I Need Help! How Do I Record A Washing Machine?

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I need help! How do I record a washing machine?
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 Sylph.Shinobu
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By Sylph.Shinobu 2011-12-13 15:58:49
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Okay, so I am doing this 3d animation for class and its my final. I need to record a washing machine and a drier but I only have garage band. I feel like messing with the pitch and tone, I may be able to? Does anyone have a pretty simple solution where it uses another program? (free, or adobe based please!)

Tl;Dr:

How can I make an accurate recording of a washing machine without it just being crappy?
 Siren.Kalilla
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By Siren.Kalilla 2011-12-13 16:03:17
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Wow, I have absolutely no clue what you are talking about...

I was imagining someone holding a camera while filming a washing machine and dryer..
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 Cerberus.Casp
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By Cerberus.Casp 2011-12-13 16:04:26
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just like in movies and television shows, they wouldn't actually record a washer/dryer but break down the different sounds and overlay them.
 Sylph.Shinobu
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By Sylph.Shinobu 2011-12-13 16:06:51
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well, I'm rocking my laptop and not gonna lie, the teacher hasnt gone into much detail about sound, we are just kinda expected to figure it out. I am about ready to make super cheesy sounds for everything. Are there any other recording options for sound and being able to save them as files readable by adobe after effects?
 Ragnarok.Sekundes
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By Ragnarok.Sekundes 2011-12-13 16:06:58
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Do you have any attachment to your own recording? Could look on the web for ones you like. I've not done much sound editing so I can't help much with that.

http://www.findsounds.com/ISAPI/search.dll
Just search for washing machine
 Fenrir.Skadoosh
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By Fenrir.Skadoosh 2011-12-13 16:07:25
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A condenser mic would probably best, but any decent instrument mic would do the job. Not sure if you have a mixer to do that, this is the interface I use. They go as low as like 40 bucks.
 Phoenix.Sehachan
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By Phoenix.Sehachan 2011-12-13 16:11:50
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My washing machine is too shy and never wants to be recorded.
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 Fenrir.Terminus
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By Fenrir.Terminus 2011-12-13 16:14:51
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I don't mean to sound like a smart ***, but, if the quality of sound was important to what you're trying to do, shouldn't you already know? And, it's a washing machine... why isn't any ole mic good enough?

Back when I had to make recordings a lot, I just used a mic I got at wal mart - and for us, the sound was the ONLY important thing, and it was no problem. Never sounded anything close to bad.

Edit: Well, I might have sounded bad, but the quality of the recording was good :)
 Sylph.Shinobu
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By Sylph.Shinobu 2011-12-13 16:19:40
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Well, I guess I'll go into more detail:

I am an electronic imaging major and downloading sounds is a big no no, but funnily enough, you can use tracks provided with the program. Last project, I used the mic built into my mac and it usually works surprisingly fine but the low tones and already static like nature of the washer seems to drown itself out.
 Fenrir.Skadoosh
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By Fenrir.Skadoosh 2011-12-13 16:21:41
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Sylph.Shinobu said: »
I used the mic built into my mac and it usually works surprisingly fine but the low tones and already static like nature of the washer seems to drown itself out.
was going to suggest that too. did you play with the distance of your mic? it can take a while to find a sweetspot
 Asura.Isiolia
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By Asura.Isiolia 2011-12-13 16:22:18
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http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

See if anyone you know has a USB mic maybe?
 Ragnarok.Sekundes
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By Ragnarok.Sekundes 2011-12-13 16:26:14
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There are a ton of different kinds of mics for various uses. If you know you will need to get good recordings in the future, I'd recomend investing just a little in a half way decent one. I had to do the voice recordings for our on hold music at work and we picked up a usb blue snowball mic for about $45 and it worked wonderfully.

Snowball mic

I used audacity to do the editing. I'm not sure if that works on macs or not.

Perhaps someone who's more experienced can give you better tips but this should be able to get you by.
 Fenrir.Terminus
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By Fenrir.Terminus 2011-12-13 16:26:21
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Sylph.Shinobu said: »
Well, I guess I'll go into more detail:

I am an electronic imaging major and downloading sounds is a big no no, but funnily enough, you can use tracks provided with the program. Last project, I used the mic built into my mac and it usually works surprisingly fine but the low tones and already static like nature of the washer seems to drown itself out.

Aha. I get it now. I can't help, but I understand! :) Good luck.
 Sylph.Shinobu
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By Sylph.Shinobu 2011-12-13 16:26:38
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Well, just to see if I could figure out anything from listening to already recorded washing machines, I found that nobody seems to be able to get the low slush slush humming noise of the washer rocking back and forth. Every sound clip and video I have heard sounds like static with a low hum... Anyone have any idea on how to simulate the sound? Last project I actually seemed to have gotten a better grade by making the sounds myself but bah! I thought that would be the easy part -.- sound always ruins my day when it comes to animation.
 Sylph.Shinobu
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By Sylph.Shinobu 2011-12-13 16:30:15
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Also, I should throw in that I got 95% of my work finished like a week early and pretty much just had sound left, but I had to re-render like 5 times and basically yesterday I finally got all of my stuff rendered just right. Now, it is due tomorrow morning at noon. Looks like a second all night in a row... Yay college!
 Sylph.Shinobu
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By Sylph.Shinobu 2011-12-13 16:31:46
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Also, testing audacity asap. Guess i get to do more laundry! lol Also, making all 5 people in my house stop moving for like 3 minutes at a time is always fun..
 Cerberus.Ddbone
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By Cerberus.Ddbone 2011-12-13 16:36:37
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check out white noise mp3s.

