Jump to content

I hate sound!


Richard Ragon

Recommended Posts

Why is it that wherever and whenever I am shooting on location it is dustbin emptying day, the neighbour has to mow the lawn, someone is hammering or using an electric saw close by - and once, believe it or not, there was a bloody Town Criers' convention nearby. In the old days I was convinced that a helium balloon was raised above where we were shooting with "Make As Much Noise As You Can" written on it; now the internet makes things so much more simple for Thwart International, that organisation devoted to making life so very awkward for film and video crews.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

'A street cat named bob' is being filmed on the estate where i live and 10 metres away they are resurfacing the road - I'm 150 metres way and can hear the pneumatics in every room in my flat! 

You really have to admire the efficiency, celerity, flexibility and organisational skills of Thwart International.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Someone pulling out a leave blower for example, Im ready to kill that person

The leaf blower is one of the worst inventions of mankind. Uses gasoline, hence bad for the environment, makes lots of noise, hence bad for sound people and all others (it's an annoying sound that nobody can pretend they don't notice), it's heavy, and is not as effective as a good old leaf rake (which IMO is one of the most effective tools that exist). If you ever witnessed the embarassing sight of a man's futile attempt at blowing wet leaves away then you know what I mean. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I met an inventor years ago who had invented the silent leaf blower.  He said it never took off because users felt like it wasn't powerful enough- even though it was measurably just as powerful as a noisy 2 stroke blower.

I guess this is like the electric cars with the recorded engine sounds...

Cheers,

Brent Calkin

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The worst is when on location there's some nasty low-level sound that I've just got to track down. It makes you look crazy as you wander about stopping and straining your ears, turning your head this way and that, and generally looking deranged. And once you locate the source of the annoyance then you have to find a way to silence it. The worst are the intermittent ones, where something kicks in at the worst possible moment. I generally try to do as thorough a walk through the location before a shoot as possible, but then there's always some surprise "well, yes, but only every Tuesday morning!". 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

The leaf blower is one of the worst inventions of mankind. Uses gasoline, hence bad for the environment, makes lots of noise, hence bad for sound people and all others (it's an annoying sound that nobody can pretend they don't notice), it's heavy, and is not as effective as a good old leaf rake (which IMO is one of the most effective tools that exist). If you ever witnessed the embarassing sight of a man's futile attempt at blowing wet leaves away then you know what I mean. 

And of course, you never see a leaf blower used to gather leaves, only to push them on to someone else's property.

This has always baffled me. Doing exteriors once, there was a leaf blower guy blowing them to one side of the street on Tuesday (I was the one who had to go and talk to him, and it worked), and on Thursday, ANOTHER leaf blower guy came and blew them back the other way! This is laziness and madness. A gasoline engine at the very core of the problem, as if it were a solution. Why not just let them turn to soil, the good ol' fashioned way?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's only when everyone quiets down and you're focusing on sound when you can hear the airplanes, leaf blowers, big diesel engines etc.. The noises are usually there, but much more noticeable when everyone shuts up and you put on your headphones.

My favorite is when I ask for room tone and I can hear people breathing, shuffling their feet, whispering, crinkling a plastic wrapper...

I have a 2-stroke leaf blower and I LOVE it. Yea it's noisy, but it's way easier than raking. I have a tree on my property that drops really tiny leaves that my rakes don't like to gather. Leaf blower gets them no problem. And I use my leaf blower to gather leaves and put them in refuse bags, not blow them onto my neighbors lawn.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I guess some view leaves as trash. To me it's just part of nature's work. I find it much easier to just leave them there. That's why they call them leaves.  : D

AGREE!  I have been telling the county that I am conducting a natural landscaping project on the wildlife sanctuary that surrounds my home for over a decade.

Of course the neighborhood considers our house a poor candidate for the annual garden club award!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...