Gun Shot Sound Effects in TV Shows and Movies

[rockclassics]

I have a question about gun shot sound effects used in TV shows and movies. I figured if anyone can provide a good answer, it would be in this forum.

Anyone who has been at a target range or fired a hand gun knows that the actual sound of a gunshot is more like a firecracker "pop" than the sound heard on TV or in movies. The effects in video media sound more like a small explosion to me. For example, just watch an episode of Hawaii Five-O, Magnum, or any number of police-related shows. So, why the unrealistic sound? Is it just to make a bigger noise to make the show more exciting? Is it how the microphones capture the sound of a blank being fired? Or is it all dubbed in sound effects?

Another related question - I always get a laugh out of the sound produced when a silencer is used on a hand gun in a TV show or movie. The most common seems to be the small "chirp" sound, but I have heard others. Again, just watch a police-related show for examples.

[Doug Hess Jr.]

That is a great question. Just like the screeching sound of tires that you would expect from asphalt only the vehicle is on dirt.

[Bahax]

Another example is the classic "punch" sound effect, heard everywhere in movies and TV. Sooooooooooooo exaggerated and not real!

[davenav]

I think the history of over-the-top sound effects like this can be traced back to the Three Stooges.

BTW -- I love that ricochet sound effect used in Spaghetti westerns and 60's Bond films.

[rockclassics]

Another example is the classic "punch" sound effect, heard everywhere in movies and TV. Sooooooooooooo exaggerated and not real!

I had read where that sound is created by taking a 2X4 and smashing a head of cabbage with it.

[rockclassics]

That is a great question. Just like the screeching sound of tires that you would expect from asphalt only the vehicle is on dirt.

Yeah - another pet peeve of mine.

And how often did McGarrett have to get a break job with those screeching stops. He obviously never went to drivers ed class. :shake:

[Hawkman]

Yeah - another pet peeve of mine.



This might be a touch anal but my peeve is the 'sound' of rocket engines in the vacuum of space. I'm not talking about the inside of a spacecraft..I'm talking the outside shots where you wouldn't hear sound.

Geez, I need a girlfriend. :D

[Dave D]

I can't stand the sound of a real gun going off after seeing the R Budd Dwyer video. :shake:

[-Alan]

The granddaddy of television sound effects were the "sound men" of old time radio. Here's how they created some common sounds:

The lid of a piano might be dropped to imitate a door closing. A wooden match stick could be snapped near the mike to simulate a baseball hitting a bat. Gun shots could be either a dowel hitting a leather couch or a drumstick striking the edge of a drum.

Any sound that could be created simply, would be favored over cuing up a record. So in addition to door knocks, footsteps, and telephone sounds, other sound effects were created manually including: twisting cellophane (crackling fire), squeezing a box of corn starch (footsteps in snow), blow through a straw into water (boiling water), rubbing dueling foils together (skating on ice), pull wet cork from any bottle and then prick balloon (opening champagne), squeeze folded sandpaper (breaking eggs) and rattle used flash bulbs in a can of water (cocktail shaker.)

Other manual sounds common in radio were: run finger nail along edge of pocket comb (crickets), shake 2 ft. length of inner tube, cut in inch-wide strips (wet dog shaking himself), pull large can or bucket from tub of water (body falling into water), snap open an umbrella (sudden ignition of fire), twist knob of combination padlock (Geiger counter or dial of safe), and drop handful of tiny pieces of sheet metal on board (breaking glass.)

Still other manual sound effects were: squeezing seltzer bottles into pail (milking a cow), shake stapled Dixie cup containing 6 to 8 BB's (rattlesnake) twist new wallet near mike (getting in or out of saddle), plunge knife into cabbage or melon (body being stabbed), shake small chain attached to piece of leather (ox or horse harness), drop metal washers (sound of coins), and scratch rough paper with unbent paper clip (writing with pen).
http://www.old-time.com/sfx.html

[Capt. Cadillac]

I seem to recall from the Indiana Jones DVD bonus materials that Ben Burtt recorded a 12-gauge shotgun to use as the sound for Indy's handgun in Raiders. The sound is insanely overblown, but it is fun to hear. Far more dramatic, I suppose.

[Grant]

I have always hated the fake sound of guns in movies. I guess it does serve to remove another layer of reality for the escapist-minded among us.

[James RD]

I have shot a.44 Magnum many times. The sound of Clint's .44 in Dirty Harry does not seem exaggerated to me.

But most of the time it is absurdly overdone. I'm amazed by all of the ricochets in gunfights. Every bullet hits a rock or a brick! Even indoors! Even underwater!:laugh:

[tas]

I have a question about gun shot sound effects used in TV shows and movies. I figured if anyone can provide a good answer, it would be in this forum.

