A COLLABORATIVE POST BY SAM BUSEKRUS
ASSISTANT EDITOR, BOOM BOX POST
This week, I got some insight on a cool build that our sound effects editor, Natalia, made. Natalia is one of our newer editors (blog post to come about her) who we are lucky to have! The build is for a science project that failed. Check it out below!
What was your brainstorming process?
I tried to decide what elements could work for this build, and look for files that were punchy and had personality so it could be a little dramatic and fun at the same time.
Could you give me the step-by-step process of what you added first and second, etc?
First, I created the electricity that went through the science project. It needed to be a spark at first for the start up and I had zaps going throughout so you can hear the electricity going through. Also, when it fails, have another spark for it to shut down.
The second layer was creating a short circuit, so we have a plug-in spark starting the sound and then small sparks in and out to have the feeling that it is failing.
The third part is the motor. The motor for the science project in reality would be something very lame-sounding and tiny, but since this was so short and needed to go big quickly and shut down right away, I needed a motor that had more of a punch than a dinky one. So I had a generator together layered with an electric train sound, I pitched it up in time a little bit in the beginning so it had more of a power up, and then had it shut down right after. I found a electric train file that felt like it had gears stopping so this helps to sell the shut down.
Did you run into any issues/problems/what worked vs what didn’t work?
The challenge of this build was to create a machine that sounded like it worked but fail in a short amount of time. Basically, have a spark of hope by the power up but being shut down right away. First, I created a more realistic type of fail, but it didn't have the same impact as a more dramatic one.
Any tips on what really made this build cool?
In this case, I felt that exaggerating the sound of what we really see on picture to have more of an impact was the best part. It works a lot better than going realistic for something like this.