Creating Infrasounds

Mark Harris

Mark Harris

Pain in the ass
I have a situation where I want to give the impression that someone is speaking at an Infrasound level. Then, we will "speed it up" so that humans can hear it.

I've found numerous examples of these sounds on the web, but was wondering if anyone had any experience with actually creating them at will...

Thanks!!!

M
 
What does "give the impression" mean? Do you mean video or audio or both? If you mean audio, then isn't it possible to just take the audio and slow it down so that when it is speeded back up, it is intelligible? Or if you are talking about video, then you would need to shoot slo-mo (i.e. at a high frame rate). It isn't clear (at least to me) exactly what you are asking here?
 
If you are just giving "the impression" then you can be creative and interpret what that might sound like. Since you can't really hear actual infrasound, I would fake it by adding a pitch shift down an octave, add some flange or phase filter, create harmonic resonances at higher frequencies. Start with a high sampling rate so when you pitch shift it;s smoother sounding. Just make it up.
 
Yeah, I have already been making them up. But I think I want to go further with it and have an actual low frequency sound. Their are a lot of examples of them invoking moods and feelings even though you can't actually hear them. And I"ve read that some movies use them to help emphasize a feeling of dread or unease. I dunno if that is true, but that's what I want to go for.

So I guess I can just keep lowering the pitch until it's out of hearing range...but so far the tools I have don't let me do that...
 
Life of sound can be very very very easy sometimes. As Chadfish said "what people don't know...Well...they don't know" (yeah I know he saidn't that but I say it now :-p)

Did you know that "nightviewers" aren't green actualy ? It's just green because once upon a time someone said "I'm going to make it green".
 
Are you going for actually using real infrasound to effect people's mood? I mean, you could add to the voice with a low low tone maybe. With any synth you can just go as low as you can hear and have that droning on as they speak. Then when you take the voice back up to normal pitch, bring the tone up too and fade out as the voice just hits normal pitch. Maybe throw in some seagulls pitched sown, whale sounds. Make it a psychological artistic experience rather than just a low voice. I'm just throwing stuff out there...
 
dre83 said:
Did you know that "nightviewers" aren't green actualy ? It's just green because once upon a time someone said "I'm going to make it green".
Click to expand...

Not strictly true. Some are greenish. But your point I think is that there are a lot of assumptions many people make based on "artistic" decision filmmakers and TV directors make. Like cars blowing up whenever they crash, and bullets ricocheting off just about any surface.

Some are true though. I know the Matrix defiantly has a green tint... ;~P
 
Thanks guys. dre is going to try it on a little clip. As I told him in PM, one other reason I may want this as a real infrasound, and not faked is that this is a transmedia project. So I may not reveal it directly in the film, but encourage viewers to go back and process the audio themselves to find secret clues like this. Say if I release pieces on the web.

It's for this feature here:

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthrea...CHILDREN-A-FEATURE-FILM-by-Mark-Harris/page15

Thanks for the help everyone! Appreciate it!

And yes, I do want to experiment with creating moods with it. I have some focus-group screenings coming up and wanted to see if this really works...
 
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Careful with using real infrasonics. The few times they have been tried in theatrical settings they have induced nausea, vomiting, panic attacks, etc, in some of the audience. Kinda spoils the experience of the film when the guy sitting behind you barfs over the top of your head :(
 
Yeah, I've read that some infrasounds have been blamed for paranormal activity as well. Of course, if the effects are adverse, we'll go back to faking it. :)
 
Well that's what I like. Part of the film's subject matter deals with things that may be real but are unprovable, like UFOs, paranormal stuff. So we are lacing it with maybe/maybe-not evidence throughout.
 
Do you have a speaker system which goes loud to 10 Hz? If not, do not bother with infrasonics.

About erroneus movie conventions: Has anybody seen binoculars with figure-8 field of view in real life? I bet you would get a spliting headache using them.
 
Hey, thanks all for your input on this topic. And thanks to dre for working with a file I sent him. I think I am on the track I want to be on. Probably not viable to use actual infrasounds, but am coming up with some interesting fakes:

This is dre's file, which he pitched way down. I then stretched the time on it and it's coming close to a good drone I can hide in background noise:
http://www.desperatecomfort.com/working/lc/infrasound-faker-original.wav

Then this is the file "re-built," as if someone processed it to figure out what was in it:
http://www.desperatecomfort.com/working/lc/infrasound-faker-rebuilt.wav

This is getting to the direction I want this to go. Thanks!
 
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