How to Record a Crowd Sound Effect

Crowd sounds are a mainstay of many sound art or experimental music projects. When you are looking for the effect to add to your musical tracks, you may be able to find an actual live crowd to capture on digital media, or you may have to create your own fake crowd track. Either way, here are some tips to get the effect into your sample menu.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Real crowd recording

1. Find the kind of event you want to capture, whether it's a small, polite crowd or a huge, raucous one.
2. Get the right equipment. Evaluate mics for long-range sound pickup. A short-range mic will not get the crowd sounds you want.
3. Prep for the gig. Check batteries and accessories to make sure everything will be working when you're in among the crowd.
4. Check security requirements. Some venues don't allow recording equipment inside. If anybody gives you any trouble, it's good to have a pre-arranged agreement in place.
5. Record the crowd when you're at the event. Be sure to get a god variety of samples. The more crowd sounds you have, the more you can tailor them to your project.

Faking it

6. Set up background noise. The background sound of a crowd resembles any other kind of white noise. You can actually use low-volume static to help you fake a crowd sound.
7. Create "foreground" sounds. Over top of your constant sound, you'll want to add other more distinct sounds. For a dinner party sound, record glasses clinking, for a sports event, you may want some hoots and hollers.
8. Filter sounds through mics and software filters for volume blur. The more you can make the recording sound muffled and distant, the more realistic it's likely to be.
9. Use multiple tracks to beef up crowd sounds. If you alone are trying to imitate a crowd of people, you'll want to throw down layer over layer of sound until you think it sounds right.
10. Be careful with loops. It may be good to create a crowd sound "loop" so that you can keep your sound effect going over time, but if the loop is too short, it will be noticeable, and you don't want that. Abstract your loop with extra bits of sound to make it more authentic.