Tag: sound recording

Freelance Journey

How to Become a Freelancer – January 2025 Update

Christy.E.SLeave a comment

Intro:
Have submitted Troy to the Edinburgh New Writers Collective competition. I always like a competition that Troy is eligible for.

Am searching for sound jobs around February as my first set one isn’t until March.


So on to the update!

Scripts Update:
My goals for this year are to contact agents, now I have The Legend of Aramelle as a showcase of my writing and a growing portfolio. My other goal is to finish one of the four scripts I have in various drafts. From my gold rush script to the 1960’s script (Which still needs a name) and finally two scripts that are not set in a specific time period for once, but are about two sisters and two actors.

Am still writing the second series of Legend of Aramelle. I hope to finish the first draft by the end of January, but the speed I’m going at the moment it will be closer to the end of February.

Things Learnt:
The Edinburgh New Writers competition needed a one page CV – something which I was able to do by taking out most of the description of my non-writing jobs. The difficulty is in keeping in information about transferable skills, but I do have a spearate skills section of my CV, so crowded them all into there. In an aesthetically pleasing way, of course!

Freelance Journey

How to Become a Freelancer – December Update

Christy.E.SLeave a comment

Intro:
Have finished editing everything from the film course! (Except for one where my video files got corrupted.) As I currently only have the free version of Vimeo, I’ll have to switch the Brighton School documentary with the film Somewhere Below. I do think this is a better example of my work, as it showcases my screenwriting as well as editing and sound skills.

I also have a version of the film that uses the song that inspired it (Grand Hotel by Regina Spektor), but the one I’m uploading uses good old royalty-free music from the Adobe library!

Have two sound recording jobs lined up for the new year – one without a definite date yet, and the other filming one weekend in March. The one in March will be my first profit share job – which essentially means I will get paid if the film makes a profit (and not if it doesn’t). This is a step up from the expenses only ones I’ve been doing so far!

So on to the update!

Scripts Update:
Put Last Witch in Swanage into BBC Writersroom. I edited it a bit, but not too much before submitting.


The as yet unnamed 1960s pilot is definitely the script I’ll be submitting to most competitions next year, just as soon as I think of a title.

My goal for 2026 is to contact agents. I have a big enough portfolio of scripts now that I can do this.

Things Learnt:
Tailored cover letters in job applications can make a big difference. I knew this already from when I was a retail manager and in charge of hiring new staff. I was much less likely to interview the people who sent generic applications! However, I think it is even more true in crew jobs. I have had three jobs offered to me without an interview, just based on my cover letters being tailored to the job and person I am applying to work with. While part of this might be a scramble to fill roles as the shotting dates get close, it is also clearly making an impact on the hirers to see that I’ve read about the film and found out their name before applying.

Freelance Journey

How to Become a Freelancer – November Update

Christy.E.SLeave a comment

Intro:
Have nearly finished editing everything from the film course. I only have two items left now. Have uploaded my short documentary film about the Brighton School of film-makers to Vimeo. I still want to add some narration to better tell the story, but am very pleased with how it’s turned out!

Ended up with two sound recording jobs in October – the second was Behind the scenes interviews for a film. Very fun, the difference between sound for films and sound for interviews is interesting though. Sound for films is lots of short takes, and interviews are obviously conversations so can go on for ages with just one take, as I did not have a stand available, this made my arms very tired by the end of the day!

I have an interview for another film coming up, which doesn’t start shooting until January so I can try to save up money to use hireacamera.com again!

So on to the update!

Scripts Update:
Put Last Witch in Swanage into The channel 4 scheme, but am continuing editing it until BBC Writersroom opens in December.

I also had an idea for another pilot set in 1960, which I was able to write the first ten pages of in one day! So obviously, it wanted to come out of my head! I’ve already begun to edit the first draft of this, and am hoping to put it into some competitions by the new year. It might be ready for BBC in December, but I’ll probably stick with Last Witch in Swanage for this year, as that way I know I’ve put the same thing into both Channel 4 and BBC and can’t repeat those submissions next year.

Things Learnt:
Depending on how early you need to be somewhere for a film shoot can make a big difference to how much your ticket costs! Peak times are obviously more expensive than non-peak times but I had a train ticket double in price to nearly £90 when I’d only budgeted £45! From now on, I’m just going to assume it’s the expensive ticket and go from there!

Freelance Journey

How to Become a Freelancer – October Update

Christy.E.SLeave a comment

Intro:
Have been spending the last few weeks in September enjoying the fact that I don’t have Legend of Aramelle episodes to edit and upload. I have started my first draft of series two, though, so it’s back to the writing for the last part of this year!

I also have another sound recording job! This one is at the end of October and is only one day, but I will be recording in a church, so I’m anticipating big echoes! I have to acquire my own equipment for this shoot and as I’m still saving up to buy sound recording equipment (altogether it’s about £5000, so I can’t buy it in one big go), so I’m hiring it from hireacamera.com

So on to the update!

