How good is sounddogs?

HBlack

HBlack

Underage Member
How have their sound effects been in your experience? I'm a bit worried about the quality of the downloaded file, as the preview isn't very telling. Specifically gunshots.
 
Their previews aren't very reassuring, but I've used them on several productions and the purchased files are of consistently high quality and very affordable.
 
The problem I'm having is that the previews are too low quality to tell if they're suitable for my purposes. They really need to specify where the sound is recorded. I'm looking for a .45 pistol gunshot in an unfinished basement, and another on the main floor of a house with bare walls and tile floors. It doesn't have to be perfect, but getting one with the right reverberation is necessary. Could anyone point me in the right direction?
 
HBlack said:
The problem I'm having is that the previews are too low quality to tell if they're suitable for my purposes. They really need to specify where the sound is recorded. I'm looking for a .45 pistol gunshot in an unfinished basement, and another on the main floor of a house with bare walls and tile floors. It doesn't have to be perfect, but getting one with the right reverberation is necessary. Could anyone point me in the right direction?
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You could always apply a convolution reverb to the effect to place it in the right environment. But if YOUR knowledgable ears can't tell by listening whether it sounds exactly as if it was recorded in the scene on camera, why worry that your audience won't believe it. If it feels right for the scene, it is right regardless of the technical details.
 
I don't think your going to find a collection of gun shots done in specific places. First because of practical considerations, you can't just go firing weapons off where ever you want to Even here in the US. Second Sound Dogs caters a lot to sound professionals and that's not the way we cut. Int VS Ext is important and in the exteriors you will often find a variety of canyon to forest environments. You can listen through and get ones that sound closer but as a rule they will be recorded as dry as poss so that you can create the environment. Also gunshots like hits tend to have a lot of layers. So you don't want a bunch of different environments or the wont work together. Most of the clean gunshots are probably from Sonic Boom. You can go to there site and read more detailed descriptions of the recordings.
Sound Dogs does record some things themselves but most of what is available is from commercial CD collections and they probably don't know how they were recorded.

If you need something that specific get the gun used in the shot go to the location and get permission from the police and let the neighbors know what you are doing and fire some blanks in the appropriate spaces. Depending on where you are it might not be too huge a problem, or it might be near impossible. $$$$ helps.
 
Sorry I don't work with either.
Can't tell about the sound because I haven't seen the picture or talked to the director. Is it supposed to be "real" or "Hollywood real"?, what kind of gun is it?, single shots or a bunch (as a rule you want to use different shots if you have a bunch together - so it doesn't sound like your just using the same one over and over)? Is this a big moment? Are we hearing it as an observer or as a participant? Is it supposed to be scary, fun, surprising???
The most someone from the out side can say is, it's pretty dry so could be used in most INT scenes and it sounds like a 32 or that range, is that the size gun? If so then it's a good starting place, but the real answer comes from the answers to the questions above.
 
I want it to be as real as possible. It's going to be used in a zombie movie during tense scenes, so I want it to be surprising, abrupt and overpowering while still fitting the scene well.

The gun's going to be a .45 1911. That sound is from a 9mm SIG, but I thought it sounded better than most of the .45 sound effects sound dogs has. This is going to be used for a close-up of someone being shot in the head, likely when zombies are running at the shooter while he's firing 3 times in a small basement, and possibly when he's not the main subject and shooting at further off zombies on the main floor.

If you could link me to what sound you would use for those purposes on sounddogs, that would be a huge help. I also need some far off outdoor pistol and automatic rifle sounds. Most of the ones I'm finding seem to be close ups. How would you suggest modifying them to sound further away, apart from quieting them?
 
I was at a shooting range over the holiday with my daughter and father in law. We were shooting trap with two 12ga shotguns and my daughter was shooting a 20ga. shotgun. If you haven't been around guns much, you would be surprised at how they sound in real life compared to how they end up on film. Real guns, in real life sound really unimpressive. Of course, it all depends on the environment they are recorded in but generally, real guns sound pretty boring and blanks sound even more boring.

I was so wishing that I had my digital recorder with me as the police officers over on the pistol range were shooting full auto with Uzis and HK MP5s. They were shooting off three round bursts and going full auto with full clips, it sounded pretty amazing with the long reverb of the canyon we were in. Those were the exception to real guns sounding lame, they sounded pretty cool. But it was probably just the novelty of hearing machine gun fire close up.

Sounddogs.com is excellent, I have bought sounds from them for years.

Dan
 
You are going to get nasty mail if you substitute 9mm shots for .45mm rounds. Two COMPLETELY different sounding cartridges, not even in the same neighborhood. A .45 is a much larger slower round than a 9mm. The cartridge body itself is much larger as is the bullet itself.

If you are going for authenticity as you say you are, it would be a bad decision to not use a .45 sound for a .45 handgun. That would be about like when they show a two stroke motocross bike and dub in a four stroke four cylinder street bike's sound. I have a Springfield M1911 .45, it has a very distinct sound. Why not just go to a local range and record someone shooting one? Many ranges rent them for a really low cost and you could fire your shots in the sequence you need and mic and adjust the sound yourself. If I cannot find the sounds I need, I usually just go and create them, it can be a lot of fun.

