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Sound Effects
Categories
Sounds
Effects can be defined as any element of a track that falls outside
the classification of drums, percussion or musical instrument. Sound Effects can be used in 2 main was,
either as atmospheric, i.e. set the mood / convey an emotion or as
a rhythmic component.
A few
examples of DSP sound effects include atmospheric noise, swoosh wind
sounds, and zaps. The addition
of sound effects give a song character and can be used either subtly
or dramatically.
Creating
Digital Sound Effects
Most sample libraries come with a range of sound effects. However, if you’ve created your own Synth sounds from scratch, you
have the additional satisfaction of guaranteeing originality.
Electronic
sound effects can be generated by manipulating white noise or tones
with filters. Most Synthesisers
and VST have the ability to generate noise, and add their own particular
character with onboard effects.
As with
Synthesiser instruments, the best way to understand how to generate
sounds is to play around with the presets.
Adding
Filters
- By adding distortion, thin noise
presents can be thickened.
- Filter the noise through a vocoder
to add harmonic components.
- Add noise through modulation, e.g.
Phaser, Flanger etc to create an element of motion.
Swoosh
= noise VCO = BP cut off modulated to LFO Sine
Creating
Sound Effects from Analogue Sources
Sound Effects
from an Analogue Source are infinite.
A few examples are listed below.
Analogue
Source
| Analogue |
SFX from analogue sources |
| Animal |
Samples animal sounds to create atmosphere |
| Atonal Analogue |
Instrument with atonal melody |
| BBC Library |
Door, creaking, gunshot etc |
| Chime Bells |
Bells and Chimes |
| Industrial Multiple |
Multi tone machinery |
| Industrial Singular |
Machine noises, metal grinding, clanks |
| Metal |
Metal clanging |
| Noise static |
Record fluff |
| Reverse |
Reversed music |
| Scratching |
Original scratches of a voice/ instrument/ ambient etc. |
| Spin Back |
Record spin back |
| Vocal backwards echo |
Reversed vocal, with echo, reversed again. |
| Vocal Syllable loop |
Samples shouting and cut up rhythmically and played repetitively
through various filters for SFX. |
Sound
Effects from a Digital Source are infinite, limited only by your imagination
(or ablility to copy other people).
DSP
Source
| Ambience Micro Sequence Feedback |
1/64 sequence hits increasing in volume, cut off modulated
by velocity Feedback |
| Ambience Noise Feedback |
Atmospheres noise with multiple layers to define specific
emotion Lion roar, thunder, or anything |
| Ambience Rumble |
Repetitive rumble |
| Ambience - Atmos Calm |
Atmosphere which creates a specific emotion Calm |
| Ambience - Atmos Neutral |
Atmosphere which creates a specific emotion Neutral |
| Ambience - Atmos Evil |
Atmosphere which creates a specific emotion Menacing |
| Ambience Stab |
Single atmosphere that gradually fades |
| Aphex |
Quick, grainy, DSP, hi squeak -Cut up millisecond
samples of anything -Amalgamate with milliseconds of silence |
| Dissonant Chords |
Dissonant Chords |
| Dissonant Strings |
Evil Ambience atmos usually dissonance harmony Strings |
| Drum Synth |
Electronically created drums |
| Electronic water |
Electronic simulated water |
| Epic |
Movie quality sound effects. Many different types of fx. |
| Explosion |
Computer generated explosion |
| Fall |
Descending noise prior to beat drop |
| Feedback Loop |
+50% feedback on a loop |
| Glitches |
Pops n clicks, Squeaks, and glitches, messed up sounds Long
computer filter fucked to shit mountain |
| Grains |
Tiny elements of analogue sounds from all sources |
| Hi Freq |
Short, high frequency sounds |
| Laser |
HI res zap - used in garage which covers the entire range
of the human hearing |
| LFO Motion |
LFO wowp with changing speed from 1 per sec to 0.01 per sec
and back |
| Machine Gun FX |
32, 64, 96 LFO per bar |
| Morph |
Sound changes from 1 timbre to another |
| Music ambience |
Musical chord atmosphere |
| Nasty timbre |
Cause physical pain using the brown note / high pitched pain |
| noise blast |
Noise stationary blast |
| Pre beat |
Anticipation of beat |
| R2D2 |
Bleeps in various random pitches, Small blipps and tapps |
| Rhythmic |
Dynamic organic sound with rhythmic qualities repeated ever
bar |
| Rise |
Ascending noise prior to beat drop |
| Robot Voice |
Synthesised voice |
| Shut down |
Simulated shut down of machinery |
| Siren - LFO |
Slow LFO Slow morphing LFO siren |
| Siren - Alarm |
Static pitch, repetitive frequency |
| Slow Down |
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| Sparkle |
Sparkling stars |
| Speed Up |
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| Squidge Tipper |
Squeltchy, Squidge, rhythmic bits, characterised by Tipper |
| Stab |
Noise stabs |
| Stab Harmonic |
Harmonic Stab |
| Stab Music |
Chord stabs |
| Swoosh |
Short wind swoosh sound |
| Wind |
Wind or swoosh noise stab to add substance |
| Wowp |
Wowop |
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