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Re: Thunder and bullets

Subject: Re: Thunder and bullets
From: Dan Dugan <>
Date: Sun, 24 Aug 2003 10:59:14 -0700
Bill Mueller wrote,

>I suspect that gunshots are as difficult
>  >to record and recreate as thunder and surf.

My understanding from the film recordists I work with is that the 
successful way to record gunshots and door slams is to let the 
impulse saturate the hell out of the tape, so that the early 
reflections and reverberation are really what's faithfully recorded. 
This only works with analog tape.

<codger mode> I was doing theatrical sound design in the 60s. Mercury 
Records came out with a great mono 1812 Overture, which had a 
documentary of recording the cannon and bells on the B side. That 
cannon was a godsend for sound design, much better than the available 
sound effects LPs. It was heard in a lot of shows!

At some point, Mercury re-recorded the piece in stereo, and published 
it in the same format. I ran right out to get it, but I was very 
disappointed in the sound of the new cannon recording. It was a puny 
crack. I suspect the engineers didn't know the old saturation trick, 
and recorded the cannon "properly" so the impluse didn't distort. 
That put the reflections and reverb probably 20 dB down... </codger 
mode>

-Dan Dugan


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