Making something sound like its Underwater?

[David Kulka]

Interesting question. Sound travels quite well underwater but if the source of the sound is above the surface of the water, lack of coupling at low frequencies makes what is heard underwater sound tinny.

But tinniness alone will not create a sense that a sound is being heard from underwater.

Maybe a combination of high pass filtering and various underwater sounds (sloshing, bubbles) would be somewhat convincing. People can't hear directionality underwater, so maybe the mix should be in mono.

[Improv]

How about a loudspeaker, a big bucket of water, a cheap mic, and a thick Ziplock freezer bag? You wouldn't have to submerge the whole bag... keep the (mostly sealed except for cord) top of the bag out of the water and you should be good. I'd love to hear those results!

[RedWallStudio]

This may sound a bit silly, but rent the movie “Jaws”. There are several seens where the movie camera is just at water level, where the water dips above and below the lense of the camera. When the water dips below the level of the camera.. it obviously sounded “underwater”, and when the water was above the camera lens it sounded normal. While that doesn’t tell you what to do, it gives you a good idea of what to shoot for sonically... they really did a believable job in the movie.
My thinking would be that you want to eq out everything but low-mid and below and compress the hell out of it.

[Fredrik]

Originally Posted by Improv

How about a loudspeaker, a big bucket of water, a cheap mic, and a thick Ziplock freezer bag?

Or a condom.

Someone should make an underwater impulse response.

[matt thomas]

genuine underwater or effectish underwater?

I've always thought phasers sound underwater, maybe try modulating it by envelope of the input, combined with a bit of a low pass filter

narco

[TonyBelmont]

There is a soundtoys plugin that has a preset that sounded like underwater... I can't remember which one, though.

[radu.ionescu]

Originally Posted by RedWallStudio

My thinking would be that you want to eq out everything but low-mid and below and compress the hell out of it.

as stated above plus some lowpass filtering modulated by a random shape LFO with variable speed to get that kind of bulby texture. this will get you closer to what you lookin for.

[pahji@yahoo.com]

I understand that you want to post-produce the effect of hearing music being played under water?

Like most suggestions above, I would like to add that most things would sound a bit like "slowed-down" under water. Very little highs, if not any. Rolled off high mids. I guess placing one of them water-proof radios/walkman etc. in your filled bathtub, might give you a clue. You need to be in it and under water as well:-)

You might also like to check out the movie "Hunt for Red October". It had some classic underwater stuff and there was a detailed article in the Mix magazine for the same during that time. A hunt in their archives might yield the desired article.

Cheers
KJ

[Daddy No]

I actually had to research this recently working on a charity ad campaign about undersea noise pollution and how it affects whales & dolphins. Their hearing is about 7 times more sensitive than ours which doesnt help.

"Traveling through the sea, an underwater sound signal becomes delayed, distorted and weakened, reflecting on boundaries of underside surface of waves, bottom and shores, bubbles, suspended particles and marine life."
http://www.groovedwhale.com/lwlistentxt.html

So maybe filtering might need to be combined with delay, reverb, distortion...
(eg I've found spring reverbs can have an 'underwater' quality)

ps I also found this paper on the physics and with suggestions on synthesis & effects beyond convolution (for instance using a 'quivering amplitude reverb')
http://ccrma.stanford.edu/~blackrse/h2o.html

[Grumblefoot]

I always thought Robert Plant's vocal in "No Quarter" and the guitar too for that matter gave that underwater sounding effect.

[sleestack]

lowpass filter + slight tremelo

[money-pit]

EQ! Try boosting some 500hz.to 1k....

[LewisWu]

the speed of sound is about four times faster in water than in air... i remember reading an article in an electronic musician years ago. a nature recordist was featured, and he talked about building mics for use under water to record whales.

[Sounds.is]

If you have access to any type of reel to reel tape machine, here is the old school way of doing under water effects. Spool on enough tape to record your material (not a whole reel, or be prepared to slice after you record) Record the sound that you wish to add the underwater effect to across all the tracks on the reel to reel. Re-spool the tape, but inside out, with the magnetic side facing away from the playback head, yes I know it sounds crazy. Playback the audio, and it will magically sound like it is being played back underwater. Depending on the context, sometimes you have to EQ in some upper-mids so it will cut properly.

Any one with an analogue tape machine should try this one out just for fun.

[joeq]

whatever your filtering, you should use even more drastic filtering on the reverb. Only the lowest sounds should reverberate (with lots of predelay) for the 'Hollywood' underwater feeling

I have tried the condom over the mic thing. We actually brought a plastic kiddie pool into the studio and ran a bucket brigade from the bathroom to fill it up.

It will work as long as you don't submerge the mic all the way. It is impossible to guarantee a seal of the open end, as I learned. Fortunately with a junky mic.

you could similarly protect a speaker. There are also speakers specially made for underwater installation in swimming pools. They are usually pretty costly, maybe you could get by with underwater headphones.

[MKR]

Thanks guys,

some brilliant ideas!

I am playing about with Low pass filters(including the reverb), some LFOs and EQ boost around 500 hz. Starting to get quite close i think. Adding a few bubble sounds, very low volume and really subtle, in the background, also seems to work well.

Onec again, thanks all

[Audionaut]

1) place head in toilet
2) ask assistant to press play

c'mon, you knew that someone had to say it...even this late in the thread!

[Stephen Muir]

As someone already mentioned, water travels faster in denser mediums. This will have a pretty significant impact on any hydrophone (or condom-on-mic) recording you do, since your water tank will sound as though its about a quarter of its actual size.

DPA's hydrophone is about the best on the market, whereas Aquarian Audio makes one for a fraction of the price that nonetheless performs quite well.

However, most of the "underwater" foley I've recorded was achieved by rolling off most of the highs, goosing the low-mids, and wobbling the low-mid frequency knob on a parametric EQ.

A plate or spring reverb will add additional space, but you'll probably want to EQ the highs and high-mids out of the reverb return.

[wildpark]

there is a tl space convolution present

i can send it too you.

thx patrick

[santacore]

Waves has a good preset in their Metaflanger or Mondomod plugin, I can't remember which one. Start there and add a bit of low pass filter and a bit of eq and you should have something respectable. Better yet, do a playback in your bathroom with a mic in the tub.

[wildpark]

what can be better as a convolution from a hydraphone !!

.....

ah yes


live recording with a hydraohone

[Matti]

Exept the listener isn´t underwater, so as always it´s more about creating an
illusion than the "true sound".

matti

[wildpark]

a speacker in a plastik bag and then in your bath tub

records with a mic in a plastic back


plugin wise i would use the convolution answer

you can load it in the most

convolution reverb programms .

easyest way

[Matti]

Watch the pic. and hear what suits.
-You Sir -

matti

[grahluk]

Modulation (volume, eq) and damping (high freqs, siblants) should come into play. As mentioned water is a great transmission medium but water will naturally dampen vibrations at the source. Also the motion of the water will affect the sound. Water movement will distort and modulate the sound that the listener receives.

[Matti]

Sometimes GRM sufler used gently could be worth of try as one element of
the sound.

Matti