Hello everyone, in my most current and daunting assignment I'm tasked with creating sound for a high drama, martial arts movie with heavy emphasis on swordplay. Now- one of the most special aspects of the film is the reflection of the character's individual traits (aggression, finesse, arrogance, etc.) to be conveyed through the "singing" of the swords blades before, during, and after fight sequences (which are quite extensive). The difficulty I am having is creating or altering sword FX to achieve this. Are there any tips or pointers out there? Any and all advice would be GREATLY appreciated! Thanks! :thumbsup:
Unique Sword Ringing/ Singing Blades
- Thread starter dowesee
- Start date
Williams Sonoma has a pastry cutter in their gadget section that makes the most intense blade sound... it's a little low, but can be pitch adjusted to get to the sweet spot. All you have to do is scrape it on the side of a desk and it will ring for a few seconds. Of course, that's just one sound out of many layers.
I'd also head down to World Market and pick up a cheap "Tibetan" signing bowl... great metallic hum off those things.
Play with some other metallic sounds... chains, kitchen toys, etc. to get some of the drawing and handling sounds. And some wooden dowels to create the air swishes.
I'd also head down to World Market and pick up a cheap "Tibetan" signing bowl... great metallic hum off those things.
Play with some other metallic sounds... chains, kitchen toys, etc. to get some of the drawing and handling sounds. And some wooden dowels to create the air swishes.
Gohanto
Veteran
As an addition to this, try swinging lots of stuff past a mic at various speed. Dowels, cheese graters, cardboard, ect... different weights, speeds, and thicknesses (think about how a dowel rod would sound different swinging than a 2' wide sheet of cardboard).
Recording at 96k or 192k could also help if you want to slow down recordings to play with them more.
Other idea, you could try finding things for each character's changing grip on their swords. Might open up some other possibility not only dealing with the blade.
Good luck.
SMuir
Well-known member
Crowbars and fireaxes are another great place to go for unique rings. My personal favourite "shing" is from a $10 Chinese cleaver (also my favourite culinary tool).
The technique that I like for getting that "singing sword" sound is to take a nice ringing hit with a long decay, trim off the impact, and fade it in as appropriate. If you build up a comprehensive selection of different types of rings (different objects struck in various ways by various other objects), you'll be able to add a whole new layer of danger to the fight sequences.
C2V's suggestion of Tibetan singing bowls is another great source for more complex and musical metal rings. Playing them with a leather or wood puja will give you a nice sustained ringing, but it can be difficult to avoid the rasp of the puja. I've had nice result by simply striking them and triming the attack as described above.
Of course, you'll want to layer your shings with whooshes and other air displacements, but that goes without saying.
The technique that I like for getting that "singing sword" sound is to take a nice ringing hit with a long decay, trim off the impact, and fade it in as appropriate. If you build up a comprehensive selection of different types of rings (different objects struck in various ways by various other objects), you'll be able to add a whole new layer of danger to the fight sequences.
C2V's suggestion of Tibetan singing bowls is another great source for more complex and musical metal rings. Playing them with a leather or wood puja will give you a nice sustained ringing, but it can be difficult to avoid the rasp of the puja. I've had nice result by simply striking them and triming the attack as described above.
Of course, you'll want to layer your shings with whooshes and other air displacements, but that goes without saying.
unclebob6958
Well-known member
Large pieces of solid metal and old fashioned pots and pans can make nice metallic ringing sounds. You can hit them with other pieces of metal and various mallets like those used for vibes and marimbas. (I actually created a Rhodes type piano patch for a sampler once using pot tops.)
You can also use small bells, cut off the attacks and cross-fade into the actual ringing. You're better off pitching down since most bells have a regular "pulse" to them that becomes noticeable as you increase the pitch/speed. Layers, layers, layers!
Sounds like you'll have to create a huge library of source material.
You can also use small bells, cut off the attacks and cross-fade into the actual ringing. You're better off pitching down since most bells have a regular "pulse" to them that becomes noticeable as you increase the pitch/speed. Layers, layers, layers!
Sounds like you'll have to create a huge library of source material.
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Doc Bernard
Indie Arms Member
And there's always the old trick of rubbing a wet finger on the rim of a glass half full of water for the "sing" part. You can vary the tone by how much water is in the glass.
Noiz2
Sound Ninja
You have hits and shings and whooshes and whatever you decide is the singing part.
I think that the Mountain Dew spot HERE
Is the kind of thing your looking for.
Hits and shings really need to be tempered steel. Real swords and bayonets and good quality knives will work but your average hardware store hunk O' metal wont. You can also get good though lighter sounds from foils and sabers used in fencing. The lighter foils and such also make excellent whooshes. Another good trick I have used is to get a nice sharp metal hit or shing and use it as the IR in a convolution reverb. It will add a metallic ring to anything you put through it.
Fot the MD "singing" I think we mucked about with Absynth, and GRM Tools and maybe some eventide 4000 strangeness. WE already had a lot of hits and whooshes from other projects. I have a WWI bayonet and some French sword from the 1800's that we used for a lot of the original recordings, and a big chinese cleaver. If I could have found my bow we probably would have bowed a wood saw and some metal plates.
Like most of sound post the trick is in the layers and the mix.
I think that the Mountain Dew spot HERE
Is the kind of thing your looking for.
Hits and shings really need to be tempered steel. Real swords and bayonets and good quality knives will work but your average hardware store hunk O' metal wont. You can also get good though lighter sounds from foils and sabers used in fencing. The lighter foils and such also make excellent whooshes. Another good trick I have used is to get a nice sharp metal hit or shing and use it as the IR in a convolution reverb. It will add a metallic ring to anything you put through it.
Fot the MD "singing" I think we mucked about with Absynth, and GRM Tools and maybe some eventide 4000 strangeness. WE already had a lot of hits and whooshes from other projects. I have a WWI bayonet and some French sword from the 1800's that we used for a lot of the original recordings, and a big chinese cleaver. If I could have found my bow we probably would have bowed a wood saw and some metal plates.
Like most of sound post the trick is in the layers and the mix.
Rippie
Veteran
excellent job on the MD spot. Amazing though that with as high
of a budget that it must have had is you can see the wires in multiple shots.
Took away from the end product. Sound design was wonderful though.
Oh, and I LOVE that kasparov spot! hillarious!
Noiz2
Sound Ninja
They sort of got in trouble on the MD spot because it's a rather obvious steal from a very popular movie at the time, they even used some of the same sets. The problem was they never bothered to get permission and (BIG shock) an ad doesn't count as parody. Not sure how it got worked out but I know it was an issue.
Fun spot but who remembers Alta Vista...
thanks
SK
Fun spot but who remembers Alta Vista...
thanks
SK