An effect we talked about in my very first post was the use of an audible heartbeat to allow the audience to feel the tension or anxiety that is building in the character on screen. This effect is an easy way to elicit emotion from the audience. Usually, the heartbeat will be very low in pitch, hardly audible, and really just adding feeling. Rarely will the heartbeat be the main focus in the audio mix. These are important aspects to keep in mind while we create this effect.
To record the base of our effect, we are going to physically create a rhythmic beat. This helps to aid in the human feel, but is also easily controllable. We want to take a rag and hold it in both hands. Hold the rag in close proximity to the microphone, we need a strong signal. Now bring your hands close together and pull apart with force. Do this in a rhythmic pattern that mimics a heart. This is the sound I was able to create.
Now we need to process the effect to help it blend into the mix. Remember, the goal is for it to help add tension and build emotion, not be a focal point. First we need to get the EQ right. The heart is within the body, so we need to adjust the sound so it feels as if it is coming from within. We will apply a bandpass that has a low cutoff around 100Hz and a high cutoff around 1.3 kHz.
We also want to add in some reverb. For me, this makes the effect sound wet. Almost like we can hear the blood being pushed out. I set up an aux track and bussed out to apply reverb. I didn't want to lose the punchy-ness of my heartbeat, and just needed a dab of reverb.
Lastly, I added a bit of compression to just give the track a little bit more punch. I used a relatively quick attack with a medium long delay. I don't want it to pump. This helped to give the higher end of the sample more strength. A 5:1 ratio worked nicely, and I really liked the effect.
Here is the final result of our processing.
So that's all it takes. This is an easy to create effect that can add a ton of dramatic emotion to your mix. Remember to mix in low, and just let the heartbeat live in the scene.
Great post Austin! I think the rag technique you mention at the top of the article really made the whole thing come together, you got the right rhythm out of it as well. Good call on the EQ as well, I enjoyed reading that you want the audience to hear the heartbeat if you were inside the body, it gives a different perspective as if you are in the characters mind and body. Adding the reverb and the compression at the end really gave it that deep thump that would add a lot of tension when needed, I will definitely use this technique when I need to create a heart beat!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I was really surprised at how good sounding this one came out. I would love to actually hear it in context and see it matched to picture.
DeleteWOW. That sounds incredibly realistic. I could almost picture a really tense movie scene when I heard the final sound. When I first saw the title of your post, I assumed you would be emulating this sound with a percussive source. But this sounds much more realistic than say banging on a dense surface or trying to create it vocally. Do you know if this is a common technique for creating a heart beat? I would assume some sound designers would take a more synthetic route like using subtractive synthesis or 808-like drums but I doubt they would get as much success as your technique. Great post man!
ReplyDeleteI started researching ways to create this effect with the expectation of synthesizing the sound, much like you expected as well. I found that foley is common to create heartbeats, and the rag is a simple technique for it. Another is to use a large garbage can and press in the sides and let it pop back out to create the sound. My cans didn't sound very good so I opted to go with the rag. I was really surprised with the results.
DeleteI would have never thought to use a rag to create a heartbeat. Like Jordan said, I figured it was going to be more synthesized than through a physical method such as this. This is what fascinates me about sound design though. You get to create sounds from objects you would never in a million years associate with something like a heart beat. You were able to get a very nice sounding heart beat. Maybe a little reverb heavy for my taste, but the overall effect sounds great, I will definitely have to try this one out for myself. I would like to see a video of how this was created though. I get that pulling on the towel will cause it to make a sound, but how did you get two successive thumps? Or was this edited to build the thump-thump sound? Nice post, I really like it when you post how to make certain effects. I like learning new ways to make sound effects.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
Ryan
I held the rag so about 6-8 inches of rag was between my two hands. I then brought them together and quickly pulled apart to create the the sound. I needed to experiment to get the tempo and pacing I wanted, but everything you heard was done physically. So I just played around to get the two successive thumps that sounded the way I wanted them to sound.
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