A violent shattering or blowing apart of something, as is caused by a bomb” is the definition of an explosion sound according to google. When we want to switch this definition to a sound designer’s perspective, this means an explosion is a sound with short and a fast attack resulting in a loud impact which then passes onto the body of the sound and finally comes down to a long, reverberant tail. Creating an explosion sound can be so much fun and can give exhilarating results considering the thrilling and high in volume nature of an explosion sound. In this article, we will be discussing the mechanics of an explosion sound and how to quickly get effective results.
The sound an explosion is loud, instant and mostly unexpected. For that reason some other factors should also be taken into account which we will be highlighting in a bit. So let’s get to it! The mechanics of an explosion sound can be divided into three sections which are the attack, the body and the tail. The first section is attack and it contains a fast and sharp, piercing impact sound which is very short and loud which then transitions into the second part of the sound, the body. This body section of the sound contains the information as to what is exploding. Is it fire, glass, water or the wall of a cave? Perhaps it is an underground or underwater explosion which will have a lot of low end rumblings. Whatever that is, the body will tell you that information. The final part, the tail, contains the information as to where the explosion is taking place. Is the information of your reverb which acts as the tool that will bring your sound into life.
The attack of the sound can be a loud and short, stinging impact sound of any material such as metal, wood, rock, plastic, you get the idea… Whatever that is, must be short and loud. You can layer several impact sounds together to get a more uniquely textured impact. The body of the sound can be the scattering sound of these materials plus some chemical action like plasma or fire forming around the scattering material.
The last part of the sound is the tail which can be acquired by applying reverb to the sound. The reverb sets how long the tail will be and should be set accordingly to the size of your imagined explosion sound. When you adjust the reverb to your sound just consider the role of your reverb. Will you use it as the signifier of the sounds’ environment or to add a textural element to see where your current sound can be manipulated further into. It can go a lot of ways from both directions. However you use it, you’ll have a lot of room for creativity here.
There are some things to keep in mind when making explosion sounds. First of all, mind the headroom. Since your explosion sound is loud, you are gonna have to deal with controlling the dynamic range of the sound. Cut out any frequencies that does not serve their place. Having unnecessary frequencies present in your sound will result in an uncontrolled loudness in your dynamic headroom. For that reason always pay attention and adjust the volume and the frequency ranges of your sounds. If you are facing an uncontrolled loudness issue, this might be the problem that needs fixing. The reverb also adds a lot of volume to the sound. So use the reverb accordingly.
Creating an effective explosion can be frustrating and time consuming depending on your skill level in sound design. You might feel like you are losing control over the sound. Just remember to practice more so that you can observe and understand how the mechanics of an explosion sound work. To summarize this study we can say that an explosion sound consists of three main elements that are the attack, the body, and the tail which should all work together to make a loud explosion. The explosion sound should have controlled loudness and rich texture. To acquire all this, use sounds that serve in specific frequencies and blend sounds that make up unique textures. Pay attention to the volume of the samples to control the headroom.
0 Comments for “How To Make An Effective Explosion Sound”