Car Sound Effects

[Darkpivot]

I can't find them anywhere! I have searched almost all sound effect websites and nothing. Can someone show me where to get or give me any sound effects for a car driving from idle to moving fast. (A race car going from 0mph to like 100mph or something.) Thanks

[DrJim]

Try http://www.partnersinrhyme.com/soundfx/carsoundfx.shtml .

Note the restrictions on commercial use listed on the sight.

[hgs]

If you don't need high quality, just feedback of speed, I remember an early arcade game used a square wave of varying frequency to represent an engine note. You could probably mix/synthesize something better...

[Darkpivot]

thanks but I already looked there. It doesn't have what I am looking for. I only have 2 days left for the project.

[DrJim]

Sounds like you want a longer sample. For that, you're probably going to have to do what hgs suggests:
If you don't need high quality, just feedback of speed, I remember an early arcade game used a square wave of varying frequency to represent an engine note. You could probably mix/synthesize something better...
You could use either Turig 2.5 ( http://www.arcamax.com/girlsandsports/s-214682-681265 ) or SawCutter 1.0 ( http://cuttermusic.com/download.htm ) for waveform editing (I'd start with one of the NASCAR sounds). Or you can try to just mix various loops with Audacity ( http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ ). All of these programs are free but are far from trivial - might be a bit of a time crunch if you have to be done in a couple of days. :o

For very simple editing and mixing, you can use Sound Recorder if you have a Windows machine - also I know Mac comes with a good sound editor and mixer (think it's called Garage Band) but haven't used that myself.

[islandfever]

...For very simple editing and mixing, you can use Sound Recorder if you have a Windows machine...

But how do you record what's on your computer with it? I have a microphone but recording what comes out of the speaker turns out.... well, not right.:D

[DrJim]

Good question! Can't speak for Vista or Mac users - think Mac's in particular do this better than Windows hardware with "low end" soundcards. Also, the answer will very much depend on your sound card - many (most?) mid-range and high end cards have an option to play and record (digitize or re-digitize) music at the same time, plus specialzed software to control the process.

Assuming you only have Sound Recorder and a low end sound card, however, there is no way (or at least none that I know :confused: ) to play and record digital music at the same time. What I usually do is record on separate hardware (either a digital recorder or, more often, my video camera). That will give you a digitized audio file which you can load back into your computer and play and edit in Sound Recorder. For best quality, bypass your mike (it's frequency response is generally optimized for voice, not music) and go directly from the headphone output of your computer into the recording hardware - this may require two or three passes to get the recording levels correct but generally gives pretty good results. If you want even better (i.e., professional level) results, you'll probably need to upgrade your sound card hardware.

You can also go from a sound source (say an iPod) in through your mike input to Sound Recorder. This will require some setup using Control Panel and you still have the level adjustment problem - and some microphones just don't seem to have enough output to work very well. Haven't done this enough to make specific recommendations.

Finally, note that Sound Recorder will only work with .wav files but it does let you change recording parameters (sample rate, number of bits, mono vs. stereo, etc.).

[DickBaldwin]

This may sound a little crude, but have you considered the possiblility of doing something like putting your microphone in an empty milk jug and then using your mouth and your vocal chords to simulate the sound of an automobile speeding up. As I recall, you said earlier that you are just about out of time, but this may get you something workable by the deadline for your project.

Also, check with all the young children you know to see if any of them have a toy that will produce the desired sounds. Many modern toys are chock full of electronics and sound effects, and you may find one that you can record.

Here is another idea. If you have access to a bicycle, try the old trick of putting a playing card in the spokes and recording the sound that is produced. If you have ever watched one of those TV shows that illustrate how sound effects were produced in the "old days" before fancy electronics, there are lots of ways to produce sound effects. There is a name for that but I have forgotten what it is.

And finally, if you can get your computer close to another computer, there is a good possibility that you or one of your friends has a computer game that will produce the sounds of a car speeding up. You could produce the sound on one computer and record it on another computer. Or maybe you or one of your friends have a DVD or a VCR tape containing a movie that has the sound that you need. If so, you could play it on your TV and record it with your computer.

And the list of possibilities goes on and on .......

[DickBaldwin]

Go to http://www.a1freesoundeffects.com/sports.html Depending on the browser that you are using, you should be able to right-click on the motorcycle link and save the file named motorcycle.wav.

Then use a sound editor to stretch and resample the wav file to make it longer and reduce the frequencies. That should produce a respectable sound of a car speeding up.

Also, if you search that site, and many other sites like it that offer free sound effects, you may be able to find exactly what you need without the requirement to modify the sound file that you download.

[DickBaldwin]

As a follow-on to my previous post, go to http://www.autospeak.com/library.htm and use your browser and your right mouse button to record automobile sound files. For example, the link titled

g) 5.08 seconds long VW pulls away fast (http://www.autospeak.com/grpsnda/vwbuggy.wav) WAV file

has a good sound of a car speeding up, but it sounds like a dune buggy and doesn't sound like a race car.

[islandfever]

...What I usually do is record on separate hardware (either a digital recorder or, more often, my video camera)...

Thanks, that's just what information I needed, :D

[DrJim]

Thanks, that's just what information I needed, :D

Do take note of the fact that you will get better results for music if you can record without a microphone in the path. Radio Shack sells a cable to go directly from the headphone out jack to the headphone input of your recorder (if it has one - some cameras don't).

For recording voice, the microphone may actually be better - some recorders have noise cancelation built in.

[islandfever]

For recording voice, the microphone may actually be better - some recorders have noise cancelation built in.

I understand, as the quality of non-music didn't record as well.:D

[DickBaldwin]

Maybe you should talk to the "son" at http://www.alice.org/community/showthread.php?t=860 regarding sound effects. They sound "home made," but also sound pretty good.

[DickBaldwin]

More good home made sound effects at http://www.alice.org/community/showthread.php?t=861