How to make a sword unsheathing sound (unlikely example found in Robert Palmer's Simply Irresistible)
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- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 54 posts since 20 Mar, 2021
I've been wanting to learn this sound for a long time now and having heard Simply Irresistible tonight I was reminded.
I've timestamped the part in the song should it (understandably) not be your bag.
https://youtu.be/SoHpSY3IoAI?si=8ko7mICEWgmnipn0&t=107
It's immediately after the laughable iconic 80s drums at 1:47 should the timestamp not work for you.
Note there are two sounds. I'm not after the initial swing, merely the metallic unsheathing bit that follows.
In terms of preferred synths, I have quite a few options at my disposal so no concerns there.
I came close with additive synthesis and comb filtering but still nothing I was super happy with.
Also, before anybody says just sample one of the gazillion examples online it's more about the sound design process than it is about having the sound identically. Plus the flexibility is much greater having it as a preset.
I've timestamped the part in the song should it (understandably) not be your bag.
https://youtu.be/SoHpSY3IoAI?si=8ko7mICEWgmnipn0&t=107
It's immediately after the laughable iconic 80s drums at 1:47 should the timestamp not work for you.
Note there are two sounds. I'm not after the initial swing, merely the metallic unsheathing bit that follows.
In terms of preferred synths, I have quite a few options at my disposal so no concerns there.
I came close with additive synthesis and comb filtering but still nothing I was super happy with.
Also, before anybody says just sample one of the gazillion examples online it's more about the sound design process than it is about having the sound identically. Plus the flexibility is much greater having it as a preset.
- KVRAF
- 15008 posts since 26 Jun, 2006 from San Francisco Bay Area
I don’t know, but the sound of the Klingon dagger toy was made by my friend while he dragged a chef’s knife against the edge of his wok.
Zerocrossing Media
4th Law of Robotics: When turning evil, display a red indicator light. ~[ ●_● ]~
4th Law of Robotics: When turning evil, display a red indicator light. ~[ ●_● ]~
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- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 54 posts since 20 Mar, 2021
That's a pretty cool anecdote.zerocrossing wrote: ↑Tue Jan 23, 2024 6:28 am I don’t know, but the sound of the Klingon dagger toy was made by my friend while he dragged a chef’s knife against the edge of his wok.
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gaggle of hermits gaggle of hermits https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=521655
- KVRian
- 963 posts since 18 Jul, 2021
the trouble you might have here is that I'd lay money on this being a sample and I'd place a smaller bet on it and the whoosh sound coming from a pulp martial-arts movie. this was made when sampling was still fairly novel and before copyright on samples became a thing and it was pretty common to go digging for sound effects in all sorts of obscure movies as well as crates of music.
however, for replicating using synthesis, FM is going to be your friend here - it's tricky to get the harmonics to sound right with additive as metallic sounds are quite inharmonic. it's basically the same approach as for synthesising a bell but the trick is to get the right sidebands for the harmonics. this page (https://ccrma.stanford.edu/software/clm ... s/fm2.html) shows the basics for getting harmonics out of fm using sidebands. what you'd need to do is work out the main frequencies you need to recreate using a spectrum analyser on the source sound.
for a decent fm synth that's free, dexed is a good choice.
EDIT: put the link in after forgetting the first time round.
Last edited by gaggle of hermits on Tue Jan 23, 2024 9:56 am, edited 1 time in total.
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- KVRAF
- 2565 posts since 2 Jul, 2010
Hermits beat me to it!
A couple of extra details: ring mod is also good for non-harmonic noisy sounds, and classic cymbal synthesisers use a set of cheap square-wave oscillators ring-modded (or just XORed?) together.
On the FM front aliasing can actually be helpful as it creates frequencies that are not harmonically related. Try pushing the feedback really hard on one oscillator and using it to modulate others.
A couple of extra details: ring mod is also good for non-harmonic noisy sounds, and classic cymbal synthesisers use a set of cheap square-wave oscillators ring-modded (or just XORed?) together.
On the FM front aliasing can actually be helpful as it creates frequencies that are not harmonically related. Try pushing the feedback really hard on one oscillator and using it to modulate others.
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- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 54 posts since 20 Mar, 2021
Many thanks. Very informative and helpful.gaggle of hermits wrote:this page shows the basics for getting harmonics out of fm using sidebands.
Was there a site you forgot to link though?
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- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 54 posts since 20 Mar, 2021
Good tips, thanks.imrae wrote: ↑Tue Jan 23, 2024 8:54 am Hermits beat me to it!
A couple of extra details: ring mod is also good for non-harmonic noisy sounds, and classic cymbal synthesisers use a set of cheap square-wave oscillators ring-modded (or just XORed?) together.
On the FM front aliasing can actually be helpful as it creates frequencies that are not harmonically related. Try pushing the feedback really hard on one oscillator and using it to modulate others.
I'll try ring mod as well as sine/square and square/square FM.
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gaggle of hermits gaggle of hermits https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=521655
- KVRian
- 963 posts since 18 Jul, 2021
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- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 54 posts since 20 Mar, 2021
Thankyou Sir (correct me if not )gaggle of hermits wrote: ↑Tue Jan 23, 2024 9:55 amd'oh! yes: https://ccrma.stanford.edu/software/clm ... s/fm2.html
Will get a coffee and then try and process all this.
Last edited by OscSync on Tue Jan 23, 2024 9:59 am, edited 1 time in total.
- KVRAF
- 6325 posts since 18 Jul, 2008 from New York
I am pretty certain those are samples. Probably a whip sound followed by an anvil strike. Do swords make a "ping" sound when unsheathed?
Can't you find a similar sample?
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- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 54 posts since 20 Mar, 2021
Oh yes I'm 100% certain they are samples in the track.
However it's worth clarifying I don't need the sound to be identical because if I did, then indeed a sample would be the solution. I'm mainly interested in the synthesis technique to create an approximation.
- KVRAF
- 6325 posts since 18 Jul, 2008 from New York
- KVRAF
- 15008 posts since 26 Jun, 2006 from San Francisco Bay Area
Cool ones do, just like kung-fu masters can make the swoosh sound when striking an enemy.
Zerocrossing Media
4th Law of Robotics: When turning evil, display a red indicator light. ~[ ●_● ]~
4th Law of Robotics: When turning evil, display a red indicator light. ~[ ●_● ]~
- KVRAF
- 15008 posts since 26 Jun, 2006 from San Francisco Bay Area
Then your best bet is FM and/or physical modeling.OscSync wrote: ↑Tue Jan 23, 2024 4:20 pmOh yes I'm 100% certain they are samples in the track.
However it's worth clarifying I don't need the sound to be identical because if I did, then indeed a sample would be the solution. I'm mainly interested in the synthesis technique to create an approximation.
I’ve personally never gotten exactly what I want from those methods. I almost always end up layering a sample.
Zerocrossing Media
4th Law of Robotics: When turning evil, display a red indicator light. ~[ ●_● ]~
4th Law of Robotics: When turning evil, display a red indicator light. ~[ ●_● ]~