples ist very fun but it would be better on a pricier mic which could pick up the detail a little better (I only have an SM58 and my USB Studio Mic picks up too much background noise at my current place as I'm next to a road).

NI Battery is perfect for playing home-made metal percussion in or pretty much any short samples you can imagine. I'm even running my own Voice samples in the kit to assist my tracks in making some nasty snare hits sound more over-the-top when Distorted together. With Battery as well the ability to mix at least two sounds into one cell can make for some wild result.

Since I'm forking out the money for it per month, I'm using Adobe Audition CC (CS6 is also available like normal under the license as well). I'm just used to Audition's really nice Multi-Band recording system and Easy-to-use Effect Rack, especially with the option of recording through the same mic but in multiple bands or multiple mics individually setup and recording at the same time etc. (great idea if you want to go with a Stereo Duo/Triple Mic setup for recording!) A little bit of EQ work and Adaptive Noise Cancellation is required depending on the environment my bits are recorded in but other than that it's pretty fun and simple in concept but it does take a fair while to get a whole kit worth of recorded samples going!

[eatmeatleet]

You can do a lot of stuff from generic drum kits.. Speed up/down, pitch up/down, cut, apply filters and filter sweeps.

This thread has some nice info on gear:
http://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/1355943

[Bspendlove]

At 5/5/14 05:33 PM, Elitistinen wrote: Do you often mash up two or more samples to create something new? And what are you advices on that?

Mashing up samples together create a complete unique sound with more texture, but you can't just clash any odd sample together:

Check out some of the Dead Space 3 sound design videos, IMO it's one of the slickest sound design for game out their, it fits perfectly... My Youtube is not working so can't post video, but try to find the video where he talks about creating the scream for the necromorph, he mentions about recording his little niece, it's so cool...

[AramShahbazians]

For field recording I suggest the Tascam dr100mkII. It's cheap and very useful for a beginner. As for the mic, depends what you're trying to record. If you want to capture the wind or a rainy day you can even use two rode nt5 in stereo, but if you want to record a specific sound then you need a directional mic, like an hypercardioid. I suggest the sennheiser 416 if you have the money. Otherwise any good shotgun.

I work with cubase, max msp, alchemy (very good for granular synthesis) and any other software I may find useful. It's just a matter of working with what you find familiar and obtaining good results :)

[KatMaestro]

At 5/5/14 06:43 PM, LichLordMusic wrote: For general 'LichLord' percussion I'm doing for something at the moment (indoor recording), I'm literally running a long XLR cable from my Interface to my Shure mic which I've setup in the kitchen. Literally banging pots, pans and knives together and taking samples ist very fun but it would be better on a pricier mic which could pick up the detail a little better (I only have an SM58 and my USB Studio Mic picks up too much background noise at my current place as I'm next to a road).

Household stuff is always handy when come to homemade instruments. The current rented house have an old bathroom in the basement. I used it as the recording room and insulated every corner with foam. For outdoor recording I use the garage. But I only have a couple of Sony mics. Because of bad noise treatment, I always record it at night due to the amount of traffic in the area.

NI Battery is perfect for playing home-made metal percussion in or pretty much any short samples you can imagine.

I have Battery, just rarely use it. I should learn more about it.

Since I'm forking out the money for it per month, I'm using Adobe Audition CC (CS6 is also available like normal under the license as well). I'm just used to Audition's really nice Multi-Band recording system and Easy-to-use Effect Rack, especially with the option of recording through the same mic but in multiple bands or multiple mics individually setup and recording at the same time etc.

I should get the new Adobe Audition, instead of using the same old Version 2. It's magic for AA when comes to sample editing.

At 5/6/14 10:56 AM, Bspendlove wrote: Check out some of the Dead Space 3 sound design videos

It's amazing. The audio in Dead Space series always amaze me. Thanks man.

At 5/7/14 03:27 AM, AramShahbazians wrote: For field recording I suggest the Tascam dr100mkII. It's cheap and very useful for a beginner. As for the mic, depends what you're trying to record. If you want to capture the wind or a rainy day you can even use two rode nt5 in stereo, but if you want to record a specific sound then you need a directional mic, like an hypercardioid. I suggest the sennheiser 416 if you have the money. Otherwise any good shotgun.

Sennheiser MKH 416 is definitely the best, but the price is also overkill. RØDE NT5's quality is sick, a friend of mine have a pair(I borrow it occasionally). I'll check out the other one soon. Thanks a lot.

I work with cubase, max msp, alchemy (very good for granular synthesis) and any other software I may find useful. It's just a matter of working with what you find familiar and obtaining good results :)

I only used Zebra and Iris for sound design. I heard Camel Audio stuff is very good. I might get Alchemy later. Thanks for the suggestion.

[Breed]

Handheld Recorders I recommend:

Zoom H2N
Zoom H4N
Zoom H6
Tascam DR07
Tascam DR40

Field Mixers you can use in conjuction that I recommend that would provide +48v and way better pre amps:

Sound Devices 302
Fostex FM3

Microphones for outdoor recording I recommend:

Sennheiser MK416
Rode NTG3
Rode NTG2

Microphones for indoor recording I recommend:

Rode NT5
Sennheiser E914
Rode NT1A
Shure SM81
Neuman KM184

Random shit thats good to have for lots of recordings in sfx/foley:

Giant piece of really thin sheet metal to suspend and wobble or bang
Dry Ice to let resonate on random surfaces
A garage door to pound/kick
Kitchen utensils to scrape/clank
Vegetables to break

And yes, layering is key in sound design. As Mr Striefel once taught me, learn to break down sound to each of their individual aspects and cores and create them, and layer them until they make sense.

[Breed]

Oh i forgot to mention professional recorders after handheld ones. If you want better A/D conversion Sound Devices more or less has the market on high end field recorders. Check the 702T out if you want a really good one.

[AramShahbazians]

At 5/7/14 09:18 AM, Elitistinen wrote: I only used Zebra and Iris for sound design. I heard Camel Audio stuff is very good. I might get Alchemy later. Thanks for the suggestion.

There are some really nice tutorials for Alchemy on youtube. Check them out! You're welcome ;)