Film Noise - the good kind

A screenshot from my sound design session for the radio tower noise

We are working on a film at the moment called POP, by Tim Hamilton. It features characters who are drawn emotionally and physically towards various mysterious radio towers. To heighten their eerieness, they emit an alluring series of hums, crackles and tones. Usually in film getting rid of noise is a major factor, so it's nice to have the chance to celebrate it.

I started with Hiss and a Roar's excellent Noise Source sound library. The library was captured from an array of old analogue equipment, radios, tape decks, synths, etc. I used the many different recordings to create a bed of various noise, that could blend in with the onscreen ambience. This way, the presence of the towers is felt even when they aren't on screen.

Then I found this buzzy plugin from Audiothing, called Noises. Again, a plethora if interesting analogue noise recordings, but this time compacted into a plugin that blends, filters, pitches and warps them. (Also you can import your own sound banks, so in the Noise Source library goes).

And with Cargo Cult's Slapper and Subquake, getting a sense of imposing scale was crucial for the closeup onscreen shots. Slapper's crosstalk feature lets the delays influence each other, and created a huge, complex sense of space (in full surround). And the Subquake does what it says on the tin – big sub = big tower.

Careful editing and mixing will come next, to eke out just as much of the 'noise' as is needed to convey the towers in the film as full characters, ever playing in the protagonists' sub-(and not so sub)-conscious.