How to Design a Background Drone Sound

12/09/13 23:04

Advertise Here

How to Design a Background Drone Sound

West Latta on Nov 17th 2008 with 9 Comments View post on Tuts+ BetaTuts+ Beta is an optimized, mobile-friendly and easy-to-read version of the Tuts+ network. This entry is part 3 of 35 in the Top Sound Design Tuts Session - Show All PreviousNext The drone is used throughout music and sound design as sonic bed or background upon which other sounds are laid. In the world of sound design, drones are often used to fill out a scene, or to provide a sense of location. For example, if the scene occurs in a swamp you may have a background ambience that includes frogs, wind through the trees, splashes, etc. In this instance, the drone would likely be the wind, with the rest of the layers as incidental sounds. In some cases, an ambient drone is required that does not necessarily represent a real world sound, but instead acts as a non-diegetic device that helps to add a particular flavor or emotion to a scene. This technique is commonly used in science fiction or horror scenes, to add suspense or a fantastical element to the soundtrack. This tutorial will focus on one means of creating a non-diegetic, ambient drone. Keep in mind that this particular technique is not necessarily useful in all situations, and in some cases these types of drones are left to the composer, rather than the sound designer. Regardless, they are a fun an interesting way to experiment with sound.

Step 1
The first thing well do is to locate some interesting source material, from which well craft our drones. Were going to use two sources: a wind instrument and an animal sound. Well use a Flute Sample from Logics EXS24 sampler, along with a growl sample, which Ive grabbed from Freesound.org.
http://audio.tutsplus.com/tutorials/sound-design/how-to-design-a-background-drone-sound/?search_index=1 Pgina 1 de 7

How to Design a Background Drone Sound

12/09/13 23:04

Step 2
Next well render out a stereo version of our flute drone, played back at a low pitch. To do this, I create a new Software Instrument Track and load up the Native American Flute sample, using Logics handy Library browser.

I draw (or play) in a note (Ive chosen C4) that lasts about 15 seconds or so. Ill also bypass the built-in effects that Logic places on the sample we will do our own post-processing later.

Finally, Ill bounce this track and add it to the Audio Bin, where Ill import it onto a new audio track.

http://audio.tutsplus.com/tutorials/sound-design/how-to-design-a-background-drone-sound/?search_index=1

Pgina 2 de 7

How to Design a Background Drone Sound

12/09/13 23:04

Sound designer extra credit: If you own a whistle, flute, recorder, or some similiar wind instrument, record your own version of this sound, rather than using one from a sample library!

Step 3
Next well edit this newly imported flute sample in our waveform editor. First, well create a backup copy of the file from the Audio File menu in the Bin view. Next well use the Time and Pitch Machine in Logics Factory window to adjust the pitch of the sample. Set Mode to Classic Set Algorithm to Monophonic Set Desination Pitch to -2400 Cents Click on Process and Paste Now we have a pitched down version of our flute sample. This is the base of our drone sound.

Step 4
Moving on to the fun stuff, well now begin to animate our drone, using a variety of techniques. First well create three Aux Tracks in the Logic Mixer using the Options-Create New Auxiliary Channel Strips command. Well also add three new tracks to the Arrange Window one for each Aux channel.

http://audio.tutsplus.com/tutorials/sound-design/how-to-design-a-background-drone-sound/?search_index=1

Pgina 3 de 7

How to Design a Background Drone Sound

12/09/13 23:04

Step 5
In the first Aux Channel, well add Logics Tremolo Plugin to the first Insert, which will begin to give some movement to our Flute Sample. In the second Aux Channel, well add a plugin from one of my favorite suites SoundMagic Spectral by Michael Norris. This brilliant set of plugins offers a wide range of spectral processing in the form of AU plugins. Ive elected to use the Spectral Bin Shift here, but you will definitely want to explore each of these plugs individually. In our final Aux Channel, well add the Space Designer reverb. Ive edited our growl sample from above and used it as the IR Sample for Space Designer.

http://audio.tutsplus.com/tutorials/sound-design/how-to-design-a-background-drone-sound/?search_index=1

Pgina 4 de 7

How to Design a Background Drone Sound

12/09/13 23:04

Step 6
For our next step, well need to route some of our Flute track to each of the three Aux channels. In this case, Ive chosen to route using pre-fader sends. A pre-fader send routes a signal to a Bus or Aux before the sending channels fader. The result is that you can pull the fader down, which effectively removes some or all of the dry signal from the mix. In Logic, this is accomplished by pressing and holding in the Send slot, then selecting Pre. I route a rougly equal amount of signal to each of the three channels.

Step 7
As I listen to the mix Ive got so far, I decide that Id like to add a bit more high-frequency content. To do this, Ill add the Clip Distortion plugin to our original flute track. Ive also reduced the volume of the track by about 20dB.

Step 8
Were nearly done with our drone so well just take a moment to automate a few settings on the plugins, which will help create a sense of motion for the final mix. Ive automated the Clip Drive parameter of our Distortion on the primary Flute channel, the Rate parameter of our Tremelo channel, and the Bins To Shift parameter of our Spectral channel. The result looks like this:
http://audio.tutsplus.com/tutorials/sound-design/how-to-design-a-background-drone-sound/?search_index=1 Pgina 5 de 7

How to Design a Background Drone Sound

12/09/13 23:04

The result is a drone far removed from the simple flute from which it was born. Enjoy!

Like

19 people like this. Be the first of your friends.

By West Latta
Westlee Brent Latta has been making strange noises for over 30 years. West has spent the last several years developing his craft in the game industry as composer, sound designer, and integration specialist. He is currently a Sound Supervisor for Microsoft Game Studios/Soundelux DMG.

http://audio.tutsplus.com/tutorials/sound-design/how-to-design-a-background-drone-sound/?search_index=1

Pgina 6 de 7

How to Design a Background Drone Sound

12/09/13 23:04

http://audio.tutsplus.com/tutorials/sound-design/how-to-design-a-background-drone-sound/?search_index=1

Pgina 7 de 7