This was the most exciting field recording session I have ever been to.
We used a Deva 5 as our main recording platform. We had 2 Neumann Microphones setup (which could not handle the level of the assault rifles) above the shoulder of the shooter angled towards the gun. Two other mic’s (DPA’S) where spaced apart and angled capturing both sides of the weapon from the front sides. The muzzle was picked up by a dynamic microphone, which was a Sure SM 58.
Direct sound is important, but also the early and late reflections, which we used a setup of shotgun microphones for, spaced apart so we could capture a proper tail sound.
On the side hill 50 meters to the right we had a Sony PCM D50 setup to capture some distant audio of the weapons. The 3rd recorder was a Sounddevices 702 with a Sanken stereo Setup, placed about 50 meters behind the shooter.
In 3 days we captured the sound of weapons ranging from handguns to large caliber rifles and machine guns such as the browning M2. Highlight was the Minigun. All in all about 26 weapons.
At the end of the session, we recorded bullet impacts and ricochets. I remember us taking cover behind a truck, fearing the ricochets could hit us.
The recorded weapons are the main base of the Crytek weapon sound library and I used them to design the single player guns, such as the Scar and Hmg in Crysis 2 and Crysis 3.
