Creating Water Sounds

I’m mainly sharing this cos I think the footage is just freaking awesome, and was filmed off the coast of DEVON! But I’ve been struggling with slo mo water in nature docs for a while, and wanted to share how I’ve managed to improve.

First of all, massive water movements can only sound like waves, our ears wouldn’t recognise anything else. So a large part of this is processed waves, mixed with reverbs and wooshes.

Second, big splashes. Sometimes the subject doesn’t “splash” so using a fade to get rid of the impact helps to shape the sound to what’s on screen.

Finally, the spray. To get this, I’ve faded in and out a recording of a water hose on concrete, to get the high frequency splatter we want to hear when we see these things move.

I have used Soundly to source a lot of these layers. Thoroughly recommend!