Editing Blog: Sound Effects

Sound effect in the edit page

    Sound effects are an important part of this opening sequence. First, I had to acquire the audio files for these sound effects. I decided that it would be best to record the sound effects myself. One of the sound effects is a knife falling on the floor. I used my phone to record in my kitchen and dropped a knife some distance away. This is because in the film the sound source is in a separate room from the subject, so I wanted to make it sound like the knife was distant. In a similar manner, I recorded the sound of me knocking on a window from the exterior, while my phone was inside. I had already recorded the sound of the microwave going off on set. I then, similarly to how I uploaded the footage, plugged in my phone to my computer and transferred the files onto it. I then uploaded the videos into the media pool in Resolve.

    First, I had to convert these videos into audio files. I did this by dragging the videos into the timeline and then separating the video track from the audio track. I then dragged the audio track into the media pool and deleted the original video. Now that I had the audio files, I had to implement them into the opening sequence. I first marked the points where I wanted the sound effect to start using markers within the timeline. I aligned these markers with audio cues we gave the actor during filming, in this case we used a clap. I then had to cut out the audio of these cues, as well as other unwanted audio. I simply used the blade tool to trim these parts. I then created a separate audio track labeled “sfx” to keep everything separate from the original audio. I then inserted the audio into the audio track and aligned it with the markers I placed. I then adjusted the volume of each sound effect, until I was happy with how it sounded. I also added some non diegetic sound effects I found in the royalty free sound effect library, such as a low bass note.