Sound Effect (Music) For Leading Up To Explosion

K

KyranFord

Well-known member
I'm looking for a suspenseful sound effect that can lead up to an explosion. I've heard these before.. They usually start off weak and progress quickly into a louder sound, lasting only around 2-5 seconds. Does anyone know what I'm talking about?

If not, I'll put it in short terms:

For a tiny flashback scene of a film I'm shooting, there is a sniper underneath some Evergreen trees. There is a grenade thrown that lands beside him near another tree; the sniper then rolls over to the other tree, grabs the grenade, and throws it back. I have a visual effect where you can see the grenade in the air turning precisely. Before the sniper rolls to the other tree, the grenade is shown rolling across the ground until it stops, as well as a facial reaction from the sniper. I need some kind of music or sound effects that would be fitting for leading from the grenade hitting the ground until it explodes in the air.

I need something fast, so any and all help is extremely appreciated!
Thanks
-Kyran
 
A good sound designer/sound effects editor can help you out with this. If you haven't hired someone, you might want to look into getting someone.
 
I just don't have the time, money, or need for a sound designer. All I need is this one sound effect, and a stock one would suffice at that.
 
You are under the misconception that "just one sound effect" is what you need. The scene that you have described has at least 5 specific sound FX and Foley cues (each of which will require several sounds), plus, you also say, score. Oh, is there any dialog? Grunts, breathes, curses, etc. count as "dialog" in this instance. You need to select or create sounds that will not conflict with the score. The score itself also needs to be constructed properly to create the effect you desire.

The other side of the process is the mix, getting all of the various pieces of the audio puzzle to work as an integrated whole.

One more thing; the way for a single explosion to have the most emotional impact on the audience is for there to be a moment (.5 - 1.5 seconds) of silence before it occurs.

If you want explosion sound effects:

http://www.sounddogs.com/extendedsearch.asp?keyword=explosion&ddCategory=1
 
There are a number reasons why what you are asking isn't practical and one huge one why you shouldn't do it.

First there is the timing of the scene so a "stock" effect is not likely to fit, and it's not going to ever really be what should be there because it wasn't designed for that scene.

Effects like the one you describe are built up from a lot of sounds.

The big one why you shouldn't is because your scenario puts your film in a bad light. And this is why you DO need a sound person. If you chop together your film with untreated production sound and then toss in some stock effects you end up sounding like most other no budget films by first time directors. Somebody, you can call them a sound designer or an editor or your personal guru - doesn't really matter, needs to be spending time on the sound or it just will come out amateurish.

It's like having only one scene where folks are in costume.

That said, if you don't care or it's part of the idea to sound like a no-budget short by a firs time director then maybe it is the right choice.
 
I'm a big fan of abrupt silence ("deafening" silence) just before an explosion, but if you take a cue from a lot of action films, it seems to me like there is a lot of sound design meant to make you feel like someone in the story. For example:

Naturally, the tinitis sound of the D-Day landing in Saving Private Ryan comes to mind first.

But I am thinking of the bombs going off in Gladiator as they hit the trees, there was the sound of the ordinance flying through the air.

Maybe what you need is either the whistle of wind as the grenade flies through the air or else an abrupt silence as the observer of the Grenade realizes the peril they are in. Maybe a sound of white noise accelerating in amplitude like a deafening silence sound?
 
KyranFord said:
I just don't have the time, money, or need for a sound designer. All I need is this one sound effect, and a stock one would suffice at that.
Click to expand...

I'll echo what others have said in reply to what I said. You need to understand that most of the time stock effects don't work by themselves. In the amount of time this thread has been going you probably could have gotten somebody to do your sound design and at least have them cut this one thing if that's all you really want. It seems like you don't plan on doing any sound editorial at all. Is this correct?
 
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