#6: Raindrops are falling on my head... March 2nd 2009

Today Justin and I focused solely on capturing foley sounds of rain and punches. First sound we captured was that of rain. Rain is plausibly the most important sound in our entire video since the presence of rain is evident throughout the entire comic strip. Because of its importance in setting the atmosphere, we had to capture it with total focus and awareness of the presence of other sounds, because in order to make the sound of rain seem as authentic and realistic as possible, all other sounds should be omitted so as to retain its realism and make our video seem less amateur. 

We captured the sound of rain by heading to the Lower Gym Male Changing Room to record the sound of water from a shower tap. Justin and I first made a test run by experimenting with distances between the Boom Mic and the Shower. This is so that we are able to pinpoint the optimum distance which gives us the closest-to-perfection sound of rain. During the test run, we realized from hearing through the headphones that we could hear drainage noise coming from the water entering the drain. In order to prevent this from happening, I placed a lot of tissue on top of the drain so as to mute or reduce the sound of drainage. It turned out to be a success.

To capture the sound of punches, I brought cabbage and celery to school so as to act as body punching surfaces. Since I only brought a limited amount of cabbages and celery, Justin and I had to make sure that every punch or crack we make is absolutely vital and perfectly executed. It turned out to be a success too. I managed to punch the cabbage 3 times so as to create 3 different sounds. For the celery, we had to place the Boom Mic really close so as to capture the cracking noise as I break it apart. There was no option for test runs due to the limited availability of resources.

Today I learnt that test runs are of great importance and can prove to be extremely beneficial in terms of sound quality and time consumption if carried out properly before the actual recording.