Articles Archive

I’ve been noticing a great many asking questions about where to get royalty-free sound effects for their productions.  A number of people suggest using freesound, but even that has its share of issues.  For one, while the sounds are free for personal use, they’re not royalty-free.  Secondly, the quality of sounds can be hit or miss.  Finally, they often require a lot of editing before you can use the sounds.  So, as an early Christmas present, I’m going to show you how and where to get a good chunk of professional-quality, royalty free sounds for free to start a nice chunk of you SFX library.  I’m also going to introduce you to a free tool you can use to help you sort through your ever expanding collection of sounds. First, were going to need a few tools to simplify our journey.  You’re going to want to grab is called flashget ...

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In an audio studio, there is nothing more important than sound and noise control.  This begins with acoustic treament.  However, acoustic treatment doesn’t mean you have to spend a bundle on acoustic paneling in order to get those unwanted noises, rings, flanges and echos under control, not to mention the standing waves that build up in the corners. Sure, if you’ve got a bundle of cash to spend, you’ll want to invest in professional grade materials from Auralex, ATS or Soft Sound (among others), but for those of us in the home studio who don’t have a bundle of cash, there are alternatives. 1) Fill your room with fabric – the heavier the better.  I cover my windows with some one inch fiberboard (masked with fabric for more absorption and better looks) and then supplement that with some heavy curtains. 2) Pillows and cushions – A big old comfy couch give you...

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Want a pistol grip for your field recording but don’t want to drop 70 bucks on the deal?  Try this DIY option: Check out this option: Start with one  Accu Grip Handheld Tripod  -   $14.94  (plus shipping)   Add one  1/4 inch female to 5/8 inch male adapter  - $4.99 (plus shipping)   And finally, one universal shock mount  - $14.99  (plus shipping) Put it all together to get: Total Cost (w/o shipping):  $34.92 Plus! The parts can be used for other configurations. Half the cost… twice the application.    

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The final aspect of a room’s sound (at least for our purposes) is the room’s reverb.  Our purpose here is to color the room as accurately as possible with an estimation of reflections after the initial reflection.  Depending on how fast or slow those reflections occur and their constancy, we can have either an echo (long reflection times), reverb (short reflection times) or some combination of the two. Let’s look at out reverb module: With some variation, these are the basic settings for most reverb modules.  Some are much more expansive. Others only include a delay time.  Still others only include presets (which aren’t going to do you much good if you’re trying to build for yourself.  Avoid these like plague since they are rarely accurate or intuitive.) I’m using Adobe Audition’s basic reverb. Pre-delay time :  These are your early reflections, as calculated in the second part of this series...

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