Where do you get professional muzzle flashes, sound effects, etc?

I have no luck finding good muzzle flashes to composite in. Detonation Films has oodles of kooky explosions, but little in simple flashes, and noting in HD. Ditto for sounds. Most of what I found on the net is cheesey-sounding. Same goes for foley sounds for punches, kics, etc ? all I found sounds like it?s been recorded off a $20 Casio keyboard. The 100-some (!) 'sound library' discs at the local library system have almost nothing of use. Closest to what I am looking for was cartoon sounds for punches and BBC's *actual* recording of different guns shooting from the British Army (both completely useless).

Thank you

vw

I seem to be pointing to this DVD a lot lately:

[www.videocopilot.net]


www.shanerosseditor.com

Listen to THE EDIT BAY Podcast on iTunes
[itunes.apple.com]

And its in the FAQ

[www.lafcpug.org]

Michael Horton
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Whenever I've had to find dramatic sound effects for a film, sound effects that take center stage, I've very seldom found library sounds effective on their own. Usually I have to EQ them and more often than not supplement them with original sound effects. For example, a guy slaps another guy hard in the face in one film -- I had to combine the sounds of me slapping my own knee (for the flesh sound), a heavy book being dropped onto the floor (for the high-end attack "thwack", hitting a microphone with a pillow wrapped around it (for low-end girth so it's more like the sound inside your skull), and a library sound of a slap. Have you tried modifying the sounds by adding others on top, filtering etc.?

With gunshots, as well, you can have different styles. Reservoir Dogs and The Way of the Gun had very crisp, popping gunfire that evoked urban gangster warfare, and Heat was deafening and explosive to evoke a downtown open-air urban war. Depending on which style of gunfire you want, you can look at sounds like explosions, balloon pops and even non-realistic whooshes. And try some reverb.


www.derekmok.com

Viswis, meet filmman.

[www.lafcpug.org]

Koz

May I also recommend Stu Maschwitz's DV Rebel's Guide.

Not only does he give you muzzle flash effects (and bullet hits, sparks, etc.) but he explains how to apply them realistically to your on-screen guns. Stu created "The Last Birthday Card" which was a neat little DV short that had lots of gunfire effects in it; his advice is very practical and specific. One caveat: he did all of his effects in After Effects, and his advice and project files are specific to that app.

As for sound effects, have you considered hiring a sound designer? They have access to whole libraries of very specific sound effects (like maybe the exact sound of the gun you have) and can tweak the effects for you until you're satisfied.

JK

_______________________________________
SCQT! Self-contained QuickTime ? pass it on!

DV Rebels Guide is also in the lafcpug store under "Other Books You Need"

[www.lafcpug.org]

$29.69

Michael Horton
-------------------

Whoops, sorry Michael.

BY ALL MEANS, please buy it through LAFCPUG.

I will amend my link.


JK

_______________________________________
SCQT! Self-contained QuickTime ? pass it on!

You could try the demos of Effectslab or Visionlab at www.fxhome.com

The programs are fairly inexpensive and have muzzle flash engines that when it's graded after blends the effect in nicely.

The pistol on the left uses stock footage muzzle flashes, and the rifle on the right uses a preset within the muzzle flash engine.

[fxhome.com]

Hope this helps.

Soundtrack Pro has several good gunshots and they can be combined/modified as per one of the above suggestions.