Spaceships shoot through the inky blackness, blasting each other with powerful lasers. Inside the mothership, other battles take place with guards and intruders exchanging laserfire. In a lonely hallway, a master and his apprentice fight their final battle with elegant swords made of light. You know what movie we're talking about. Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope forever changed the way we think about sci-fi sound effects. The sounds were so perfectly suited to the action, it was easy to forget that none of this really happened. There are no laser cannons, blasters or lightsabers in the real world and each of these sound effects had to be created from items found here on planet Earth. The neat thing is that you can make them, too, plus many others for your next sci-fi fan film.

Sound Psychology

There are two basic schools of thought in sci-fi sound effects. First is the mindset used for Star Trek sound effects. Here, we're talking old-school, original TV series Star Trek sound effects. The thinking at the time was that this was futuristic space and science. Since music synthesizers were still new and unusual, many sound effects were generated inside these devices. They were quirky, weird and certainly had an out-of-this-world vibe. This mindset was used in many science fiction films in the 50s and 60s. Synthesizers sound like space. The result was weird, sometimes sterile sound effects that could be achieved no other way.

The second school of thought is that embraced by Star Wars sound effects. Although synthesizers were used for many droid sounds, Star Wars sound effects designer Ben Burtt chose a more organic approach for the majority of his recordings, from the most basic whoosh sound effect to Star Destroyers jumping to hyperspace and everything in between. This involved taking ordinary, everyday things and re-purposing them to fit into a new world. This mindset has two benefits. First, recording things that already exist is certainly more practical than building something just to record it. Second, because these are things people have already heard, the familiarity connects with the listener on a gut level. Done properly, these organic recordings just sound right. This is the approach we're taking.

Get Out There

Many, if not all of the sound effects you'll record are away from the safe world of your editing setup. That means you'll need a way to record audio in the wild. We won't spend a lot of time on this, but if your recording device runs on batteries and has a microphone or mic input, it's a candidate. At the top of the list would be a pocket audio recorder from Zoom, TASCAM, Sony and many others. They're a great, portable audio recording option for sound effects gathering and can serve double-duty recording during a normal shoot. Next on the list is a laptop or netbook. Loaded with audio recording software and a USB-powered audio interface, this is another great location recording option. There are also audio recording apps for the iPod, iPhone and iPad. Used in conjunction with something like the Blue Microphone's Mikey Digital or Alesis iO Dock, you've just found another use for a device that's with you most of the time.

Finally, you can use your video camera to record audio. It already runs on batteries and, with a mic input and external microphone, it should do a serviceable job as a location audio recorder. You'll have to separate the audio from the video in post, but you also gain the added benefit of a visual slate of what you're recording. This can really help you on the path to keeping your sound effects organized How ever you do it, get the recording gear together and start listening.