Super pumped to display my newest personal sound project: Monster Mash 2.0.
I would say nearly 80% of the sounds you hear in this compilation are from field recordings in San Francisco (Walter Murch style, hoo-rah!)
The Kraken roar comes from layers of about 6 different tuba samples that I played myself in an iso booth at my old school. I added in a little bit of myself playing trombone samples as well to get some higher frequencies.
The Cloverfield monster was a fun one. All of the monster grunts you hear are actually me, though processed quite a bit. I ended up using my horrible allergies to my advantage here…though I almost got a bunch of snot on the microphone (good thing it was mine). The low oscillating frequency is also a very soft tuba sound that I processed with an LFO that changed based off of volume.
By far my favorite Alien movie was Aliens, slightly edging out the original. The alien screech itself actually comes from an elementary school in the Castro (an SF neighborhood) in which the kids screamed really, reeealllllly loudly. I processed these screeches slowed down with the reverse sound of a baby crying. The background noise comes from Bart, which is the fast local train connecting San Francisco to the East Bay. The Bart subway, especially going over the bay bridge span, is super screechy and earsplitting. I actually had to EQ down the frequencies because it would have been way too distracting from the actual fight. The motorized sounds are from construction right outside my neighborhood. I did keep one line of Sigourney Weaver’s dialogue in there. The crunching noises are from my friends doggie grabbing a treat with gusto. CHOMP.
The last, and by far my favorite is the Monster from the Id from a super amazing old school sci-fi movie called Forbidden Planet. How does one make roars for a monster that is actually invisible? Well, every single sound this monster makes comes from a musical instrument. The core of the sound comes from a bunch of violins and cellos playing a fast tremolo that is super distorted with reverbs. The hit comes from a timpani. The lingering high pitched screech is from me using a bow on a cymbal and then crushing and elongating that sound into its frequencies. The laser sounds are from a metal slinky that I flicked at a close distance…the background lasers just have an added delay. The electricity sounds are from a processed/distorted Jacob’s Ladder that I had recorded at Burning Man using my phone.
This was a very fun project, and definitely the first time I have generated nearly all of the sounds you hear by myself without any help. This project has definitely provided me with a fun creative outlet while I wrap up my projects here in San Francisco because I have an exciting and challenging new year and a half ahead of me.
I leave you in suspense. This will continue until I make a post about my future! Soon!
~MJ