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Discover the secrets behind anime sound design
November 23, 2021
Over the past 3 decades Japanese animation or "Anime" has steadily gained prominence outside of Asia, and now is growing into one of the most popular entertainment genres.
Whilst Anime shares many similarities with western animation, there are many differences, as you would expect from an art form that originates from a different culture.
In this article, we will look at what gives anime sound effects there trademark aesthetic and how you can replicate these sounds in your own work.
Anime tends to focus on more "high concept" worlds and themes in its stories. Even in programs with a fairly grounded plot and setting, there is always some element of fantasy, melodrama and heightened reality present.
Because of this, Anime is heavily stylised in many areas of production, and sound design is no exception. Sounds are often quite unrealistic and have a cartoon quality to them. More focus is placed in the aesthetic style of the sound and the feeling it creates, rather than how things sound in reality.
Gunshots are a classic example. Whereas in western productions, and Hollywood in particular, you may expect to find beefy, high fidelity gun sounds with an emphasis on realism, anime gunshots are more highly stylised and make use of more synthetic layers, even if the weapon itself appears to be "normal".
Other examples include heavy swishes and whooshes to enhance a punch, or over the top sword "shing" effects to draw attention to the hero.
A common feature of anime sound effects is that they often have a synthetic quality to them, even if its the sound of something fairly ordinary. This goes back to the days when sound effects libraries were limited so audio teams made use of the synthesizer equipment they had access to.
For a classic anime punch effect, try layering punch or impact sound effects with a synthesized element to help them pop and give them that satisfying punchiness that is so characteristic of anime sound effects. Synthesised kick drums, toms or other percussion work especially well for this kind of thing.
Modular and FM synthesis is also really great for designing machinery, weapon or sci-fi effects, as they can produce a wide range of metallic tones and colours. These effects are further enhanced through the use of rind modulation, and pitch modulation.
Here we can observe the use of synthetic elements to enhance to gunshots in Sword Art Online.
Much of the "classic" anime sound comes from the shows of the 80s and 90s. Sound effects whether organic or synthetic in their origins were recorded onto tape, which naturally gives sounds its own distinctive tone and colour as a result of tape saturation.
If you have the means, try recording sounds on to tape before running them into your DAW. Experiment with different parameters such as the playback speed, or vary the strength of the signal being written on to tape.
For those of us working in the purely digital realm, you can also achieve a similar sound through the use of tape emulation plugins, or by applying EQ and filters which mimic the properties of analogue gear and tape recording.
Tape emulation plugins:
Waves Kramer tape
https://www.waves.com/plugins/kramer-master-tape#eddie-kramer-on-the-kramer-master-tape
PSP Vintage Warmer 2 http://www.pspaudioware.com/plugins/dynamic_processors/psp_vintagewarmer2/
FabFilter Saturn 2 https://www.fabfilter.com/products/saturn-2-multiband-distortion-saturation-plug-in
Anime embraces what western audiences tend to perceive as cliché sound effects, with
cheesy bell sounds, mickey mouse effects, humorous tones for embarrassment and heavy slapstick moments all being commonplace in anime sound design.
Anime also presents a turbocharged version of "cuteness" that is often emphasised through sound effects such as bubbles popping, melodic and bouncy synth tones and fizzing effects.
Try and break out of the western mindset, and don't be afraid to try ideas that you think are overdone or are too cliché. It might be the perfect ingredient to give that classic Anime sound you are going for.
Because of the nature of the storylines, and the "visual busyness" of each frame, Anime tends to feature a more simple and direct use of sound effects.
The audience is already flooded with visual information, so to avoid overloading the audience anime sound design typically emphasises specific moments on screen, as opposed to covering everything which would be the natural inclination in the west.
Anime production is also notoriously rushed and often working with very limited budgets. Often sound designers simply don't have the time to record foley and therefore rely on an extensive bank of tried and tested sound effects.
We hope you enjoyed checking out this article!
Go behind the scenes of Challenger, a Canadian racing film, and discover how we crafted an authentic, high-intensity soundscape using real vehicle recordings and remote workflows.
November 23, 2021
We are pleased to share with you some of the behind the scenes processes from our work on the Canadian racing film Challenger.
