QuickSloth
Active member
Any advise on underwater sound? I need the sound of waves breaking from the perspective of a fish. What do you think? Hydrophone? AT897 in a plastic bag?
Thanks.
Thanks.
Underwater sound
- Thread starter QuickSloth
- Start date
timapter
Veteran
did this stuff extensively for a short film recently - its quite tricky actually. unless you can actually find a hydrophone, use a mic in some kind of waterproofing method - i used two unlubricated condoms. it works okay, but what works is a mic with a small capsule (like a oktava omni or cardioid), so you can get the whole pickup area underwater...
its tricky cuz you end up with lots of alien problems - like "water slap"...
what i ended up doing was using my recordings, mixed with recordings i made above the water all eq'ed and effected, and a couple of typical "underwater bubbles" effects i found in a library.
we actually did some underwater dialogue too (scene of a girl drowning - creepy), and that worked out great! we did bubbles and voice stuff using a snorkel blowing into the water at different distances from the mic... you make vocal noises (you could even do a wave, i guess) and use the water simply as a transmission medium.
its quite cool stuff... i hope i get to do more!
ps - dont use the plastic bag.
its tricky cuz you end up with lots of alien problems - like "water slap"...
what i ended up doing was using my recordings, mixed with recordings i made above the water all eq'ed and effected, and a couple of typical "underwater bubbles" effects i found in a library.
we actually did some underwater dialogue too (scene of a girl drowning - creepy), and that worked out great! we did bubbles and voice stuff using a snorkel blowing into the water at different distances from the mic... you make vocal noises (you could even do a wave, i guess) and use the water simply as a transmission medium.
its quite cool stuff... i hope i get to do more!
ps - dont use the plastic bag.
anechoic
Member
lav tips and tricks
lav tips and tricks
here is a great webpage for doing interesting recordings with a lav mic
http://www.b-roll.net/tips/audio.html
maybe some ideas here for you?
good luck!
KIM
lav tips and tricks
here is a great webpage for doing interesting recordings with a lav mic
http://www.b-roll.net/tips/audio.html
maybe some ideas here for you?
good luck!
KIM
Michael Carter
Veteran
I once needed a sort of "jet engine" roar with a low rumble. I put a mic in a zip lock bag and sealed it like heck around the cable, and blasted the bath tub spigot on the head (I used a Sure 58 just in case, not my pricey condensers). Added a little manual flanging sweep and it was sweet.
I'd certainly experiment with underwater if a beach is handy. It's likely that what waves "truly" sound like underwater won't be the sound that sells it though.
One way to sell the sound is to establish it first; the visual of real waves, above the surface, then plunge the camera into the water and have the sound change to your "underwater" sound at that instant. From there out, a decent "underwater" sound will have been established as "the real thing", y'know?
For the actual sound, possibly real wave sounds with the highs dialed back, and pitch-shifted down might be a start... also, years of movies have "taught" us that underwater sounds have a lot of the "blooopbloop" of rising bubbles, whether we see them or not.
I'd certainly experiment with underwater if a beach is handy. It's likely that what waves "truly" sound like underwater won't be the sound that sells it though.
One way to sell the sound is to establish it first; the visual of real waves, above the surface, then plunge the camera into the water and have the sound change to your "underwater" sound at that instant. From there out, a decent "underwater" sound will have been established as "the real thing", y'know?
For the actual sound, possibly real wave sounds with the highs dialed back, and pitch-shifted down might be a start... also, years of movies have "taught" us that underwater sounds have a lot of the "blooopbloop" of rising bubbles, whether we see them or not.
SMuir
Well-known member
Up until a couple of years ago, I used a Shure SM58 in an unlubricated condom for underwater foley. From time to time I had tried waterproofing various contact transducers such as the C-Ducer, but I was never very happy with the results. I even went so far as to pull the piezo-ceramic wafer from a musical greeting card and cover it in Goop (TM) marine-grade adhesive to make a cheap DIY hydrophone, which worked better than I had expected. Then I tried a propper hydrophone, and my SM58 has been dry as a bone ever since.
I've used both the Aquarian Audio ($200-ish) and DPA ($3000-ish) hydrophones on a number of foley applications, and although I would reccomend them both, you really do get what you pay for. Like most other DPA products, their hydrophone boasts an exceptionally low noise floor (compared to other hydrophones, at least), as well as a nice and wide frequency response.
One major issue with hydrophones, especially in shallow water (bathtubs, hottubs, etc.), is that they tend to pick up a whole lot of mechanical vibration from the cables. If you're not careful, you'll hear the surface of the water sliding up and down the cable. Another issue is that sound propogates much faster underwater, so a spaced stereo pair would have to be about a meter apart to provide an intelligeable stereo image.
You may wish to complement any hydrophone work with additional elements EQ'd to sound underwaterry. Try shelving the highs and boosting the mids (a lot). To give more shape to elements such as the sliding of the water across the sand or stones, sweep the mid-boost frequency back and forth rythmically with the waves.
I've used both the Aquarian Audio ($200-ish) and DPA ($3000-ish) hydrophones on a number of foley applications, and although I would reccomend them both, you really do get what you pay for. Like most other DPA products, their hydrophone boasts an exceptionally low noise floor (compared to other hydrophones, at least), as well as a nice and wide frequency response.
One major issue with hydrophones, especially in shallow water (bathtubs, hottubs, etc.), is that they tend to pick up a whole lot of mechanical vibration from the cables. If you're not careful, you'll hear the surface of the water sliding up and down the cable. Another issue is that sound propogates much faster underwater, so a spaced stereo pair would have to be about a meter apart to provide an intelligeable stereo image.
You may wish to complement any hydrophone work with additional elements EQ'd to sound underwaterry. Try shelving the highs and boosting the mids (a lot). To give more shape to elements such as the sliding of the water across the sand or stones, sweep the mid-boost frequency back and forth rythmically with the waves.