Scripts Update:
Have nearly finished the editing for Last Witch in Swanage. Hoping to put it into The channel 4 scheme today and then keep editing it in between now and the BBC Writersroom window opening in December.

The BAFTA Rocliffe competition still hasn’t opened. There doesn’t seem to be any news on this that I can find, so I’m beginning to think it’s not opening at all this year.

I have nearly finished editing everything from the film course. Am currently working on the documentary I shot about the Brighton school of Film-makers in the early 1900s, who, among other things, are believed to be the first people to use close-ups in film!

Things Learnt:
Editing the documentaries is both similar and different to editing the short films. The short films are often roughly already in order; you pick the best takes and delete the others than switch them around to the order in the script. With the documentaries, it’s often just an interview, with some context shots of what the interview is about. So, the first thing to do is decide where you want to start the interview – which isn’t necessarily at the beginning – and then fit the context footage round it to form the story you’re telling without a script.

Freelance Journey

How To Become a Freelancer – September Update

Christy.E.SLeave a comment

Intro:
The final episode of The Legend of Aramelle is up! You can listen to it here on WordPress, on Apple podcasts, Spotify or Pocketcasts.

The film shoot I was on went well. The first day was recording on location, and there was an issue with one of the microphones in that it couldn’t be heard through my headphones. It was recording sound though, and both other mikes worked fine. If I had had an hour to figure out the issue, I would have been able to, but that wasn’t possible without delaying filming significantly. I haven’t heard anything from the editors, though, so I assume it did record fine in the end, just without me hearing it!
The next day was on a set and I used a different microphone to avoid that issue and it worked fine. I am excited to see the final edit! It’s a very strange thing to be able to hear someone across the room more clearly than someone directly in front of you, if they’re miked up. Plus, it can be extremely tiring to hear things to that extent for so much of the day, but I do find it enjoyable and have already applied for my next job!

So on to the update!

Scripts Update:
Am working on the feedback for The Last Witch in Swanage (puritan witch script). The channel 4 scheme opens on 22 September and as Troy isn’t eligible for that one, I’m hoping LWIS is at a good enough level to submit it this year.

The BAFTA Rocliffe competition still hasn’t opened.

The date for the final screening of the film course got moved again! This was due to building work being done over the summer, so I am hopeful I will be able to attend after all.
However, there’s no update on when the screening will be now.

Things Learnt:
I’ve made a spreadsheet for my expenses/income and coded it so the sums get added up automatically. I added my expenses for the film shoot and then subtracted them again once the expenses had been paid. For this first year, I’ve only made one spreadsheet for the entire financial year as it’s unlikely I’ll be making enough month to month to warrant monthly ones.
I an hoping to finish all the projects before the screening and, now the editing for Legend of Aramelle is complete, I will have more time to focus on them.

Freelance Journey

How to Become a Freelancer – August Update

Christy.E.SLeave a comment

Intro:
Another late in the month update, but, I hope, one worth waiting for as I have my first job as a sound recordist! It’s on a short film shooting next week, and once edited, it will give me my first IMDB credit!

The Legend of Aramelle is going well. Episode eleven is due up next Saturday (23rd August). You can listen to it here on WordPress, on Apple podcasts, Spotify or Pocketcasts.

So on to the update!

Scripts Update:
Finally finished a draft of The Last Witch in Swanage (puritan witch script) and have received feedback from two people for my next draft. I hope to enter it into the BBC open call this year, so still have time to work on it.

The BAFTA Rocliffe competition still hasn’t opened but, when it does, I’ll be submitting my Troy script this year.

Finally, am in the process of editing everything I shot in the film course and am about half-way through all the projects. Sadly, I won’t be able to make the final screening as it’s the same day as my sound job starts. Though, I’m hoping I can meet up with people from the course in the coming months as I was looking forward to seeing everyone at the screening.

Things Learnt:
As this first job is expenses paid only, I have made sure I’ve been collecting receipts and invoices for the travel I’ve booked. Now I’ve actually started doing it, it’s much less daunting than it seemed before I started and just need to make sure I keep everything in one place!

Sound Effect Listings

The Legend of Aramelle – Episode 10 Sound Effects

Christy.E.S1 Comment

As someone interested in sound recording in general, I thought it would be a good idea to combine the credits I have to include for the sound effects in each episode with information of why I chose them, plus how I edited them.

Here is the full list of sound effects including where I got them from, plus what the original script called for.