Anyone who has been at a target range or fired a hand gun knows that the actual sound of a gunshot is more like a firecracker "pop" than the sound heard on TV or in movies. The effects in video media sound more like a small explosion to me. For example, just watch an episode of Hawaii Five-O, Magnum, or any number of police-related shows. So, why the unrealistic sound? Is it just to make a bigger noise to make the show more exciting? Is it how the microphones capture the sound of a blank being fired? Or is it all dubbed in sound effects?

Another related question - I always get a laugh out of the sound produced when a silencer is used on a hand gun in a TV show or movie. The most common seems to be the small "chirp" sound, but I have heard others. Again, just watch a police-related show for examples.

The real sound of a high powered rifle bullet passing feet over your head is nothing like in the movies. For starters it is the sound of the bullet breaking the sound barrier you hear first as it goues away from you followed some seconds later by the pop of the weapon firing. Your first instinct is to look in the direction the bullet went.

Now don't get me started on the overblown sound or effect of grenades.

[Plan9]

My grandfather told me the sound of "canned" crowd applause was created by emptying a bag of walnuts down the stairs.

[BeatleJWOL]

I love the huge gun noises - I remember watching one of the special features on the T2 DVD, about how they made the shotgun sound for the mall scene, it used about 5 different weapon sounds, and I believe one was a small cannon of some sort. :yikes:

Love it! :winkgrin:

[stumpy]

I always thought the most "over-the-top" pistol sound was on the old Gunsmoke TV show. Muffled cannon fire is the only thing I could compare it to. On the realistic side - I liked the sound (particularly the open-air echo) in the film, Open Range (2003).

[JoelDF]

Almost all sounds are effects done later. If you've ever seen those "behind the scene" videos that they so often now add to DVD releases, there you do hear what the blanks really sound like. And it is just a "pop" sound just like a firecracker. Also very boring in an action sequence, regardless of how much more realistic it actually might be, where sound and visuals are always pumped up anyway.

Even most spoken dialog is ADR'ed (Automated, or Automatic Dialog Replacement) these days so that almost nothing you hear on screen (theater or on the TV) was the actual set recorded dialog - much less any of the background sounds which are always added in later.

Now, if a scene is shot on a soundstage, it's possible that at least most of the dialog was recorded on set because of better environment and sound control. But outside material is almost always over-dubbed in later.

[rockclassics]

Interesting responses....especially the history about how certain sound effects were made. I had figured that most dialogue for scenes shot outdoors on location had to be "dubbed". I can only imagine what it might actually sound like if actual audio from the scene were used.

Keep up the responses.

[rmos]

I always thought the most "over-the-top" pistol sound was on the old Gunsmoke TV show.


You'll hear that pistol sound, in most, if not all, shows that used the Glen Glenn Sound Co. and/or aired on CBS, e.g. Andy Griffith Show (Barney Fife's pistol), Hawaii Five-O, THe Untouchables, etc.

I always like the Warner Bros. pistol sound effect ... it's too bad all the new movies use the so-called "realistic" effects ... in the old days you could tell what studio produced a film just by listening to the sound effects, such as gunshots.

[mr_mjb1960]

I used to think they came straight from the files of Hanna-Barbera!:p Michael Boyce

[Evan]

I find it interesting that many people become use to the gun shot sound effect from movies and do not recognize real gun fire when the hear it. They seem surprised by the difference.

[Big Al]

Does anyone know how the gunshot sound that was used by MGM in the 40's (and especially in Tom & Jerry cartoons and Tex Avery 'toons) was produced?

[JBStephens]

I love "cliche" sound effects, the ones they used to tell the audience what was happening on the screen, or where the action was taking place, in case they couldn't figure it out for themselves. You would NEVER know, for example, that a scene was taking place aboard a moving train without the ever-present "DING DING DING DING dong dong dong dong" sound effect. Or if a bullet had been fired in a western without it going "EEE EEE EEE eee eee". Best, of course, is the "Frankenstein Thunderclap" which we've been hearing for the last 70 years. That's actually a tremendously powerful lightning hit, but sounds like it does because it's about 15 generations down. Uncompressed and restored, that thunderclap will knock you out of your seat!

http://www.sendspace.com/file/cz90wu

[Joe Sixpaque]

First, it depends on the gun. I went pig hunting last year with a .44 Mag Redhawk, and that sounds more like big 'boom' than a 'pop'.

Second - when it comes to movies, it's not so much the sound I notice, but rather the lack of recoil, AND

Third - I especially notice the great distance that the victim flies through the air after they get shot. I have often wondered what my reaction might be if I shot a deer, and he instantly went flying 50 feet straight back . . .