Sound Program?

[gregsalyers]

The BooBox has is around $400, however it is a controller, mp3 player and amplifier.....that is what I am going to use. It can play ambient sound and a seperate sound if you want for the scare.

[TheGallows]

Do you feel that the boobox is best for all your rooms or do you feel that the boobox mini could work for a lot of your rooms?

If you have a room as small as 100-200 s.f. then wouldn't the mini work just fine, if you placed 4 speakers around the room?

500.00 bones is a lot to spend on each room just for sound for my budget,
200.00 is a bit easier on the wallet.

What do you think?

Do you any of you use this system?

[Empressnightshade]

I'm glad you began this thread as I have been wondering the same thing. Music and sound is something I put HUGE emphasis on. But, have always used either boomboxes or stereos. This season, I want the same CD (Virgil's music!) to pretty much permiate most of the haunt. Do we purchase large speakers that you see DJs have, affix them to tall speaker holders and let it blast? Personally, I'd rather purchase a good stereo for several hundred dollars, get wall speakers and place them several places. I think that would be a better experience for our customers, plus we can control where the sound goes better that way.

[virgil]

Virgil,
The 4 main "themes" for my haunt this year are:
Pirate.
Egyptian,
Victorian house
and government hospital (insain asylum)
which CD's do u recomend? I already have the hillbilly and klown one but dont think they would really work to well
thanks!
Sean

Sean,
For the pirate scenes, "Fade To Black" is my take on it.
"Dark Hollow" is a good general use haunt CD so you might check that out.
Insain asylum? Well... Midnight Syndicate's "Gates of Delirium" is THE
asylum CD IMHO! It's my all-time favorite haunt CD.

[virgil]

That is a great question.... the budget is still being FUDGED!

I would say around 500 to 2,000

Cheaper the better in my view.

Am I crazy for thinking that I could do a computer style with that budget?

Ryan

Ryan,
E-mail me your contact information.
I'll get with you this weekend.
You have lots of options but I need to
get more of an idea of where you're heading
with your haunt.

[Empressnightshade]

Oh, one other thing we've used -- DVD players with amplified computer speakers. That works also.

[proaudiodude]

Ryan,

I do sound design for theme parks, nightclubs, tours, and of course haunted attractions. This is a HUGE topic that rarely gets discussed.

Sound is usually the last item on the budget after all the props are bought (or built), sets designed, costumes, etc. While we spend tons of time finding the right music or sound fx to use we rarely give a second thought about the design, layout, or most importantly the "dynamics" of using sound. We all seem to realize how important it is (turn the sound off on a horror movie sometime and see how scary it is) but have you ever noticed at major theme parks there is sound EVERYWHERE... and not just sound but GOOD sound!!!! I have spent weeks getting the sound just right in the bathrooms of one of these giants. In a haunted attraction sound is equally if not more important. Sound can completely immerse the guest into the fantasy world you are creating for them. The big boys know this and audio is often second on the budget list as they understand how important it is....count the loudspeakers at HHH at Universal Studios sometime.

Now....on to your question. Last year I put together a "master" control center for a haunt that had 7 soundtracks and wanted everything running off a single computer. It is possible and actually affordable. Here is what you will need.

P4 computer with min 512 RAM (need to have some speed here as the software can strain the machine)

M-Audio FireWire 410 (this will give you 8 discrete outputs off a single firewire output from your computer)

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/produ...ace?sku=701385

Then you just need to software to run it. There are a few programs that will work, but the one I found worked best for straight playback of multiple tracks (and allowed routing of each to a separate output) is Sony ACID (4.o or greater) You can probably find a used copy of this on Ebay for around $50. This program is easy to "upload" your soundtracks to and set up for multiple routing of playback.

From there you run the 8 lines into whatever you want. Amplifier with loudspeakers connected, powered loudspeaker, etc.

This setup was used to create 7 different "house" soundtracks in various parts of the attraction. Output 8 was used for the LIFESAFTEY system. If something went wrong in the attraction, track 8 was selected which muted all other outputs and broadcast a pre-recorded "PLEASE EXIT THE ATTRACTION THROUGH THE NEAREST EMERGENCY EXIT" over and over again. Your fire inspector will like this a lot and is easy to do with this type of set-up.

The above system is designed for "soundtrack" playback to create the mood within each scene, room, etc. In order to do triggered sound playback there are a number of options. I have found that when I am working with a pressure mat or IR type sensor for an animatronic or scare zone, I like to use the Fright Ideas boxes as they are easy to use and pretty cost effective. There are some pretty high end devices that you can use here (including some computer matrix systems) but the simple trigger boxes will do a great job to fire a "scream" or "boo" type sound for dynamics and depth to a scene or animatronic.

Now put all the elements we have gone over so far (7 soundtracks, surprise screams or yells triggered by the guests themselves walking thru the attraction) your set design, costumes, actors, DO NOT FORGET TO USE GOOD LIGHTING (this is key) and you have put your guest into a movie that they are now in the middle of. I like to use the movie analogy as it is easy to understand. There is a reason that THX (and/or Dolby Labs)exists and why they demand a certain amount of SPL at certain frequencies at certain distances, etc, etc, etc in a THX approved theater...it is to totally immerse the movie goers in the world the producer/director created (yup I do large cinema design too)

While you said your budget for sound was around $2000...how does that compare to the rest of the items you have bought for your attraction? That’s less than the cost of a typical animatronic, yet will be a HUGE part of your show (some would say upwards of 50% of the guest experience) but for this exercise lets break SIGHTS, SOUNDS, AND SMELLS equally and we will call it 33.3%....now does $2000 seem like a good number? I am not saying to second mortgage the house to get all new sound gear, just make sure its in your budget and do not make it the last on the list (that statement is not just for Ryan BTW

Please feel free to contact me direct with any questions you may have.

Cheers,

Jay
Pro Audio Dude

[virgil]

Jay, excellent advice!! I give it 5 skulls!

[beardedbil]

If you want to use the M-Audio box with 8 outputs and want trigger-able effects as well as routing audio, i would recommend SFX Show control software, it is usually used for Broadway plays and the like, however it works great in this situation.

http://www.stageresearch.com/

Bill

[gregsalyers]

I do not understand the value of centralizing on a PC. If I have to buy a PC and the sound software and the sound board and deal with all of the issues related to a computer, how is it not cheaper and easier (not to mention more resilent) to just use individual CD players for simple audio playback.