I am looking for a wood squeaking/creaking sound...

[Peter Berger]

i am looking for this eerie sound effect. i dont know how to say it in english. wood squeak? i mean trees squaking in the forrest, wood squaking in an old house or old wooden ship... do you know what i mean? how is this sound effect called and where I can find it? thanks for any help. (i need it for a short horror film)

[Tony Koretz]

Hi.......there are a few trees creaking in the wind at this page:
Wind | Rocksure Soundz

there are some general creaks at this page:
Creaks | Rocksure Soundz

Hope this helps and Perhaps you will find something suitable in there?

[Peter Berger]

Thanks Tony.

[Jonathan Levin]

If you were closer, I'd say come on over to my place. My floors squeeking and creaking could wake the dead! :-0

Jonathan

[Trevor Dennis]

Originally Posted by Jonathan Levin

If you were closer, I'd say come on over to my place. My floors squeeking and creaking could wake the dead! :-0

Jonathan

:-) I'll throw in my truck's steering column, although its squeaking sounds more comic than eerie. I now have this mind picture of the BBC team that put together their massive sound FX library hunting down strange and bizarre locations to get that sound. I remember reading how they did blood curdling axe and knife attack sounds by stabbing and chopping cabbages. It's a funny old world.

[Roger Gunkel]

I spent many years making sound effects for various different scenarios, and one of the things that I picked up fairly quickly was that recording a real sound, often doesn't sound like what it actually is, without the visual clues.

If you can't download the sound that you want, try making your own with any microphone and a simple audio recording, a pc will do. The sound of a squeaking hinge on a normal door, will possibly give you the sound you want if you put it through any basic audio processor and slow it down by about 50%. Scraping fingernails over something like glass and slowing that down can also be effective. You need to think a bit laterally and the sound sampler processor is your friend.

Good luck,

Roger

[Graham Bernard]

Roger - yes! - I needed some whooshing wind sounds, as per tumble-weed on the Prairies or old fish and chip Newspapers wafting through an inner city, Graffiti-ed shopping square. Out with the Mic and some pursed lips and exhalations from meself. Job done!

Oh yeah, do remember to add a touch of reverb to the mix, gives that extra polish.

Grazie

[Roger Gunkel]

Originally Posted by Graham Bernard

Roger - yes! - I needed some whooshing wind sounds, as per tumble-weed on the Prairies or old fish and chip Newspapers wafting through an inner city, Graffiti-ed shopping square. Out with the Mic and some pursed lips and exhalations from meself. Job done!

Oh yeah, do remember to add a touch of reverb to the mix, gives that extra polish.

Grazie

I once had to get the sound of a lion roaring for a children's story, couldn't find one and found that if I coughed fairly slowly then slowed that right down, it became a very convincing lion.

Yes reverb can often give more space to the sound to give it a real world feel. I had to make up a soundtrack for a travelogue which included a steam train making it's way through a valley. The original sound had been blown out by wind noise, so I used the old trick of blowing gently on a mic with a handkerchief over it, in short steam train like bursts with some reverb added to give the valley effect. It earned me a regular contract with the company.

Great to hear someone else working the same way Graham!

Roger

[Tony Koretz]

Actually after my initial reply to this thread, I decided to go round looking for more sueaking things, and groaning things to record. I found all sorts of stuff really....doors, cupboards etc, and after applying different audio tricks to them, I've ended up with a whole bunch of new sfx for my library lol. It's amazing how much inspiration I find comes when someone posts that they are looking for such and such a sfx. Sometimes it's something I hadn't thought of before, so I go an record or create the effect. It's fun.

[Graham Bernard]

Originally Posted by Tony Koretz

Sometimes it's something I hadn't thought of before, so I go an record or create the effect. It's fun.

Yup! And totally cheapo too.

Now try this:

1/- Squish or s t r e t c h the clip.

2/- Add Echo or reverb

3/- Multi-layer the sound

4/- REVERSE the audio . . I like this for the more discerning Satanists in my audience . . .

5/- Mix ALL of the above together and "hear" what comes through too.

. . . . .

OK, a bit of evolutionary science - ahem . . .

We are better at perceiving audio rather than visuals. A GOOD video looks rubbish with less than adequate audio. BUT, a less than visually adequate video can appear good with great audio.


Use this talent we have for painting a scene with audio to your advantage. And of course, the more aberrant or confusing the audio, the harder the visuals are to perceive, something that when used to good effect by Hollywood and here in the UK, can be awesome.

Examples?

1/ The Screeching sound at the Bates Hotel of the Shower scene

2/- The clip-clop of the coconut shells in the Python "Holy Grail"

3/- The use of the Valkyries as the helos swept in on that Vietnam beach on Apocalypse Now and the sound of the ceiling fan in the opening sequence.

Anyhoo, you get the . . er . . . picture.

Grazie

[Tony Koretz]

Originally Posted by Graham Bernard

Yup! And totally cheapo too.

Now try this:

1/- Squish or s t r e t c h the clip.

2/- Add Echo or reverb

3/- Multi-layer the sound

4/- REVERSE the audio . . I like this for the more discerning Satanists in my audience . . .

5/- Mix ALL of the above together and "hear" what comes through too.

. . . . .

.

Grazie

Yep they are all tricks that I use. Them plus the use of transient designers, pitch shifters (including multi-voice), dopplers etc. It's amazing what you sounds can end up with.

[Jim Andrada]

When I get up from sitting at the computer I'll record the sounds my knees make - should be a good approximation of creaking wood.

More seriously. my favorite creaking wood sound is at a temple in Kyoto where it is said to have been intentionally built in to alert people to intruders.

[Richard Crowley]

Originally Posted by Trevor Dennis

I now have this mind picture of the BBC team that put together their massive sound FX library hunting down strange and bizarre locations to get that sound.

Back in the early part of the 20th century, the Valentino studios released a SFX library that was originally distributed on 78RPM phonograph records on the "Major" label. The story goes that they found the perfect toilet flush in the men's room in the mezzanine of Grand Central Station in New York. Of course, to get a "clean catch" of the sound in such a busy place, they hauled their microphones and recording equipment down to the station and set it up at 3am to avoid the crowds. Alas, the security guards had not been notified that they were doing this and the crew were arrested on vague suspicions of doing something lewd in a public restroom.

Ultimately, they explained their way out of this mess and got their recording. It is reputed that this same toilet flush SFX was the one used in one of my favorite scenes from that historic sit-com "All in the Family" (the USA version with Carroll O'Connor).

Picture this: We come up out of black from the commercial break on a static shot of the stairwell descending into the front room. Off-camera, we hear the famous toilet flush SFX. A few seconds later, we see Archie Bunker descending the stairs and hitching up his trousers as he yells to his wife: "Edith! Ya know, I think it's true what they say. Ya don't BUY beer, ya just RENT it for a few hours!"

Indeed, it is fascinating the kinds of materials and tricks/techniques used by Foley artists to create what we accept as "authentic" sounds. Especially those who specialize in "natural" wildlife production where for various reasons (safety being prominent!) little is shot with sync sound.

[Rick Reineke]

Not to nit-pic and off topic but "Grand Central Station" is a Post Office. Our esteemed contributor Richard likely means the historic East 42nd St. transportation hub "Grand Central Terminal" in which, aside from the record-ready toilets, there's other acoustical anomalies.

[Richard Crowley]

Thank you for the correction, Mr. Reineke. Of course I would never presume to be any kind of authority on anything in NYC. Maybe I will be able to visit someday.

In my defense, I note that Wikipedia allows "colloquially called Grand Central Station". :-)