High Quality Car Crash Sound Effects

Recording sound to a high quality is important to achieve the best dramatic effect in a media presentation, such as a film, video game or animation. Regarding car crash sound effects, professional sound recording is almost always preferable to a low quality sample. The goal when capturing the sound of a car crash is for listeners to be able to experience multitudes of emotion when the sound is played back. The ability to capture the essence of a sound, differentiate between high and low quality output and the use of professional sound engineering tools are all essential skills required to create an authentic sound sample generated from the sound a car makes when crashing into another car or stationary object.

Inherent challenges

Recording sound effects to high quality is fraught with technical challenges. In reality, when an accident occurs there are a variety of very different sounds occurring within a very short space of time. From the screeching of tires to the collision of metal upon other rigid surfaces and the scattering of debris and the smash of glass, there are many distinct and individual sounds people hear during an actual car crash. Originally, sound engineers felt the best way to capture the traditional crash sound was to recreate live crashes in a recording studio or controlled environment. This is the best method for finding the authentic sound, but for some sound engineers the associated cost of crashing real vehicles can be too high, even if they are very cheap pre-owned cars. For smaller production companies it is often not feasible to have a vehicle dropped from a certain height by crane or have two opposing vehicles collide.

Doing it on a shoestring

Recording a car crash sound effect at a high quality doesn't require a large budget, however. Sound engineers simply need to be capable of recreating a crash by properly tuning themselves to the true sound of a car crash: getting inside the sound effect, understanding its rich nuances and exploring its sonic subtleties.

A major aspect of what distinguishes excellent and poor sound quality lies within the degree to which the sound has been refined. Even a completely natural sound recording can result in a poorly captured car crash sound effect without the proper level of refinement. Even the best sound recording equipment on the market cannot guarantee the most optimal sound with only the "base" recorded sound elements. Before a sound engineer can properly recreate a crash, they must have a mental audio benchmark on what sound components their car crash sound should be comprised of. From this benchmark, car crash recordings must go through a trial and error process until the overall sound quality has been optimized.

Analysing the sound elements

A great method to assist tuning for great sound quality is analysis of the individual sound components themselves. A car that slams into a small stump sounds completely different from a vehicle that rolls into a tree. Being able to pinpoint and compensate for these sonic differences takes resources, recording time and experience but those elements will help one distinguish from good and bad sound quality.

Always use high quality samples

Professionally engineered sound samples should always be used when deciding to record a car crash. Previously recorded crash sounds downloaded for free are usually highly generalized samples. They are usually older crash samples of recorded sound that were not sold or cut from other high quality sound samples. There is a reason these samples are free; there is no sonic variation and the quality is not of a "broadcast" standard. High quality sound samples are refined and designed to send chills down the spine of a listener upon first playback by evoking the correct emotions. Car crashes require much more than a simple impact noise, which is generally all that a free car crash sound will offer. When done correctly, no dramatic music is required - and, in fact, dramatic music can even deviate from the powerful emotions a decent sound effect and on screen image can deliver when successfully combined.

Generally, free car crash sound effects are built up from a library of cheap stock sound effect components, most of which sound familiar to the listener, and which do not convey the correct emotions.

Setting a tone

The listener of a car crash sound should experience emotion, captivation and adrenaline when hearing a high quality sample. An actual crash is a frightening experience, so when someone hears a high quality audio that recreates a traumatic experience such as a car accident, the listener has tends to wince at the anticipation of pain. Although a real crash is a powerful and shocking experience, listeners of a high quality car crash sound effect will be captivated from the point of impact. There are levels of appreciation a listener has for continuous sound quality. The ability to stand above all the previously filmed crash scenes and deliver optimal sound to match graphic on-screen imagery heightens the senses of the audience and holds them captive for the aftermath of the car crash in the next scene of the video, animation or film. What happens next? What are the consequences of such a devastating scene?

Triggering an adrenaline surge

Constant captivation and unmatched sound quality are the perfect recipe for an artificial adrenaline rush. While listeners continue to tune in what will occur next, being able to isolate certain sounds of a crash, such as the engine block breaking free of its seating, gas spilling from a ripped open fuel line, shattered windscreen glass scattering over asphalt and the screech and skid of burning rubber, will have the listener's heart pounding as if they were watching the scene unfold from the sidewalk. The goal for optimal sound quality is verisimilitude - to have the listener fully believe in the experience. Each sound engineer should tune their car crashing audio to evoke these same responses from as many listeners possible.

For all these reasons, you owe it to your media presentation to use high quality sound effects and this is even truer for something complex like a car crash sound effect. It is something you cannot cut corners with if you want your video game, animation, music video or film to come across as professional and evoke the desired emotions with the viewing audience.

Tradebit: #1 for sound effects libraries

Tradebit, the download marketplace, offers thousands of high quality sound effects for download as WAV or MP3 files, and as part of a sound library or as individual sound effects. You can be assured of the highest samplerate and bitrate when downloading sound effects from Tradebit, as all the files on our marketplace are authentic, professionally produced and designed for professional license use. You can even pre view each sound effect track before purchase; to be sure they are the right ones for your own production - whether it is a video game, a music video, a movie or a short film or animation. Use the search function to locate the niche sound effect you have been hunting for all over the internet.

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