It's probably no big secret by now that I am an avid sound effects enthusiast. Looking back, I've been doing this for probably well over 40 years. Part of it started with an interest in recording sound effects for pranks or background for dramatic productions (taped "radio" shows).
I've learned a lot about recording sound effects in the past few years. I bring a sound recorder just about everywhere I go and look for instances where I can record sounds to add to my ever-expansive sound library. I like to call it "sound mining." One thing that helps me identify what sounds to record are watching movies and video clips. Some of the best resources for this are animated films because they are entirely built from the ground up - or in other words, EVERYTHING has to be produced, every visual is created and every sound is drawn from a sound library. Even the most subtle sounds are needed and some of the sounds that are used are not exactly what is depicted on screen.
There is a "Hollywood standard" in the expectations of what onscreen sounds are supposed to be - and the genre of the film determines what these sounds are like. For instance, in a slapstick comedy, the sound of a person getting hit on the head will probably have a hollow "coconut" sound, while in a horror movie, it may be a smack accompanied by a cracking or crunching sound. In essence, ever time I watch a movie, I use this experience to not only enjoy the story, but to pick it apart and try to learn how the movie was put together technically. Sometimes I comment on this, which makes me a horrible movie-watching companion.
As for actually recording sounds... I will often go out of my way to capture an existing sound. Sometimes I need to bring items into the studio to record in order to isolate the sound. Most of us don't even realize just how many layers make up ambient sound and in many cases, recording something outside a studio setting is unsuitable for a sound library because there are vehicles, birds, machinery, birds, aircraft, people talking, wind... oh, and did I mention birds? A studio presents a different challenge though, because it needs to be virtually anechoic, otherwise it sounds like it has been recorded indoors and won't be convincing to sounds that are supposed to be outdoors. If you watch older movies and television shows, you can tell which ones were recorded on a soundstage for this very reason.
There is a lot to learn about recording sounds, but suffice it to say that it is an art form and skill in and of itself, and I constantly learn new things.
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