Mixed sound effects for:
Persephone’s theme and Grim’s Theme – mixed together for when Persephone takes Orson away

BBC for:
Persephone and Grim row across the river of Styx – Boats: Punting – Punting: Boarding and clambering about (Bought)
Ship creaking: Thames Sailing Barge, Atmosphere Below Deck Under Sail, With Creaking Wood. (Recorded On Board S.B. Pudge.) (Bought)

Freesound for:
Underworld ambience: The Underworld by erlipresidente — https://freesound.org/s/415886/ — License: Attribution 4.0 – Ideally I wanted something with a few more screams in the background, but this does do a good job of sounding sufficiently otherworldy and not likely to get kixed up with the Soothsayers Cave from the previous episode!
Underworld crowd: Walla Crowd Inside French by Salomé_Lubczanski — https://freesound.org/s/733849/ — License: Creative Commons 0

Adobe Sound Effects for:
Flood water – Liquid Water River Flowing Water
Persephone unrolls parchment and Gideon signs paper– Foley Paper Wax Paper Movements
Orson walks alone – Foley footstep human walking through tall grass
Orson begins to teleport – Multimedia Internet CD-Rom Flash Beep High Pitch 33

Music:
The Village Krumhorn stem – to move between the different sections of the scene
Grim’s Theme – Grim takes souls, also when Grim arrives to see Persephone again

Sound Effect Listings

The Legend of Aramelle -Episode 9 Sound Effects

Christy.E.S1 Comment

As someone interested in sound recording in general, I thought it would be a good idea to combine the credits I have to include for the sound effects in each episode with information of why I chose them, plus how I edited them.

Here is the full list of sound effects including where I got them from, plus what the original script called for.

Mixed sound effects for:
Exterior Castle Courtyard – Crowd Exterior Daytime Courtyard…Blenheim Palace (Prosound: Bought) mixed with Pirate’s in crowd – Pirate Murmur Constant Calm… (Prosound: Bought). Both of these together sounds enough like a crowd, though the crowd does sound annoyingly distracted. Though I do like the fading up of the pirates, as you can hear an “Arr!” just at the moment that “I can’t see no pirates either,” is said!
Torch gets knocked over – Fire torch burn in wind, short (Prosound: Bought) Impact firewood grab (Adobe) – mixed these two together. It was too much noise for the fire to be burning the whole way through, so added it jsut before it gets knocked over.
Crowd fights – Episode 9 general screaming fighting (Cast) mixed with Crowd panics – Human crowd footsteps running and screaming (Adobe) and Fire burning – Torch fire burning roar intermittent crackles (Prosound: Bought). Wanted quite a few noises here so you can tell it’s pandemonium and no-one knows whatr’s about to happen at this point!

Cast for:
Soothsayer Faints – Episode 9 Soothsayer fainting
Soothsayer wakes up – Episode 9 Soothsayer wakes up
Crowd panics – Episode 9 crowd panics
Orson gets hit – not a sound effect, just good acting!

Prosound for:
Soothsayer’s cave – Breaths Creepy Ghostly Wind – (Bought). I originally wanted a more cave-y type setting for this, but it sounded too similar to the dungeons, think this makes it seem more like the soothsayer is sitting on top of a mountain!
Aramelle and Gideon have tug of war with drum – Swing Set Swing (Bought). Could not for the life of me find anything that sounded like a drum being pushed back and forth, think this works though as it’s only a few seconds.
Giant pours water over fire – Water pour –(Bought).
Flood water – Water lap heavy sloshy crashing tidewater – (Bought).
Aramelle puts Orson on tree branch – Water splash tree branch drop – (Bought).
Aramelle bangs drum and giants hear – Distant Booming Muffled Thumps – (Bought). Very difficult to find drum noises, it turns out! This one works well, as I’ve added an echo and slowed it down.

BBC used for:
Dungeon door opening and closing – Doors Prison Cell Open and Shut (Bought) – the same as used in episode 3

Adobe Sound Effects for:
Leaving soothsayer’s cave – Foley Footsteps Cowboy Boots Debris Dirt Walking – Needed something so you’d know they’d left the cave before the soothsayer woke back up.
Orson gives sword to Aramelle – Weapon broad sword hit metal tink
Aramelle fights – Impact sword impacts

Music:
The Village Krumhorn stem
Persephone theme

Sound Effect Listings

Legend of Aramelle – Episode 4 Sound Effects

Christy.E.S5 Comments

As someone interested in sound recording in general, I thought it would be a good idea to combine the credits I have to include for the sound effects in each episode with information of why I chose them, plus how I edited them.

Here is the full list of sound effects including where I got them from, plus what the original script called for.

This is the first episode we recorded on the day and does have a few mistakes that we learnt from in other episodes – most notable that you can hear the pages of the script being turned in a few places.
I’ve edited them out where I can and the ones rthat are left, I’m hoping sound mostly like the background noise and are therefore only noticeable to me!

