thanks - I have that - I just don't find it to be the be all end all... just looking for other peoples' tricks

If you have a good mic you can record yor own effects like foot scrapings, chainfalls, paper noises, computer machine noises etc. and store them on the computer. Forge can change the pitches and do a lot of miraculas things. You can cut out words of people then repaste them into a sentence and have them say new things provided the tempo and voice pitches aren't all over the place. I do this on the Vegas timelines as I can move things on the expanded timelines to perfect positions. Sometimes I even impress myself doing this.

JJK

> thanks - I have that - I just don't find it to be the be all end all...

Are you making your own impulses while on location? Because if you’re not, then you’re missing the point. You need to record impulses while on location and then when you get back to the studio you can apply those impulses to any other audio to make it sound like it was at the location.

I also answered your post in the Vegas Audio forum where I pointed you to another tool and another thread on the topic.

~jr

thanks JR, I appreciate your post. I can;'t record my own because I;m doing post on other people's projects and the sound is already recorded. I'll admit I kind of forgot about acoustic mirror in this regard because I remember it not really having the effect I wanted, but I;ll try again on the next project.

thanks

Acoustic Mirror has an effect called "three rooms away" that I used for a muffled violinist in another room.

Track EQ also seemed useful for emphasizing or de-emphasizing certain frequencies for echo effect.

It is also a great idea to record 10 seconds of "silence" in every environment to pick up the sound of that setting. Use that as a sample to fill the environment and other effects with room ambience or to replace a distracting bang or clank. Also record the sound of a hand clap or the take clapper and use that sound as a clue to how much bass or trebble is diffused and how much echo and reverb is in that environment.

Record an event from varous simultaneous places farther away - around a corner, next room from outside. You can use the stereo input on the camera to hook up two microphones. One in the direct environment and the other elswhere. Then experiment with the more direct sound to see what it takes to get it to resemble the indirect sound. What you learn in that process will be enlightening.

For example the three rooms away preset does alter the initial sound, but how much of the dead sound from three rooms away is it grabbing. Footage of a man sitting at his desk should contain muffled sounds from the other offices but a clear sound of the shuffle of papers on his desk.

Many videographers forget that sound is a very powerful pallet as well. If you study sound effects in the movies you will discover that often a sound effect begins sounding at a moment in time different from when the event is seen in video. Explosions, for example often start sounding before you see them. And for some reason many people like the multiple angle redo thingy. For example you see a car crash and hear it four different times from four different angles even though there is only one crash.

Start your own collection of extraneous sounds. Take common sounds and pitch shift them. A snare drum lowered can pass for a gun, a clanging spoon shifted down and stretched can pass for a church bell.

Find a good book on sound effects.