Recording gore foley is about your performance, your setup, and your ingredients. Food, particularly vegetables, are used most often for gore. When I abused 15 ingredients last weekend over for over four hours to record a slew of gore sound effects, I used the foods and techniques that I'm about to share with you.
Here's how I created those squelches, rips, and stabs:
For Bone Breaks
- Squash (ext.)
- Carrots
- Pineapple Fronds
- Dried Noodles
- Celery
- Cucumber
- Almonds
-Cauliflower
The size of the ingredient you're using influences how big the break sounds. An almond could be better suited for a pinky breaking, whereas a celery snap could be used for someone's arm breaking. How slowly or forcefully you snap each ingredient affects the final sound, too. More movement in your sound can add interest, but it still needs to fit what's on-screen.
For Gut Tears & Rips
- Bell Pepper
- Lettuce
- Tomatoes
- Squash (innards)
-Pumpkin
- Oranges
- Eggs
- Apples
Exaggerating each bell pepper's tear gives the impression that a tendon just won't break until it finally releases. Squash, such as pumpkin, can be carved out so you can scoop the seeds and goop to emulate zombies eating flesh. Lettuce can be ripped for small tears. The liquid-heavy ingredients can be for reaching into guts in surgery or for chomping on brains.
For Fatal Wounds
-Watermelon
-Honeydew
-Other Melons
- Raw Chicken Breast
- Pineapple (stabs)
Alfred Hitchcock famously had his foley artist stab a wide variety of different melons so he could decide on the perfect melon for Psycho's stab-in-the-shower scene. He chose a casaba melon for his stabs. You can bash other melons against the right surface for your game level or scene to recreate an enemy breaking their skull. Raw meat is for punches.
My Recording Setup
- @wearefocusrite Scarlett 2i2
- @rodemic NTG5
- @rodemic Blimp
- Reaper session at 192khz sample rate
- Acoustically treated space
You risk introducing background noise, distortion, and other audio issues if your space is not acoustically treated. This typically requires professional help or a solid background in acoustic engineering. Also, without a blimp or some sort of protection for your microphone, you also risk breaking it with all the errant juices in your session. That's gross and avoidable.
The Key to Convincing Foley is Performance
The gore foley perform we in the studio is only convincing when it aligns with what we see on-screen. It's about matching the intensity, motion, style, and length of the action in your film or game. To see more of my gore session, watch this video. You're also welcome to hire me to do gore foley for you to save you time and money by contacting me.