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You'll probably still want to ground the sounds in real modern day engines, and then do a couple of things to make them futuristic:
1 - process the modern engines:
probably the simplest thing is eq - often doing a big midrange scoop makes things sound cleaner and more hifi, so that's an option.
You could also add some phase or delay to what's left (in ...
8
Whoo-whee, that's a subjective area...that's also really fun! Can't wait to see the answers here.
Starting with what works (and, granted, is cliched) doesn't hurt: Striking thin metal wires or springs under tension with other metallic objects. Good for base layers and achieving the baseline Star Wars or Wall-E sound, even if you do it just as an exercise to ...
6
I like the idea that cars are quieter in the future. They are becoming more fuel efficient after all.
This was posted up on reddit today, it's interesting the difference just 2 years make in engine sounds!
5
You provide an interesting direction, that you could explore further:
Why not make all cars quiet? What's left is just the tire noise of the cars, which you could color a bit to make the cars a bit more diverse.
As a result, background sounds and atmos is more apparent, sirens stand out more but don't have to be as loud, the streets are more peaceful and ...
5
Sometimes you just need to put a bang on it! It may feel like it's not a weapon because we're so used to threatening weapons having a sharp initial sound. I'd add something like that, doesn't even need to be as distinct as a gunshot. Then back it up straight away (literally from when the trigger is pulled) with a friction type sound such as the one which ...
4
Try to run sounds through a fast doppler and layer those sounds together with real world weapons and wire sounds. Could be a way to give each laser sound a subtle character.
Try to experiment with feedback loops and run it through a doppler.
It's already late and these ideas are all that came into my mind. I hope that you can use them.
4
With complex sounds like that I think the best thing to do is break it into its component parts. What is the sound when it's still (if any). Trigger sound, firing preload, firing impact, texture or unique sound of firing, net leaving the gun, net through air, net landing.
For me if I breaking it down into smaller sounds is what can it a uniqueness that ...
3
Hi, Benjie!
You have already very nice suggestions above and I'd like to share mine too: very recently, by accident, I step into a sonority very close to the laser thing. (Apart from handling the gun and other great details that should make the difference)
I took a file of a metal impact with some reverb on it, reversed it (here I might choose to keep the ...
3
Ableton Live's M4L granular ensembles
MOTU MachFive has a granular module too
iZotope Iris, if you can stand the interface
For all three, press Record and start exploring.
Also, it's always a good time to challenge preconceptions of what "computer/tech sound" is.
3
In 30 years it is highly possible that most cars are electric cars. So I would go for muted motor sounds for a sound that everybody knows, combined with some kind of electric motor. Maybe record car sounds from a distance (Best would be in a very dry environment with some distance to get a more clean appeal) or rerecord stuff trough different materials to ...
3
Hi everyone and thank you very much for all these good advices.
This is how I finally made the sounds of futuristic cars i was looking for.
First I applied the technique of Rene, equalising sounds of real cars pass from the Sound Collector's club, except the synthesizer layer (not so trained manipulating it). I then applied a LoAir to generate subharmonics. ...
2
My whole basement is a giant Amerigo Vespucci sail boat that creaks wherever you go. There's a spot on the first step of the stairs that has a wide bandwidth going from high to low frequencies. I recorded it by controlling the speed of the creeks with my foot or my hand and got some laser type sounds this way. Laser in real life don't make any sound so I ...
2
I'd start with some servos - even small ones. things like cameras, vehicle seats and windows, etc.
then use liberal pitch moves and eqs to shape them into something cool. add low end or alternatively lop everything under 10k off, etc.
Pitch moves from low to high and vice versa will yield great startup shut down sounds.
choruses and flanges work well ...
2
That sound has not much more than a high-pass filter set somewhere above 200Hz, going to a phaser or flanger with very fast modulation and pretty much feedback!
2
I experimented to get this kind of an effect on a job app, and my reference point were some of the voiceovers in DotA 2 -- I love how well some of them are tuned to sound like they're coming from within a suit of armor. Here's a great example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yj-F3aI6m-g
Closest I got to this effect, after some experimentation (including a ...
2
I really liked the sun in Sunshine
2
Lightsaber. T-Rex roar.
2
To create a robotic voice quickly, the trick is to duplicate your voice, and move the second voice of an image to the right. Listen to the result.
Otherwise, the plug mentioned above are good. You can also use a vocoder.
2
My suggestion: focus on the performance. It's the one aspect of the sound that no piece of software can touch (or fix), so see if you can get 90% of the way there with your voice actor alone. These computerized voices all seem to have a layer of performance magic, whether it be a gentle clarity of the star trek computer voice or the sarcastic monotone of ...
2
If the product is high quality, large enough in content and the price is less than what the bigger distributors ask, then I only see a marketing problem (i.e. letting people know that such library exists). You can set up a website/server for sharing it and Paypal/Google Payments/other for the payments. I think it's very easy to see how such marketing can be ...
2
S-Layer (and Reaktor)
(http://twistedtools.com/shop/reaktor/s-layer/)
Metaphysical Function, Skanner (also for Reaktor)
GRM Tools
SoundMagic Spectral
Metasynth
Camel Audio Alchemy ("the best sampler there is")
Perhaps even NI FM8 or Sytrus.
Too many ways to approach "computer sounds".
2
Synths can be great for this stuff, although depending on which program is used, I have at times had difficulty getting the sound to not feel "synthy". I think I mentioned this in a thread a while back, but I'm a pretty big fan of taking other recorded sounds and processing them with different plugins like GRM and Sound Toys to get the results I want. Often ...
2
Like others have said find the story behind the car sound.
If they are electric cars they don't have to be silent. There are actually laws concerning the sound (or lack of it) in Europe. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_vehicle_warning_sounds
Based on this you could play with the idea of cars just playing sounds of older combustion engine cars. Doing ...
2
Mortars tubes firing can work well as it is something big and heavy moving down a barrel at relatively high speed, very similar to what a net launcher would have to do. You probably then want to add a sound of the net flying through the air, but I'm not sure how I'd go about trying to get that component of the sound. You'd finally want it hitting the ...
2
The sound you're looking for might be the audio illusion called a Shepard Tone.
Depending how they are made, they are a tone that seems to be always rising or falling in pitch.
1
Just to add a couple of other suggestions: the SciFi bundled Pro Tools plugin would work to get the computerised 'twang' of Jarvis, if used in moderation, or even Adobe Audition has a 'Robotic' preset for the Echo effect, I think..!
1
Check out a YouTube vid on how they got the GLADOS voice sound for the game Portal using Melodyne. Should give you some ideas. Also if you check out the trailer for Pacific Rim you'll notice it there too!
1
I think it's an interesting question, I've definitely also found myself in that situation before - creating sfx with synths later to find they're clashing tonally with the music.
I think the fact that synths are aimed at musicians doesn't help us here. Think about it.. pretty much every synth is controlled by a keyboard, but as sound designers we ...
1
The Sound of Optimus Prime's Gun from Transformers the Movie (the proper one). (40 seconds) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fB0_vJUc3o4
The other one is the sound of the train in opening sequence in on Once Upon A Time in the West
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