More Artificial Sound Effects for Filmmaking

Other artificial sound effects that you can yourself create for filmmaking are as follows:

Rain: Put some dried peas in a sieve and roll them from one side to the other.

Thunder: Get a sheet of thin metal and shake it violently a few feet away from the microphone.

Crashing waves: Rub two hard brushes against a fairly large sheet of metal.

Walking in the woods: Make a ball with some old recording tape and squeeze it rhythmically.

Hoofbeats: Either drum your fingers on a table or clap together two halves of an empty coconut in the appropriate “diddlley-da” rhythm.
Voice on the telephone: Simply speak through a tube.

Don’t overdo effects
Once you get the sound-effects bug, it can have disastrous results. You can even get the impression that sound effects can cover up defects in the film. The temptation to regard them as an end rather than a means is always present. This is understandable, but must be firmly resisted. Effects must be used only where the film needs them.