jeffers_mz wrote:
“The sample sound real enough, and the the predator sounds, especially wolves with pups in a den, cause the cats to leave the room and take defensible positions elsewhere in the house.”
This does sound like an interesting application. A cat repellant for model railroad layouts.
Have you tried just a loop of this sound playing constantly to keep the little furry monsters out of the layout room?
Eric
Hi all,
Some great ideas have been mentioned already.
At a model train show here in Brisbane Oz, several layouts had sound equipped locos, but you had to get up close to hear them with the crowds around.
One sound effect that worked well was the sound of a flock of parrots in a tree by a dried up creek. Several people commented on it while I was standing watching it. My plan is to have several speakers around the layout with different sounds that only play for short bursts. Like animation we are drawn to things that move and to sounds that start and stop. Another idea I have is to use a barking dog sound out of an old McDonalds Happy Meal toy which I plan to trigger by a passing trains, might even link it to a dog’s head jumping up and down behind a solid fence.
Actually I do. I found a small clock that played “Westminster chimes” through speakers. I tore it apart and ran the speakers up to my towers on my Kibri cathedral. I play it real quiet so it’s barely noticeable. It adds that extra something to the background of my city layout I’m working on.
It also has a second benefit: I know how much time I spent down in the basement on trains, and how much time I have left before the wife gets after me to take out the trash! [:o)]
~D
I have a Greenfrog Daytime Narrow Gauge Steam cassette that works well.
I supplement it with my own custom tape. I made a stereo recording at the Animas River bridge south of Silverton a few years back. It’s mostly subtle river noises, insects, and the wind, but there are also several trains that come through during the course of it. Works for me, but I’m lucky that the Rio Grande narrow gauge is my prototype, including the Silverton Branch, so this was easy to do.
Now, if you model the Uintah or something else that is truly gone, you may have to improvise.
[:D]
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
I use my Railroad Scanner with its earphone that sits under a MOW truck on the layout. Just makes it sound like there is a radio in the truck. Very effective!
Unfortunately, the cats develop a tolerance to the sounds when they hear them for a long time and nothing unpleasant ever results. I really thought I’d get more reaction from the iaguar and mountain lion sounds, but it’s the wolves that do the trick.
In our house we maintain order with a water pistol. In fact, they are so used to losing those battles that all I have to do now is display it. The trigger is broken, but they don’t wait around long enough to figure that out.
jeffers_mz wrote:
“Unfortunately, the cats develop a tolerance to the sounds when they hear them for a long time and nothing unpleasant ever results. I really thought I’d get more reaction from the iaguar and mountain lion sounds, but it’s the wolves that do the trick.”
Too bad. If it worked permanently it would have been great.
“In our house we maintain order with a water pistol. In fact, they are so used to losing those battles that all I have to do now is display it. The trigger is broken, but they don’t wait around long enough to figure that out.”
Probably go over better than a 8 foot anaconda in the layout room.
Eric
Ed Kowal,
Thanks for that info! Makes me appreciate the intracacies involved in producing high quality background sounds and how the human ear/brain perceives and deciphers sound. 3 years ago I visited Cypress Gardens in Winter Haven, Florida. There is a HUGE ho scale layout housed in a building. The background sounds were impressive, even though it was old technology. One thing that stood out was that they were very subtle. In one section where there are dark clouds over rocky terrain, you get to hear a thunderstorm. The reverb of the thunder’s “roll” sounds neat!
I’m looking forward to seeing the new technology come onto the scene. I can only imagine how much more realistic it will be.
Jailbreaker.…why in the world do you say "background sound sucks!" ?? No offense, but that’s one heck of a blanket statement to make without any info to back it up. Very juvenile. Did you have problems in trying background sound? Have you ever heard background sound used on a layout? Museum exhibit?
Yes I do.
I use the sound modules made by I. T. T. C. They advertise in the model railroad magazines - see the 2006 July issue of MR - page 99 - lower right hand corner. Website; www.ittsound.com
See my article on these sound modules in the June 2003 issue, pages 67-69 of Railroad Model Craftsman.
Also, see my e-magazine: www.trainweb.org/rmr
*** Senges
Victor, NY
I guess having AC/DC and Guns n’ Roses blasting in the train room isn’t really considered background noise…
Ok, here’s a few ideas that I have come up with.
