Stormtrooper Armor Sound Elements

All the sound databases have sounds for knight-like metal armor but none of them have anything for the plastic kind of armor all the Stormtroopers wear. I'm just wondering now how could I go about making sounds of storm/clone trooper armor moving around and clanking if I don't own a set of trooper armor?

 

I have my own armor as I'm a member of the 501st. I put it on and recorded it recently.

The easiest way to replicate it is to find a lot of hard plastic...then somehow muffle it so it's not able to vibrate but so much and then clank it together...

otherwise, if anyone here wants to use the below files in the future, please at least provide credit to me and let me know that you are doing so.

http://rapidshare.com/files/40332419/armor_clanking_-_calmly.wav.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/67943002/armor_clanking_-_impact.wav.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/67943228/armor_clanking_-_lively.wav.html

 

there's a couple in jedi outcast.

 

keithabbott, i'd suggest sending those to dveditor to be added to the sound bunker.

 

Huh...for my own fan film, I didn't even bother. I just got some bits of plastic that seems about the right thickness and clanked 'em together, foley style. *pshrug*

 

I remember one of your threads about recreating the xwing radio effect, and how particular you were about getting the sound as authentic as possible. You even dismissed one of my versions of the effect, which I thought was spot on. I don't know why you'd compromise with some inferior foley for this particular effect without putting more effort into it. It just sounds pretty hyprocritical to me.

 

Who said it was inferior? Maybe she got the exact effect she wanted via foley. Why make things unnecessarily difficult?

 

I'd say tupperware foley.

 

Theres is a huge difference between a radio effect that changes a person's voice in a very specific way, and the sound of something plastic clanking against something plastic. The X-wing radio SFX are iconic, but I think you'll be hard-pressed to find someone who would hear a clank of plastic-on-plastic and exclaim, "THAT'S NOT REAL STORMTROOPER ARMOR! HERETIC! HEATHEN! FAKER! HACK! AMATEUR! DIE! DIE IN A FIRE!".
And, frankly, your version of the effect sounded NOTHING LIKE what I was going for, and the fact that you thought it was spot on still boggles me to this day...

And what I came up with is hardly inferior; it fits into the fan film seamlessly. It sounds, quite frankly, like a stormtrooper shrugging, which it should.

 

The fact that you thought your own version was spot on, and the fact you took two pieces of plastic and rubbed them together and called that a suit of plastic and believe that authenticity for one effect is more important than another...now that boggles my mind. I appreciate you commenting back, seriously because it gives me more insight into your thought process. Whether or not I agree with it, is irrelevant.

 

You version sounded nothing at all like the source material from ANH on which I was basing my radio effect; mine did. I don't know on what criteria you were judging, but clearly you focused on some completely different aspect of the radio effect than I did.

As for stormtrooper armor, hell, we hear it clanking almost never. There's a few marching scenes, and most of that is the metal floor. And it's hardly an iconic Star Wars sound; it really IS just plastic clonking together.

You seem to think that the clank of plastic armor somehow equates with a radio effect on peoples' voices, which it really doesn't. A clunk is a clunk, and for the most part plastic is plastic. Granted, there are different plastics, different thicknesses, but in the end one can account for all of that rather easily.
A radio effect, on the other hand, is a very varied sound with lots of variation. There's static, there's that classic bandwidth-cycle "weeeeeoooooo" sound you get in old movies, there's modulation, there's distortion...there is so much more one can do with a radio sound, so many more ways to make it distinctive. Star Wars used a very specific one that was worth getting right.

But the sound of plastic hitting plastic? C'mon!

 

keithabbott, I'll start off by saying thanks for those sounds but you are being VERY immature. Was it absolutely necessary to bring up an old conflict between you and RocketGirl? All she said was what she did for the same effect for her film and how she produced it. Nowhere in her first post did she even mention or reference you at all or say that her method was 'better'. She was just adding an alternative to yours, which is what healthy forum posting is about. Just because you posted a sound first doesn't make you the king of the topic. And your thing about inferior foley is ridiculous. What you sent me was pure, all-American 100% foley. Just because you used actual Stormtrooper armor doesn't make it any more official or better than anything someone else without trooper armor can produce. You don't have to actually go into a jungle to make the sound of someone walking in a jungle. This is no different. You need to be way more open minded and think a little bit before you fly off the handle.

 

I'm right there with dan-yoda, actually. This is quite silly and I, for my part, am done arguing about it. D-Y can either learn from my experience or decide to go another way and that's what this is all about; I'll think no less of him if he decides my technique isn't what he wants, and that's all that should be said about that.
All that needed to be said about the radio effect was said months ago; I hope this is the last time we'll have to discuss it.
This silly wrangling about whether or not something is official, authentic, canon, Star Wars sound isn't going to help anyone at all, especially when the issue is a specific thunking sound, as opposed to the sound of something that is uniquely Star Wars like a lightsaber or blaster. I have no control over keithabbot, but I can't believe I let myself go on as long as I did.

So...back to your original topic, already in progress. Thanks.

 

You're welcome. I hope they come in handy. And yes, it was immature. I like to revert back to my childhood every now and then at my old age. Anyway, I made my point. She believes one thing (and thinks she's right), and I another (and think I'm right). And I say that regarding both our previous discussions on her effect and the stormtrooper clanking effects. Call me anal, that's fine. I like working with audio more than video and if someone disagrees with my comments, no amount of arguing will ever change that. So it's best to just move on.

Anyway, if you want to hear a good example of how armor clanking can add effect to a scene watch Ep2 of Return of Pink Five. I recorded similar foley which is used throughout the Endor battle scene.