Based on true events, when a race track owner loses his business due to the world wide pandemic, only one thing can save him from his despair...
Challenger is a heartfelt short film with a great story and a unique setting, with the film taking place in the Humberstone race way in Canada. This film presented an interesting challenge from an audio perspective, as we had to live up to the intensity of the racing scenes, whilst not overshadowing the more emotional elements of the story and the films musical score.
Director Daniel Everitt-Lock had this to say about the film:
Challenger was originally shot as a piece to advertise some new kit that we had bought for rentals, but then when the narrative we route for the piece unfortunately came true a few days after we finished shooting, we decided to make a full short in honour of the track and the owners.
When creating the sounds for the vehicles in the film, we took the approach to make everything sound as natural as possible, meaning that all the sounds would come from the location sound of the real vehicles going around the track used in the film.
The filmmakers really went out of their way to give us the best possible sonic ingredients, which was a massive blessing and helped us to create a memorable and exciting soundtrack.
Microphones were mounted to the front and back exterior of the vehicles. The drivers then performed several "takes" of racing around the track to capture the full range of sounds that you hear on the track such as engine revving at different intensities, gear changes, heavy braking, tire squealing and wheels churning the dirt track.
We then took all of this source material and used it to create the soundtrack for the racing scenes in the film. The inclusion of exterior sounds was especially useful, as most car recordings you find in sound effects libraries tend to be interior, and don't have that raw, visceral sound that we needed for the race action.
We really enjoyed this approach to designing a race scene, and we plan to release a forthcoming sound effects library using the vehicle sounds from the film, so that you can get in on the action as well.
Working on this film also presented a unique challenge because of the dialogue. All of the lines in the film occur when the characters are wearing their racing masks, so we had to assemble the dialogue from the rushes and decide on the best moments for them to be spoken. This then had to be carefully balanced alongside the sound effects and the musical score, which takes a fairly heavy role in the mix, driving the film forward between the racing scenes and cut-away shots.
All of the work for this project was completed remotely by our team, including the mixing stage where the director patched in using our remote workflow.
For more work from director Daniel Everitt-Lock including his colour grading studio True Colour check out the links below:
https://www.everlockproductions.com/
You can watch the completed film below:
We hope you enjoyed this article!
Explore our creative approach to Halloween sound design in this video and grab a FREE sample library of spooky sounds!
November 23, 2021
We often get requests for a look into the Sound Design process, so we set some time aside this Halloween to demonstrate a creative and experimental approach to working on this video.
During the making of this video, we put together a FREE Sample Library utilising the sounds we've created.
Get them here:
https://www.facebook.com/344audio/posts/1906608462896075?__mref=message_bubble
Discover the top five sound sources—human voices, instruments, animals, metals, and contact mics—for crafting spine-chilling horror sound effects.
November 23, 2021
Here at 344 Audio, we know a thing or two about how to create sounds for horror movies. Whether its a classic jump scare or the creepy ambience of a haunted house, the Horror genre is filled with moments where sound design takes a leading role in making the audience jump out of their seats.
Here are our 5 top sound sources that make for some truly terrifying sound design.
The Human voice is capable of producing an incredible range of sounds, making it an extremely versatile and accessible tool for creating Horror effects. It also involves no proprietary equipment other than a microphone, meaning that you can dive in and start being creative with minimal setup or fuss.
One of the real strengths of working with vocal sounds is that you can heavily distort and mangle them whilst still retaining a recognisable Human quality. This leads to something that feels grounded in reality, yet "not quite human" and closer to some demonic entity. If executed correctly this can produce some extremely sickening effects.
Acoustic instruments are naturally resonant and will contain a lot of harmonics in the sounds they produce. This leads to cool and interesting results when manipulating sounds, especially when pitching things down or applying effects like distortion and saturation.Instruments can be modifying into strange tunings, or make use of atonality which will give a very dissonant and unsettling sound. You can also use uncommon playing techniques to enhance the fear factor, such as playing string instruments with a razor blade or knife.
We recommend that all sound designers should keep a box of broken instruments and random bits in their studio.
Much like the human voice, animals make for excellent sound sources for creating horror effects. Animal vocalisations can be used to similar effect as Human ones, only with a much more guttural and primal quality to them. The pig squeal used in the movie Saw is a classic example of an animal sound being used out of context with terrifying results.
