A COLLABORATIVE POST WITH Boom Box Post
Can you believe Fall is already here? Autumn is my absolute favorite time of year, so I couldn’t be more excited. I love everything about the season: cooler days, apple picking, halloween, and of course all things pumpkin spice.
Although autumn on the west coast is a lot different than on the east coast—I’m talking specifically about the foliage—that doesn’t stop my east coast heart from getting into the spirit of Fall. To help, I thought up a fun list of Fall-themed sounds you should consider recording for your library this time of year!
Sounds Like Fall:
Apple Bites
Fall Leaves
Book Foley
Meow!
Creaky Floorboards
BOO!
Rattling Tree Branches
Pumpkin Carving
SCREAMS!
Witches Brew
Tips and Tricks:
Apple Bites - Unless you’re allergic to apples, this one is super easy to record. Also, one can never have enough crisp and crunchy sound effects in their library! Plus, you know what they say about an apple a day...
Book Foley - When I think of Fall, I think about cozying up with some hot cider and a good book. If you don’t have a ton of paper sound effects in your library, now is the perfect time to record some! For this time of year, I recommend a thriller/mystery. Please note: book genre does not affect sound produced.
Meow! - It is a know fact that a witch's companion is a black cat. Nothing beats the real deal, so if you have a cat or know someone with a cat why not try holding a little recording session? It might sound silly, but what else are you going to do with your time during quarantine? However, if you can’t get your hands on this authentic halloween icon, our incredible sound editor Greg recently wrote a blog post about an awesome plugin by Krotos called Dehumanizer II that might help you out. Check it out here!
BOO! - Ok so maybe this is not the most realistic sound to stumble across, but you’re in luck because our amazing sound editor Katie just wrote a whole blog post on how to create ghost vocals! Make sure to check out her super spooky and surprisingly easy tutorial that utilizes Pro Tools stock plugins. Click here to give it a read!
Rattling Tree Branches - Gather some twigs or a bristle boom and play around with scratching/tapping against different surfaces such as walls, metal pots, and windows.
Pumpkin Carving - Now I’m not saying let's go around stabbing things, but if you need some good slasher sound effects pumpkin carving is the perfect activity for you! Not only is this a fun and festive way to get into the Fall spirit, but this autumnal activity lends itself to some killer (pun-intended) horror sounds.
Screams - One of my biggest fears is receiving a noise complaint from my neighbors. I can be pretty loud in my apartment, but I think an abundance of screams bleeding through the walls at any time of the day would put my neighbors on high alert. So it might sound weird, but my favorite place to scream is in my car. If I was planning on recording some horror shrieks I’d simply grab my phone and jump in my car. Scream therapy is a real thing, so why not release some stress yourself this quarantine and get a great recording out of it!? Check out this blog post on how to get the perfect recording with your phone.
Witches Brew - Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble! Time to get creative. This is the perfect time of year to record all those spooky magic potion sounds. From my understanding, the base of any witches brew is a big ol’ pot of boiling water.