Dan
 
I'm quite experienced with guns, having shot essentially everything I'm legally able to. I suppose I'm not going for absolute realism on this, come to think of it. I just want something that sounds good, powerful and has reverberations similar to the environment it's supposed to take place in. I would record my own sound effects (I've got a 1911 of my own) but the two ranges I have access too are a large indoor one and an outdoor one. The outdoor is out of the question, and the indoor range has far too much echo to be usable. Adjusting the sound myself isn't something I'm very familiar with, and I think it would be much easier to try to find a sound effect that's good in the first place than trying to modify one.

Also, I don't think I have the equipment to record my own sound effects. I can record directly into an HVR-Z1U, but I'm not sure there's a way to keep that from clipping badly.
 
I'm not going to search through Sound Dogs, that could be VERY time consuming. I'll see what I have. If I have things that I can send you I will. I suspect though that most of what I have I can't share but??? I won't get a chance to look in the library till the 2nd.

I would forget "real" and go for "Hollywood real". Nobody watching a zombie flick is going to ding you for not using the right gun. The up close shot I would probably layer up, add some bass, probably some Foley sounds (mechanics of the gun) and poss some impact (or not) on the (whatever he's shooting (I'm assuming zombies), mabe a splat/ thump?? If the three are close togeter but only one hits I would sweeten the other less. THe out side shots... Basically you can do one of two things. First you can play them low with some rev or slap back echo on them and they should sink i to your BG's (you are adding BG's I assume). Second you could "worldize" them. Play them back through speakers and record them at a distance outside. The second is the best if you can get a quiet place to do it.

Oh and the basement should probably have a short slapback echo on it rather than reverb. It will sound better and give it some punch.

Happy newyear.
 
You might want to consider asking some of the pros over on the RAMPS and CAS forums if they have what you are looking for in their libraries?

Dan
 
That sound is not going to cut it.

It sounds like a balloon popping.

If I might suggest something.

Search the internet for 1911 videos.

Listen to a bunch for an approximation of what you are looking for.

Then check out the sound libraries and mix and match.
 
I'm not contradicting Dan. He's right about the sound, I just don't think anyone watching a zombie film is going to be too particular with the accuracy of the shot - it's just not about the gun at that point. However I doubt either of you have heard a 45 up close in a live indoor space. Most folks who do have permanent hearing damage. Real guns by and large aren't too impressive sounding, part of the reason "realistic" guns are rarely heard in films. There is also a disconnect with the sound that happens in real life in that bullets travel damn fast and you don't hear the report where you think you would and that is a bit anticlimactic. Saving Private Ryan was pretty realistic but that is an exception.

Your license to exaggerate is that films are usually from someone's perspective. And most people might rightly assume that if your firing at zombies your in a hypersensitive state and those shots sound either much bigger or poss smaller that reality. Plus of course most people have only, or mostly, heard gunfire in the movies and have no realistic experience to compare to.
 
Oh, I didn't notice it was a Zombie flick. For a zombie flick, I wouldn't use real gunshots because Noiz2 is right. A Zombie in itself denotes unreality so if it were me, I would use really dramatic Hollywood style gunshots. For a film about soldiers ala Jarhead, I would use real gunshots, custom recorded, different purpose, different setting.

The more you see the gun and or focus about the type of gun (Dirty Harry talking about the 44Mag) the more you owe your audience to be a little more accurate with the sounds although if I recall all of the Dirty Harry films use "Hollywood" gunshots, don't they? Ahh, different time and place.

Dan
 
In Terminator II they went out and recorded the real thing (at a lot of $$$) for that grenade launching rifle Arny uses because the director wanted the "real" thing. By the time they got a sound he liked the main sound was a Howitzer...
 
Noiz2 said:
I'm not contradicting Dan. He's right about the sound, I just don't think anyone watching a zombie film is going to be too particular with the accuracy of the shot - it's just not about the gun at that point. However I doubt either of you have heard a 45 up close in a live indoor space. Most folks who do have permanent hearing damage. Real guns by and large aren't too impressive sounding, part of the reason "realistic" guns are rarely heard in films. There is also a disconnect with the sound that happens in real life in that bullets travel damn fast and you don't hear the report where you think you would and that is a bit anticlimactic.

...
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You have very good points.

You can indeed be deafened when a gun or grenade goes off near you. Usually the damage is just a ruptured eardrum (Perforated Tympanic Membrane) but permanent hearing loss from repeated incidences is quite common.

And, when shooting in a vehicle, but especially when the windows are closed, the shock wave and sound is indescribable. It's load and unsettling no matter how many times you have heard it. You actually can feel the shock wave travel through you.

.45 ACP have a very distinctive sound as they are a relatively heavy and slow round. They are a close combat round. They are very loud and have a deep bass kind of feel.

The sample you provided sounds much more like a .22 cal with a one time or very cheap silencer. Subsonic .22 rounds also sound like this.

All things considered, in close proximity up to 15 - 20 yards you absolutely do know where the shots are being fired from.

Much past that and you need visual cues such as dust or muzzle flash.



Noiz2 said:
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Your license to exaggerate is that films are usually from someone's perspective. And most people might rightly assume that if your firing at zombies your in a hypersensitive state and those shots sound either much bigger or poss smaller that reality. Plus of course most people have only, or mostly, heard gunfire in the movies and have no realistic experience to compare to.
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Here is really the only thing that matters. I would go for a deep powerful feel to match the 1911. OR You could use a .22 and you have your sound already! :beer:
 
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