for example

http://whitenoisemp3s.com/

I know you gotta buy but maybe there are other ways? who knows. I might combine very low volume "box fan" and "dabbleing dishwasher" and with a louder "air conditioning hum"

The 10 second previews might be all u need on a loop. but of course I dont know what the rules are so its only a suggestion
 Ragnarok.Sekundes
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By Ragnarok.Sekundes 2011-12-13 16:36:58
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Sylph.Shinobu said: »
Also, testing audacity asap. Guess i get to do more laundry! lol Also, making all 5 people in my house stop moving for like 3 minutes at a time is always fun..
Part of your troubles might have to do with the area you are recording in. You might try pinning up sheets or full sized thick blankets on the walls around it to absorb some of the reverb. A super cheap directional mic might also help so that you get less of the echo noise and more of the direct sound.
 Cerberus.Ddbone
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By Cerberus.Ddbone 2011-12-13 16:39:25
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also, to simulate the slush slush sound, maybe waves crashing in and out, sped up and adjusted, combined with a static hum may sound convincing enough
 Bismarck.Sylow
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By Bismarck.Sylow 2011-12-13 16:40:53
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This is the strangest thread I've seen in a while.
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 Cerberus.Ddbone
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By Cerberus.Ddbone 2011-12-13 16:42:53
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Funny I work in design, and I often have to produce photo realistic renders for client work...

my motto:

It's only faked if someone notices lol, 99% of the details that hang me up on a render go unnoticed to anyone else, even colleagues...
 Sylph.Shinobu
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By Sylph.Shinobu 2011-12-13 16:44:42
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Ragnarok.Sekundes said: »
Sylph.Shinobu said: »
Also, testing audacity asap. Guess i get to do more laundry! lol Also, making all 5 people in my house stop moving for like 3 minutes at a time is always fun..
Part of your troubles might have to do with the area you are recording in. You might try pinning up sheets or full sized thick blankets on the walls around it to absorb some of the reverb. A super cheap directional mic might also help so that you get less of the echo noise and more of the direct sound.

I will 100% be trying this tonight when I'm at my moms house instead. Less roommates to worry about.

The big problem is the movies from the point of view from the main character and he is standing very close to a washing machine and a drier at all points in the movie and the movement of the washer and drier is fairly noticeable (thinking about it maybe overly noticeable, but to late to fix that. I have a strong feeling someone will say something in critique).

I had this super easy plan in my head D: why does sound always kick me in the ***? Last time it was finding one of those whooop dooop sticks that make those sounds when you turn it upside down and back right up. I had a small kind of broken one, so it wouldn't make noise if it was to slow and was really short. I only needed like a second of whooop doooop noises but it took me 2 and a half hours of shaking it back and forth until my arm wouldn't move. In the end, it worked out pretty nice. If I end up using my super powers of procastination enough, ill post it on youtube!
 Sylph.Shinobu
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By Sylph.Shinobu 2011-12-13 16:47:04
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Cerberus.Ddbone said: »
Funny I work in design, and I often have to produce photo realistic renders for client work...

my motto:

It's only faked if someone notices lol, 99% of the details that hang me up on a render go unnoticed to anyone else, even colleagues...

I always get hounded for nit picky things because I always point things out (like the overly intense shaking (i dont think its obnoxious, I am working on posting a soundless render for anyone who wants, to see it)) Don't be afraid to be brutal, but keep in mind, we only had 3 weeks from concept to finish.
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By Eugene 2011-12-13 16:49:55
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audacity is a good mixing tool
 Sylph.Shinobu
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By Sylph.Shinobu 2011-12-13 17:32:11
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 Sylph.Shinobu
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By Sylph.Shinobu 2011-12-13 17:36:24
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screw it, can't manage to get anything to work today I guess....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwBNwD1Huc0&context=C2d847ADOEgsToPDskLuVtk3AsynI34T5FUvopks
 Fenrir.Enternius
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By Fenrir.Enternius 2011-12-13 17:40:37
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Siren.Kalilla said: »
Wow, I have absolutely no clue what you are talking about...

I was imagining someone holding a camera while filming a washing machine and dryer..
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 Caitsith.Mahayaya
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By Caitsith.Mahayaya 2011-12-13 17:51:04
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Sylph.Shinobu said: »
screw it, can't manage to get anything to work today I guess....


If it's shaking like that in your animation, you'd want some kind of rattling noise too, not just the MMMMNNNnnn----mmmMMMMMNNNnnn noise of a washing machine.
 Sylph.Shinobu
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By Sylph.Shinobu 2011-12-13 17:51:26
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bah, nobody is reading the thread anymore to give me comments on my animation :(
 Caitsith.Mahayaya
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By Caitsith.Mahayaya 2011-12-13 18:02:05
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The increased "bobbing" 15 seconds in is heavy breathing, or what? If you could tone it down a touch. That and you could pause a little longer on each focus, those are really the only things bugging me when I watch it.

The bit at the end is really smooth and looks nice.
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