We are naturally wired to be sensitive to predators, so any sounds which have their origins from an animal will have a more dramatic effect on us than synthetic ones. Animal vocalisations and breathing are also great for designing creature sounds, which has long been a staple of the Horror genre.
Metals and glass lend themselves very nicely to creating harsh and sharp sounds such as nails on a chalkboard, or the piercing scrape of a knife across a plate. These are sounds that are impossible to ignore and will make you wince and send a shiver down your spine.
Metal is also highly resonant and responds well to a number of different modes of excitation such as bowing, striking and scrapes. These kinds of sounds are excellent for creating horror stingers and creepy impacts.
Be extra careful when working with glass as you can easily give yourself the kind of cut that needs stitches if you make a wrong move!
Contact microphones work by picking up the physical vibrations as they move through a solid object. This method of recording is particularly effective on surfaces that can bend and warp such as wood, sheet metal or chicken wire. Expected to find lots of strange gurgles, creaks and groans that can be used raw, or processed further into horrifying variations.
We hope you enjoyed this article!
This post was partially inspired by our recent work in creating Jump Scares, our new horror-themed sound effects library. Jump Scares contains many of the sound sources and techniques that we have discussed in this article.
You can check out Jump Scares via this link.
Unlock the full potential of your voice as a sound design tool with these creative tips on improvisation, character performance, and vocal effects.
November 23, 2021
The human voice is an amazingly complex tool, capable of producing infinite variations of sounds as fast as you can think them up. When viewed in pure terms, the voice is essentially a thought-controlled synthesizer that we all carry inside our bodies, and using your voice is the quickest way to present and communicate sonic ideas, conveying the emotions behind a sound.
As sound designers and audio professionals, we are often too quick to reach for a designed sound or library sound effect when the answer could lie in a sound derived from our voices.
In this article, we share with you some tips for how to use your voice for creative sound design.
The first step to amazing vocal sound design is to know what your voice is capable of. This is something that only comes with practice so if you are serious about mastering vocal sound design then you need to invest some time into learning your voice inside out.
Set up a microphone channel and spend an hour or so just freestyling random sound with your voice. It doesn't matter too much what the sounds are, more just that you are exploring the parameters of your instrument and building up an intuitive sense of what sounds you can create, and the level of control you have over those sounds.
Push your voice to its limits and work out your ideal range and tone of voice. Does your voice crack when you push it too hard in a certain register? Do you have any natural upper or lower harmonics that can be brought out and enhanced? How does your voice behave when used for loud and quiet, or higher and lower in pitch?
By taking the time to learn your instrument you will be much more finely calibrated when it comes to recording your voice and can deliver the goods in less time and with more creative flair.
A lot of vocal sound design comes from the quality of the performance, and this means thinking like a voice actor, using your imagination and embodying the character you are trying to portray. This is especially important for creature sound design as you want to nature of the creature to come across clearly in the vocal performance.
Are they evil, good? big, small? powerful etc. A good technique is to physically act out the performance whilst you are recording, mimicking the posture of the creature and using your hands, body movements to convey the physicality of the character.
This does not only extend to creature and character-based vocal sounds. Perhaps you are creating a wind or atmospheric sound, the same principle still applies. Try and inject as much of the emotion that you want to convey in your performance and it will help to make the final product as effective as possible.
A great vocal performance can be made even better through the use of some creative effects. There are many kinds of effects, each with different purposes. You should work out exactly what kind of effect and feeling you are trying to achieve with the voice and work from there.
Are you looking to enhance an element of the voice that is already present or transform it completely? Perhaps you want to do a gender swap or turn a human voice into a different species. Knowing how much room you have to play with the voice is crucial as it keeps you on brief and lets you be more focused in your creativity.
Some classic examples of creative effects for vocal sound design include:
As discussed in this article, the human voice is a sound design tool with vast creative potential, and every budding sound designer can benefit greatly from reaching some level of mastery at vocal sound design. Make an aim to practice this element of your skillset consistently and you will open many creative doors that will help you to grow and progress as a sound designer.
We hope you enjoyed this article!
