Footstep Effects Box

I don't know what the proper term for one of these is, assuming there even is one, so I've dubbed it the Footstep Effects Box. I need the sound of footsteps on gravel, with a particular tone and feel, so I sought out some gravel and took my feet with me (I take them everywhere). The perfect gravel turned out to be crusher fines. It's rock crushed into pieces tiny enough to still be considered gravel, but large enough that it compacts when it settles. For this reason it's perfect for pathways or rough-and-ready parking spaces. I lined my garden path with some this spring, but unfortunately the sound of traffic is so abominable here that recording clean gravelly footsteps on my path is out of the question.

So I thought outside the box and decided I'd bring the gravel path into my studio - well, a bit of it, at any rate. I figured all I'd need is a shallow wooden box large enough to accommodate both feet, so I cut some scrap 1x4" lumber left over from a concrete pour, and a piece of scrap 5/8" plywood 18 inches square. A few drywall screws and Bob's your uncle's third cousin twice removed. Not bad eh? And it's made from recycled materials!

I've yet to test this contraption, but I've collected enough crusher fines to line it about an inch deep, given them a wash to get rid of the dust and dirt mixed in with the rock (the worst of which was sieved out first) and have them drying in the greenhouse. I expect you could line it with anything - dried leaves, for example - to create your own custom footstep sounds.

SFX Session

Thinking in terms of sound effects, you tend to listen to the world a little more intently. I've noticed, over the last few months, just how noisy the world is. Even when I'm walking in the woods, the background hum of the town can still be heard, and birds and breeze and squirrels. Fine if that's what you need, but these and myriad other sounds can intrude on an otherwise perfectly good recording.

This morning I set out to capture some studio-based sounds. Now, my studio is a large room in the basement. It's packed with junk so there's practically no reverb. The ceiling and walls are insulated, and I can close windows to keep the bulk of the traffic sound at bay, but it's not sound-proofed by any means. I turn off my PC and record with my netbook and USB Preamp to ensure the least amount of noise on my recordings. But today I was hampered by several factors, including: the sound of heavy rain, the council trimming grass along the highway with weed-whackers, someone mowing their lawn nearby, a noisy crow outside my window, and, most annoying of all, the neighbours nailing siding to their woodworking shop. Having recorded the bulk of what I wanted today and turned my PC back on, the pounding of nails and the cawing crow seem to have vanished. Oh well, them's the breaks.

Back to what I was saying about listening. I require a particular sound for my first episode of Tales, and hadn't quite worked out how to achieve it. Then last night while making a salad, it hit me. Not the salad - but the sound. So this afternoon I could be found squeezing what remained of a head of romaine lettuce in front of my CAD GXL2200 microphone.

Other objects I had in the studio today include a four-foot length of 6" duct pipe, a cardboard postal tube with end-caps, and some wind-chimes. What possible use have all these things in a fantasy adventure set in a quasi-medieval world, you may ask? Well, you'll have to wait and see....