The cast for:
The three of them run out into the corridor, close the door behind them, birds can still be heard through the door. – Ep.4 corridor running, panting, door slam
The sound of birds gets quieter – Not technically a sound effect as I just changed the volume level and then upped it again once the Witch Princess opened the door.
Shouts of crew and the remaining real birds.- Crew background
Witch Princess claps her hands twice – 3,4,5 WP hand clap
Witch Princess claps hands twice one more time.– 3,4,5 WP hand clap
Orson gets down on the floor.– Ep.4 Orson
Captain squawks – Squawk
He hops about on one foot. We can hear his footsteps – Barry foot
Orson is fighting armour to try and get a sword – all done by George Coyne, I didn’t need to add anything.

Mixed Sound Effects:
Glass smashes, Birds fly in – Glass break, Impact glass – a repeat of the sound from the end of the last episode.
Witch Princess claps hands twice. clanking continues – 3,4,5 WP hand clap and Foley Feet Soldiers March from Pro Sound.
Witch Princess tries again. clanking continues – 3,4,5 WP hand clap and Foley Feet Soldiers March from Pro Sound.
Witch Princess claps hands twice. Armour stops – 3,4,5 WP hand clap and Foley Feet Soldiers March from Pro Sound.
Sword hitting stone, armour turning and striking again, Suits of armour turning, Sword hitting stone, turning of armour – Foley Feet Soldiers March from Pro Sound. mixed with Weapon Sword Scrape on Stone from Adobe, Weapon Sword Remove from Sheath, Weapon Broad Sword Hit Stone and Weapon Sword Hit Concrete – This used a bunch of sounds from Adobe and Pro Sound plasced together and repeated over and over. It is meant to sound like the armour is walking round attacking and occasionally hitting the stone walls of the castle, as the main characters duck out of the way. I can hear that because of how many times I’ve listened to this while editing. Please do let me know if you can understand what’s happening in this scene too!

BBC sound effects for:
They open the door. – Doors: Prison: Cell – Prison Door: Cell, opened and shut. (Bought) – Same sound from previous episode for the locking of the cell door. Split in half so the door is slammed shut at the moment that the bird sounds stop – Used again for Guard enters near the end of the episode once the Witch Princess finally gets the wool of bat and for Walks out of vault as they all rejoin the crew back in the main chamber.
Waves, ship creaking – ship – Thames Sailing Barge, Atmosphere Below Deck Under Sail, With Creaking Wood. (Recorded On Board S.B. Pudge.) (Bought) – That good old Thames Barge returns!
Ship runs aground – Grating Noise, As Of Boat Running Aground. (Specially Created Electronic Sound.) – BBC Historical – (Bought)

Adobe Sound Effects for:
Witch Princess pulls curtain aside – Foley Cloth Hit and Short Rustle Cloth – Surprisingly couldn’t find what I actually wanted which was the sound of a small curtain being opened like you might get at a museum – they were all big theatre curtains that squeaked and didn ‘t sound right at all
Unroll paper and reverse – Foley Paper Unroll – Persephone unrolls her letter and then I reversed the sound once she’s finished.
Orson hits sword at armour – Weapon Broad Sword Hit Stone – the same as the rest of the loop just turned the volume up high for peril.
Giant footsteps approach –Foley Footstep Cowboy Dirt Debris Walking – Originally had this done by the cast, but it didn’t sound like it was outside so I used this instead, put onto a echo track to make the footsteps seem bigger.

Pro Sound for:
Witch Princess picks up jewel + Witch Princess throws jewel to Aramelle who catches it. – Coin Flip and Catch, Ringing Spin, Slappy Impact on Hand – Originally didn’t have this in, but the Witch Princess’s “Catch it” gets swallowed a bit b hy the sound of the armor approaching and I wanted it to be clear Aramelle ended up with the jewel. Also gives a good gleam noise at the beginning that allows us to ‘see’ the jewel when it’s first picked up.
Suits of armour footsteps getting louder and closer + Clanking gets louder then stops – Foley Feet Soldiers March from Pro Sound.
Birds and clanking of armour in distance – Foley Feet Soldiers March from Pro Sound. Originally I had it so there were still birds in the background, but that led to too much going on in the scene, so now the squawking stops once the vault door closes. I purposefully set this so that it starts just after the Witch Princess says “You probably don’t have this though,” as it sounds a bit like a drum beat and it’s only clear that the characters can hear it when Orson asks. I then increased the sound higher until the armour stops and begins to attack.
Witch Princess rips page out of book – textbook rip page – If I had the dexterity I may well have recorded this one myself but couldn’ty quite manage it as I am still doing physiotherapy after my injury in January, so this did great instead!

Free Sound for:
Last few birds squawking, crew loosing them out the windows – water bubbling by ultraaxvii — https://freesound.org/s/591151/ — License: Creative Commons 0 – Decided to switch back to the cauldron to clarify that all the magic birds have now gone away and that everything had returned to how it should be.

