The Boom Box Post blog provides insights into the creative sound design process of Boom Box Post's owners and employees.
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DIY
Building out your studio desk and workspace can become very expensive. But not every upgrade has to break the bank. Sometimes it’s the small, thoughtful additions that end up having the biggest impact on your workflow, comfort, and overall studio vibe. Here are five wallet-friendly upgrades you can make to your home or professional studio that make an impact without hurting your wallet (too much).
What does a Mustang, a parking lot, and ten pounds of ice have in common? They’ve all played starring roles in our journey to capture our own custom sound effects for shows like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and more. In sound design, originality matters. Whether it’s the roar of the Shellraiser or the chilling movement of an Ice Dragon, there’s no substitute for getting your hands dirty and your mic in the middle of it all.
We’ve gathered five of our favorite behind-the-scenes recording sessions that showcase what it takes to build immersive, character-driven sound from scratch. Each one includes real recording footage, final demo clips, and a glimpse into the creative process. Hope you enjoy!
With Spring in full effect and Summer right around the corner, the world is becoming more and more inviting to explore and record! We felt it was the perfect time to revisit some of the field recording blog posts we’ve written over the years that may have been forgotten deep in the blog archives. So here are the top 5 we’ve let resurface for your reading pleasure, to serve as inspiration and a guide for returning to the field!
Whether you’re a seasoned field recordist or just getting your feet wet, you probably know by now it’s not the cheapest hobby. It’s a niche market that requires very specialized equipment and accessories, so it’s no surprise these companies charge an arm and a leg for their products. In my experience, when it comes to the most important pieces in your kit, IE recorder/mixers, microphones, etc, investing in the best gear your budget allows usually pays dividends in the long run. But with accessories like a synthetic fur windcover, I’m curious to see if we really need to spend $100+ to achieve satisfactory recordings. To me, it’s more important to get out in the field and start recording rather than waiting to afford the perfect setup. So with that being said, let’s try making a DIY windcover!
On past projects I have received critiques that my wood creaks for various items (doors, wooden chairs, footsteps, etc) sounded pretty weak and ill-fitting for the scene. The sound libraries I had access to at the time really didn’t offer many quality options, so I decided to do some research on how I could capture better creak sounds. I stumbled upon a couple videos online of Foley artists using what is called a creak box. This Foley instrument allows the user to more precisely create and perform creaking sounds quite easily. Below I’ll be going over how I put together a couple different creak boxes of my own and what I learned in the process.
With the changing of the seasons comes a whole new world of sound. So, let’s discuss some key summertime sounds to keep an ear out for and record to bulk up your SFX library this time of year!
After buying our first home last year, my husband and I have been working hard at building our own home studio. In the past, every time we moved to a new apartment, we would always customize a home studio with our own DIY sound panels (see my blog post about that here). But since we plan to stay here forever, we have gone all out to make this studio space our own. And part of this customization has been soldering our own cables.
