MarcD Posted June 19, 2017 Share Posted June 19, 2017 Not sure if this is the correct place to ask this question. I want to add a sound dimension to my layout "Scratchy Bottom" which has a large reed bed, so that the noise of the railway passes through the background noise of the environment. Does anyone have any ideas how I can do this? Marc 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Rixon Posted June 19, 2017 Share Posted June 19, 2017 For ambient sound, I suggest just running a track on a music player placed on the floor under the layout. I don't see the need to build a sound system into the baseboard. If you player is some cheap old digital kit, then you can mix your ambient track digitally. You can get basic sound-mixing software for free, I think. Probably not much mixing is needed, but you would want to form your sounds into something that can be looped. By that, I mean fading the volume up from silent at the start of the track and down to silence at the end: this avoids an obtrusive glitch when the player restarts the track. The big problem is choosing which sounds to play. Are you playing the sounds that would carry from the environment visible on the layout? That would be noises that carry some distance, maybe 100 feet or more. Alternatively, are you playing the quiet sounds that come from close to the observer's position, away from the railway. You might find that if you take your smartphone and record an ultra-boring video while sat next to a river then you can rip out the audio track to use with the layout. No mixing needed, and nobody can say it's not prototypical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RANGERS Posted June 19, 2017 Share Posted June 19, 2017 I was involved in organising a factory open day which being held over the weekend, had no production going on in the plant itself. One of the organising team was a DJ and sound engineer who came up with the idea of recording an hours worth of sound on a normal working day and playing it through the factory PA. The difference was immense and added atmosphere to an otherwise 'dead' scene. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan downes Posted June 20, 2017 Share Posted June 20, 2017 Or you could record me and Gravy Train playing "Apache " ! Soreee.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Dave John Posted June 20, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 20, 2017 I have had a go at this on "Kelvinbank" . There are some small speakers built into the layout. These are powered by a homebuild thing, in which there is a steam sound unit (chuffs faster when the dc to the track goes up ) and a mixer/amp . Input to the mixer is from an old iPod, on which there are some genuine CR sounds including a working westinghouse pump from an old ARGO record, EAF 74. Putting it into the mac and editing it took a while. I added a track of city noise from a sound effects cd to that. So now I get CR loco sounds over a city noise, with a distinct steam beat as trains move. All a bit simple in these days of DCC everything complete with sounds of tea being brewed on the footplate, but anyway. It impresses visitors a bit, but between ourselves gets rather annoying after a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcD Posted June 20, 2017 Author Share Posted June 20, 2017 I was planning to yous DCC sound on the loco's then have the background noise of the reed bed/wetlands running contently with the odd bitten and eider duck in the mix. in the days of old I would have just got my C120 tape and recorder and headed out to RSPB Leighton Moss and recorded 2hours of background. However in the brave new digital world how do I record and add in the extra wild life? Marc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris M Posted June 20, 2017 Share Posted June 20, 2017 Just have a number of short sounds for different animals and buttons for each animal on the front of the layout. Youngsters will love pressing the buttons to get the sound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
28XX Posted June 20, 2017 Share Posted June 20, 2017 An iPhone voice memo can last at least 2hrs. There was some discussion of buggieness when I googled it, but those contributions were 5 years old so probably fixed now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcD Posted June 20, 2017 Author Share Posted June 20, 2017 Just have a number of short sounds for different animals and buttons for each animal on the front of the layout. Youngsters will love pressing the buttons to get the sound. great Idea. I already have the opening the gate and changing the points. Any idea on the electronics I would need? Marc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katwigan Posted June 20, 2017 Share Posted June 20, 2017 There are any number of videos on You Tube that have sound tracks of babbling brooks, thunderstorms, gentle rain, ducks quacking etc etc. Most of it can be found by searching for 'Relaxation....' Several programs capable of seperating the audio from the video quite easily and you don't even need to leave the comfort of your computer chair. Kevan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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