Music:
Persephone arrives – Persephone’s Theme – asked Jean to make this sound similar to Grim’s theme as Persephone is there to do the same job, but lighter and different enough that it will be obvious from the sound that this isn’t Grim
Giant Country – Originally Giant Country was going to be Grassland sounds and gigantic animals in the distance, but this theme works so well at telling us where we are that it was all I needed in the end.
Aramelle’s Castle – The music from Episode one makes a reappearance to tell us we’ve gone back to Aramelle’s lands where her father is.
The Village Stem – Krumhorn– and this returns us back to the action performing the same function as it did in episode 3 to switch between plots happening simultaneously.

Sound Effect Listings

The Legend of Aramelle – Episode Two Sound Effects

Christy.E.S1 Comment

As someone interested in sound recording in general, I thought it would be a good idea to combine the credits I have to include for the sound effects in each episode with information of why I chose them, plus how I edited them.

Here is the full list of sound effects including where I got them from, plus what the original script called for.

This episode is the first time I had to do some mixing, such as mixing the cast with sound effects to get the desired effect.

These are the mixed sound effects:
1. Mix of Adobe and cast: Orson and Aramelle splutter and splash in the river. Liquid water water splash movements 04
The cast did a great job of making it sound like they were splashing around in the river, so I only had to add some splashing movements at the beginnning so it sounds like thy’re getting their bearings after going over the aterfall at the end of the last episode.
2. Mix of Adobe and cast: Aramelle lifts Orson, puts him on driftwood. Liquid water water drip strand up drip 01. Impact metal wood impact short 01. Aramelle heaves.
This one took me a while to think about. Quite simply, how much would water move if time was stopped? I couldn’t work out if it made sense for the impact of Orson’s armour hitting the driftwood would be the only sound, or if the water would drip off him. I went for hearing the water, as it leads well into Grim restarting time when they leave.
3. Mix of Adobe and cast: Orson and Aramelle lurch forward with the boat and hit the cell door. – Ep2 O and A cell door. Foley footstep hard sole dress shoe stumble on wood platform 02
This combined a sound we recorded on the day with some stumbling footsteps. The footsteps aren’t my favourite, but they work for what’s needed.
4. Mix of Adobe and music: Grim Reaper takes soul of captain – weapon broad sword slide off sword 01. Grim Reaper Music
Using Jean’s music for the Grim Reaper and combining it with rhe sound of a sword gives the desired ‘reaping’ effect for soul taking. I did search for ‘scythe sounds’ but couldn’t find any!
Mix of different cast sounds: Liam holds Aramelle over the side of the ship at sword point. – Ep2 A upside down x3. and Aramelle scream from Ep.1. Ep2 O and A cell door.
This one mixes some sounds we recorded on the day – with the upside down noise being the wall of the recording studio being hit, alongside the scream for episode one (I told you it would be back) and the grunt from Orson and Aramelle hitting the cell door reused.
Finally, though it’s not really a sound rather than the absence of sound, I did have Grim Reaper stops time in the script. This reminded me to remove all the sounds of waterfalls and flowing rivers, so Grim and Aramelle can have their conversation without Orson hearing. Once Grim leaves, the sounds restart – loud at first, then going back into the background.

This was also the first time I’ve cut some sound effects. This was mainly due to me realising in the editing that it was possible to follow the story without adding in these sounds and didn’t want to use sounds where they wern’t needed. They were useful to have in the script though, as it allowed the cast to know what was happening next, and allowed me to give myself clear editing points.
I cut:
Pirate ship comes closer – They’ve just said there’s a pirate ship then the captain starts talking to them. If I had better mixing software I might have tried to find a sailing ship noise and alter the volume through the scene – but it works well enough without this.
Aramelle shuffles over to starboard – this was in originally and comes just after Orson’s line of “you should stay to starboard”. I put the shuffles in before realising they were superfluous and it’s easier to imagine that Aramelle just stays where she is.
Ship veers to the side. Orson and Aramelle thrown forward again. – this was a whole part where Orson and Aramelle hit the bars for a second time as the ship veers during the mutiny. I wrote it in because it was going to be the end point of the mutiny. However, it didn’t really serve as showing that in the edit, so I took the section out and just had one last loud gunshot before a period of silence when Aramelle asks “Does that mean the mutiny’s over?”
Aramelle kneels – this is where Aramelle kneels to pledge allegiance. Again I could have added something in here, but it didn’t seem necessary for the audience to hear her kneeling to know that she as.
Aramelle stands back up – as such I didn’t need the noise of her standing back up either.
Liam shakes her hand – this is another one I had in at first, but as no-one says they’re shaking hands it wasn’t obvious what was happening as works just as well without.

