Fantastic Voyage - Raw SFX

saskya · Fantastic Voyage Project | Raw SFX

In order to capture some ideal SFX, I visited my allotment in order to surround myself in a similar environment to the one captured in my Fantastic Voyage animation. This gave me some good results, and I hope to use my Adobe Audition knowledge to remove imperfections, such as wind noise. Where I could, I stayed true to the sources of sound, using real tools to create their real sounds e.g. a knife hitting a tree stump, a real train travelling past. For the more ambitious sounds (a train horn and a tree falling over), I need to be more inventive and flexible with Audition and its editing abilities.

I created an exaggerated 'spore hitting the ground' sound by dropping a pebble onto various floor surfaces, such as bark chippings and grass.

I experimented with some hand tools and struck them against a tree stump to re-create a tree being chopped. 

To mimic a falling tree, I will need to use multiple sounds to create the desired 'thud' effect. Today, I started collecting these sounds, and this included dropping a nest of sticks.

The 'prickly' sound of this nail brush seemed appropriate to log as an organic sound, which could be useful during the internal and scientific areas of my animation. I also collected some sound from a gardening bottle, another organic sound.

Despite being an artificial material, this plastic netting created a good 'scratchy' noise, which would be ideal coming from the mushroom. 

I recreated the sound of a 'spore release' by spraying a furniture polish aerosol. The can is almost empty, which created an interesting sporadic sound.

Tubs of seeds helped to create sounds that could be edited into something resembling a train and footsteps.

I found it challenging to think of items that could create the sound of a train horn. Luckily, I own a guitar tuner that could be edited into a 'horn'.

I experimented with dropping wood from a height to represent a falling tree, but the noise was too hollow and unrealistic. I'll need to revisit this sound.