Those classic scifi sounds - sample CD available?

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I was recently watching oldschool SciFi Series (oldschool as in last 10 years) and I always hear the same sounds:

- airlocks open/close
- mechanical doors open/close
- sound of elevators (that click-whoooosh-click sound)

Stuff that was used in videogames (warhammer and Turrican Soundtrack), TV series (from Lexx to Star Trek to Viper), movies, and so forth.

Is there a dedicated sample CD or an onlinesource where to get those samples from? Maybe BestService Blue/Black/Red Box?


Somebody fill me in, please. There has to be a source for all those cheezy oldschool sounds.
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A bunch of possibilities -

You can see the libraries the pro's use here:
http://sound-ideas.com/
Guaranteed to find what you want there, but like $30 to $100 per CD...

Here's another site of mostly pro sounds that you can buy online and download individually:
http://sounddogs.com/

For free sounds, you can Google away and find lots.
Here's a repository of free sounds:
http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/

... and you can find various and sundry CDs/CR-ROMs of sound effects in record stores or in multimedia bundles at computer stores. The quality of the FX can be uneven, but the CDs are usually not expensive.

One of my prized possessions is a CD of sounds from the original StarTrek series, with all the doors, transporters, phasors, the bridge, etc etc. Beam me up...

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Well I can still remember if you bought the "First Contact" OST, then you also got tons of Star Trek FX, or was it Insurrection? Well then again I still have the old DOS game lying around from Star Trek.


The problem is, I don't know which of those SCIFI sounds to get. Those mentioned in my first post are classics, and I guess they're on every other major CD. Dunno, ever played Tunnel B1? There're tons of FX in there that're classic (those elevator sounds, etc).

If I'd know how to create them myself, no problem, but this is why I'm not an sounddesigner, but an audio engineer - my focus is just somewhere else. ;)

Thanks for the links though. Might come in handy some time.
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Some very old Dr Who soundfx here:
http://www.dwwa.net/

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Careful if you use these in a commercial release. The Star Trek franchise are very touchy about their materials. I remember some severe restrictions on Star Trek fonts, for crying out loud. :-S

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http://www.kvraudio.com/get/430.html

----If your host o'choice has a patch *randomizer*, that (Invader) and a few spare hours to mess around might be all you need :)

Jeff

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Hollywood Edge 'Evil'.

Great collection of sounds. Expensive mind you.

TB

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Actually it's a lot of fun doing foley stuff....

Last year my son's high school robot club did an 3-D animation. I wrote and performed the music, then we did the foley sounds (laser blasts, whale songs, construction equipment, etc.) Had fun doing it and they won a regional award for the film.

Do it yourself and have some fun!!

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yeah but how? I mean, those sounds didn't came from nowhere in the first place either, did they?

Okay, creating klunks with metal is easy, but laser blasts and that "elevator" sound - either I'm not made for this, or the creatos back in the day (and even today) are just plain geniouses. Like I said, I'm not an FX designer, I can do mixes better.
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You'd be surprised just how similar the two disciplines are!

TB

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Yup. IIRC the Star Wars blaster sound is based on recordings of tapping a utility pole guy wire with a metal object. Zeeeooop.

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Alot of the time, I find its about layering up different sounds to get a much more grande composite. For sci fi zaps and stuff, I would use several elements, probably:

- a fast sine or FM synth sweep

- a background whoosh (maybe some dopplered, filtered noise)

- some kind of deep drum hit

- maybe some found sounds, clanks and whatnot

BB

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Well it's not only about blasts and the like, I kinda need the full spectrum, airlocks, elevators, noices, fly-bys, etc.

Looks like I really have to get something like Lucas FX or "Universal Studio FX"
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Yup. I used the synthesis function in SoundForge for laser blasts.
Most everything in Star Wars was either from banging on metallic objects or taping mechanical factory equipment and speeding it up or slowing it down dramatically.

Do some research and you'll find articles on how to do foley...

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For elevators and 'big' sounds tend to have lowend and deeper pitch. So I often try to use a few metalic recordings, then try to enhance the bottom by pitching one or two of them down or adding a really deep filtered hit (or sine wave).

Ofcourse, you have other elements to consider to. The elevator is quite a complex sound. There are motors on the doors, the sliding open motion, the wires and cables. You could quite easily use more tracks than you'd have for the average piece of music!

TB

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