Adobe Sound Effects Used:
1. Ambience waterfall exterior 03
2. Liquid water river flowing water 02 – These two sounds are the background sounds in the first scene.
3. Orson falls beneath the water. Aramelle tries to lift him back out of the water. adobe Aramelle drops him again. A Splash. Liquid water water dunk and rise hands in water 02: – This sound works well for cutting so I could use it for Orson falling under the water and then the second half for Aramelle pulling him up.
4. Grim Reaper restarts time. Ambience waterfall exterior 03: Liquid water river flowing water 02 – The sound restarts as soon as Grim leaves.
5. They kick with their legs in the water and swim forward. Liquid water water feet splash in water fast 01: Had to trial a couple of these as some of them were super fast! This one works well in the background though, so you can hear what they’re doing but it doesn’t get louder than the river.
6. Waves in background, seagulls, shouts of a ship’s crew. Ambience ocean shore 01: This one was going to be a mix. We recorded the crew talking in the background, but while editing, I thought the waves and seagulls were enough of an indicator to the scene being in open ocean. I did put the crew sound effect in the outtakes at the end though.
7. A cannonball is aimed at them but misses. Drops in the ocean. Weapon cannon fire 01. Liquid water water dunk and rise hands in water 02: This was one action in the script that needed two sounds in the edit. The cannon fire sound on its own and then the liquid dunk noise from earlier being reused. I did search for a sound that would be like a cannonball being dropped in the ocean all in one sound, but resorted to mixing them.
8. Pirate captain leaves. – Foley footsteps hard sole dress shoe walking on wood platform 01: This sound doesn’t quite work as they’ve just walked to the ship’s prison without us hearing the footsteps (It would have been too much to listen to, what with rhe ship and their conversation). However, this sound was needed so we know the captain has left before Orson starts talking about him. Plus, the captain leaving and going to speak to Liam is the catalyst for the mutiny, so it had to be heard. As a bonus though, the sound that sounds like the captain closing the door at the end of the footsteps was actually just a noise that appeared naturally in the “creaking ship” sound that serves as background noise!
9. Gunshots from deck, sound of fighting on sbip above. – weapon gun pistol 9mm glock single shot interior shooting range short 01: This sound was tricky to work out the levels of. I wanted the first and last ones to be louder than the others, but wanted them all to be different volume levels to give the feel that fighting was breaking out all over the deck.
10. Liam unsheathes his sword. – weapon sword remove from sheathe 01: This is the same sound from episode one.
11. Orson unsheathes his sword. – weapon sword remove from sheathe 01
12. Liam takes Orson’s sword. – weapon sword pick up from ground 01: This one was again tricky to find. Ideally I wanted a sound of a sword being taken out of someone’s hands, but had to settle for the ground.
13. A spell hits the ship. – Multimedia Internet CD-Rom Flash Electronic 01: There were various sounds I went through for the spell sound. I eventually settled on this one because it sounds a bit glittery – and in my opinion there is not much in the world that can’t be improved with glitter.


BBC sound effects were used for:
1. Ship creaking: Thames Sailing Barge, Atmosphere Below Deck Under Sail, With Creaking Wood. (Recorded On Board S.B. Pudge.) (Bought) – This sound works well as a shift between the open ocean with Orson and Aramelle on driftwood to them being below deck.
2. Cell door unlocked. – Doors: Prison: Cell – Prison Door: Cell, opened and shut. (Bought) – This is another sound that will work in a variety of places. I just needed the sound of a lock turning and then a heavy door slam to signifty they were being locked in.
3. Orson and Aramelle are locked in the cell – Doors: Prison: Cell – Prison Door: Cell, opened and shut.
4. Anchor – Boats: Cruisers – Dropping anchor without speech (reprocessed) (Bought) – This sound is used for immediately after the “Land ahoy” line and is the catalyst for Orson and Aramelle hitting their faces on the bars when the ship stops.
* As an extra here – One thing I have learnt during editing this episode and this list is to Rename Downloaded Sound Effects. The sound effects I downloaded just gave me lists of numbers, which works fine for me actually editing, as I only need the sound. However, if I want to find the sound to re-use in another episode or find it online again for any reason. The numbers aren’t helpful. I’ve since renamed them as what the file name is online, and going forward will do it immediately in download!


Free sound was used for:
1. Grim Reaper pulls out ticking clock.
2. Grim Reaper puts ticking clock away.
NistuGgner pocket watch: Both these sounds were the same as in Episode one.
https://freesound.org/s/706551/ — License: Creative Commons 0


The cast for:
1. Aramelle heaves. Aramelle heaves: This was used multiple times in the first scene as Aramelle variously lifts up Orson and drops him again.
2. Liam pulls Aramelle back up. – Ep2 L pulls A up: This is used right at the end as Liam agrees to Aramelle’s conditions. I had to put something in, so it was known that she had in fact been pulled up and not left hanging over the edge of the ship.

Music:
Grim Reaper leaves – Grim Reaper music: This is the music made for the Grim Reaper arriving and leaving.
Aramelle’s castle beginning for scene change music: I put this in at the beginning of this episode to signify time passing and the scene changing. I didn’t need to use it again as the ocean ambience worked well enough. Plus, not as much time passed between Orson and Aramelle climbing aboard the ship as it did when they were swimming out to sea.

Sound Effect Listings

Legend Of Aramelle – Episode One Sound Effects

Christy.E.S1 Comment

As someone interested in sound recording in general, I thought it would be a good idea to combine the credits I have to include for the sound effects in each episode with information of why I chose them, plus how I edited them.

Here is the full list of sound effects including where I got them from, plus what the original script called for:

Adobe Sound Effects used:
1. Foley cloth hit and short rustle cloth: Aramelle throws bedsheets out the window.
I combined this with a recording of Mariana shaking a blanket recorded on the day and layered them to make it sound as if they were being thrown out the window and hitting the wall of the castle/ground below.
2. Foley cloth ripping long: Sheets rip and she falls the rest of the way.
This doesn’t sound quite right for what was needed, but it was the closest I could get! I needed the sound of cloth ripping, though ideally it would have been a ‘hevaier’ sound than this as it sounds a bit too clean for an ancient castle – rather like someone is standing by a microphone purposefully ripping cloth (which is, I imagine, exactly how it was recorded).
3. Foley footsteps work boots dirt debris walking: Aramelle starts walking off.
In various different edits of the first episode I added these footsteps in and took them back out quite a lot, while you do get the context that Aramelle is leaving by the words alone, having a sound effect made it slightly more obvious, so it stayed in.
4. Foley footstep human walking through tall grass: Walking through grass.
This sound effect took me a while to find, but it’s perfect for the scene!
5. Ambience nature field windy: Birds, trees rustling.
This doesn’t quite have the birds and trees sound I originally imagined, but it does fit with the waling through grass above.
6. Liquid water river flowing water: Flowing river.
This sound was tricky to edit, as it needed to be loud to begin with, to let you know they’ve reached the river, then drop in volume while all the characters talked THEN become louder again as they reach the waterfall.
Having a sound be loud to begin with and then become background noise only in a scene is common in radio shows – think of it as the audio equivalent of an establishing shot.
7. Liquid water water footsteps walking in water: Grim Reaper walks on water.
This is another one that took a while to find. A lot of the effects were of people swimming (as obviously that’ easier to do than walking on water). There were also some faster ones, but I needed something slower – Death never has to rush.
8. Arrow shot: Arrows flying past them
This is another establishing sound. I layered a bunch of arrow shot noises, one straight after the other and changed the volume level of a few of them, so it would sound as if some were closer to the characters and some were wide of the mark.
You can only hear the arrows straight after Grim’s line of “one of those arrows to finally hit you…” and then they disappear again. If I were to repeat the noise over and over, it would mean there were too many sounds to follow the conversation.
9. Ambience waterfall exterior: Waterfall.
That being said, I did want this scene to be slightly overwhelming in terms of sound – as Aramelle and Orson are running away, all their plans abandoned and just running as fast as they can. This all cimes to a head when they get nearer the waterfall. I slowly increased this noise along with the noise of the river, until it’s as loud as their conversation – then they go over and all that’s heard after their scream is the waterfall.
10. Sword remove from sheath: Orson unsheathes his sword.
This one was realtively easy to put in, but I needed the reverse for him putting his sword away again.
11. Sword remove from sheath (reversed): Orson sheathes his sword.
This is the exact same sound as above, but backwards!
12. Sword remove from sheath: Everyone draws their swords.
And the same for all the guards.
13. Sword remove from sheath (reversed): Guards put swords away again.

BBC sound effects were used for:
1. Foreign Atmospheres – Covent Garden Market, horses & carts: Horses, villagers, market traders. (Bought)
Why the BBC lists Covent Garden Market as foreign atmosphere I don’t know, but this works great for the market. Primarily because it is one of only a few market atmosphere tracks I found that doesn’t have car noises in it and secondly, because there is a man shouting in the background of this track that sounds remarkable like Liam Harkins’ Barry, so it was too good to pass up!
2. Boats: Punting – Punting: Boarding and clambering about: Orson helps Aramelle into the boat and they start to row. (Bought)
This is another one that took a while to find. I only needed a small section of the sound to make it sound as if Orson and Aramelle were climbing into the boat, but searching for ‘rowing, boats etc.’ wasn’t showing up any sounds of boarding – just rowing. Eventually found this by searching specifically for ‘small boats’. If I had had to search for ‘punting’ specifically I’d never have found it. I know the word ‘punting’ but it would have taken me about ten years to think it might give me the sound I was looking for and ‘rowing’ wouldn’t.
3. Boats: Rowing – Rowing Boat, launch, board, ship oars & depart. (Recorded on shore.) (Recorded on board.) (One man rowing.): Rowing sound throughout. (Bought)
As the above sound only gave me boarding a boat, I then had to find another sound for Orson’s rowing throughout the scene. This sound says it has boarding, but it doesn’t work as well as mixing it with the punting sound.

Free sound was used for:
1. NistuGgner pocket watch: Grim Reaper pulls out ticking clock. (multiple)
https://freesound.org/s/706551/ — License: Creative Commons 0
This sound was surprisingly the hardest to find. There are a lot of clock noises out there, most of which either go really fast or really slow. Some are obviously Grandfather clocks. I found multiple recordings of Big Ben and while I did briefly entertain the idea of Grim carrying round an actual clock tower with them, I decided against it in the end. I wanted originally – a pocket watch being taken out of a pocket, flicked open, checked and put back in. However, while I manged to find the sound of a pocket watch being flipped open, it didn’t align at all with this, and this was the best ‘ticking’ I found. I decided to just go with the ticking and hope that it sounded more like Grim checking a wrist watch.

The cast for:
1. Aramelle throwing bedsheets: Aramelle throws bedsheets out the window.
This is what I mixed with the first sound. I needed Mariana to throw a blanket, so it sounded like it was her at the beginning. If it was just the cloth being thrown without any human noise, it wouldn’t have sounded right.
2. Aramelle climbing: Aramelle climbs out window via bedsheets.
Recorded this with Mariana stamping her feet on the floor, while threading the blanket through her hands.
3. Aramelle scream.
This may be used more than once in different episodes! Had to assure Mariana that I re3ally did want her to scream into the microphone, even though I was sat in front of her and wearing headphones.
4. Aramelle falls on Orson: Aramelle falls on top of Orson.
Mixed the scream with this, which is just Mariana hitting the wall of the recording studio with her hand.
5. Aramelle helps Orson stand: Aramelle helps Orson stand back up.
There’s a few different footstep sounds – of people standing up, stumbling, running, that while findable online are a lot quicker to add in, if you make your own!
6. Villagers chasing: They run, guards and villagers chase after.
This and the below sound were some of my favourite to record. We had a great cast, and the shouts of ‘get her’ etc. were all improvised by them.
7. Villagers jeering: Villagers jeering.
Likewise with this one. I especially like the ‘can anybody swim’ line from Liam and Am’s ‘get her’ at the end.
8. Waterfall screams: They go over the waterfall in the boat.
Even though this is in the scene, George and Mariana recorded it separately, so they could count in and make sure they screamed at the same time.

Freelance Journey

How To Become a Freelancer – December Update

Christy.E.SLeave a comment

Intro:
In November, I finalised the cast and recording dates for my podcast and we will record in January!

I also signed up to a screen-writing course in Brighton in January and had my interview for it, so January is looking set to be a busy month!

So on to the update!

Scripts Update:
I finalised the scripts for The Legend of Aramelle podcast and have sent the scripts to the cast today!

I put in one of the first scripts I ever wrote – What Came Before – to the BBC. I admit it’s not a great script for competitions, hence why I haven’t entered it to the BBC before. However, I thought as I was writing the podcast scripts – which are too short at 15-20 minutes an episode – then I could either put in an old script, or put in my Gold Rush script before it was ready. Submitting What Came Before means I can still submit my Gold Rush script in their next submission window, when it will be better. As What Came Before is a small part of a very large story, I may as well submit it to a free competition as it’s likely to never be made until I’ve made lots of other things first!

In my interview for the writing course – I did reveal to the interviewer my plan for the Trojan Horse. It’s the first time I’ve told anyone and they said it was a fascinating idea. Apologies for not repeating it here, but one day I hope you’ll find out!

Things Learnt:
Am still learning sound on the film course and getting better at it. Yesterday we were filming a short film on the beach. In December. With both the waves, wind and seagulls to contend with, I was worried the dialogue wouldn’t be hear-able at all. I couldn’t do the boom mike operating myself as well as the recording so did have help from a fellow student. Meanwhile it was my job to make sure they were pointing it in the right direction, and what levels to put the sound at so the sea is in the background and the words are in the foreground! The director listened to some of the recordings afterwards and said they sounded perfect, so I guess I’ll keep learning!

I also helped to produce that short film. The director is interested in writing themselves, so I pointed out where things could be re-written or changed but allowed them to decide how to actually re-write them. I also got to write call sheets for everyone and went about getting permission from the council to film on the beach! I did have to ring the events officer directly when I hadn’t had an answer for a few days, but that was easy once I’d found their number!

Had to promise the council I’d give everyone a H+S briefing about the sea. So here I am telling everyone to not touch the sea!