A system that has many little speakers placed around the layout in misc. places and sensors placed under the track. What will this do? The sensors will detect when a train is coming and when it does, it starts playing the noises that you hear in real life when a train passes by, including the classic “clickity clack” of the cars as they pass by. When the train passes, the sounds slowly fade and dissappear. However, the sensors don’t kick on until your motive power passes over them, due to a pressure-sensitive trigger that senses a train coming, the weight of the locomotives, and finally the lighter weight of the rollong stock. This feature will be for you guys with the fancy-schmancy sound-equipped locomotives.
A system placed near a crossing that uses sensors to not only detect the train and turn on the flashing lights of the crossing (like products already out there), but also activate a small speaker placed somewhere near the crossing that plays the “ding ding ding” of the bells. When the train passes, the bells and lights cut off.
A believable system of misc. background noises of the city and country alike. (or at least make the ones already out there quieter!)
Well, hope that helps.
-Brandon
If you are going to play around with sound files try this
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
it is totally free and I have used it for many things so far myself.
As for my layout I doubt I will be putting sound on it because it will be so small and the sounds will not be far enough apart to distingui***hem. If it were a room layout I may do it sure. But a shelf one, hmmm I am not so sure. But that’s me.
Count me among the Pro-Sound group. Like *** Senges, I also use the ITTC sound modules. The first, “cattle” sounds, is used below my stock pens. Across the room, below my farm scene, is a “cows” module. Unlike the cattle module which has a multitude of bovines mooing together, the cows module has individual cows mooing randomly - plus the occasional rooster crowing. The third, which is my very favorite, is a “saw mill” module located beneath my band saw mill. You even hear the freshly cut boards hitting the floor.
When I build my third level, I plan on implementing the “turntable” module in synch with the rotation of my turntable. I think that would be too cool!!! I will also have a “harbor sounds” module for my New Orleans river front area which includes seagulls, waves and boat whistles.
When I instruct first-time visitors to flip one of the toggles switches on the fascia, their faces always light up when the sounds are activated. Combined with the DCC engine noises, it is quite amazing.
Just like volume levels on a decoder, the stationary sounds can be adjusted as well. I agree that the clickety-clack sound of the rolling stock is strangely absent. One of the only things I do prefer about the MRC sound decoders used in the Genesis F Units is that they include this sound option. While it is true that the sound is emanating from the engine and not the cars themselves, at least the sound is present. I wish all sound decoders offered this effect!
Sound effects are subjective and thus a matter of taste. For me personally, it has added so much to my enjoyment of my layout. It is what hooked me on DCC in the first place. Without sound, I would probably still be using my Crest wireless system.
I do!!!
Chug-a-chug-a-chug-a-chug-a. Too-o-o-o-o-t!Too-o-o-o-o-t! “Jump, Sim!! Jump!!! I’ll try to slow’er down!! Jump!!!” - Casey Jones, April 30. 1900; Vaughn, Miss.
Chug-a-chug-a-chug-a-chug-a. Too-o-o-o-o-t! Too-o-o-o-o-t!
Actually, I know what you are talking about (from reviews and advertisements) but I don’t think I’ve ever actually heard one.
I use sound effect cds bought from the local music store and write repeats of the sounds I want to a minidisc or blank cd so the player can just play the whole disc without using the repeat function.
I’ve got old headphone speakers and portable mini speakers mounted in the scenery, sound levels are fine as I like the sounds to be quite subtle. It also means I’ve got the sound of rapids where they should be and general river sounds elsewhere.
I consider myself an electronic illiterate and I wish I had the time, money and talent to get my logging railroad sounding realistic. I would love to have all of my geared and rod locomotives sounding off in the woods but, I have mixed feelings about background sound as others have noted on this thread. I am sure that there are all kinds of psychological as well as physiological reactions going on in the brain when one is trying to create realistic background sounds in a scale environment. For example, back in 1994 just after I completed my HO scratch built steam band saw mill, a retired master mechanic told me of a real steam powered line shaft driven band saw mill with shot gun carriage that as still in operation about two hours from my house so, off I went with a portable tape recorder in hand. How I was able to record the sounds from log deck to drying yard inclusive of standing within two feet of the back side of the operating carriage is another story ( If you do not believe me but are attending the SER convention in Memphis on Saturday, I will be playing the tape from under my model saw mill on the layout tour) .
I have been in many saw mills around the world and when I first played the tape I was sure that the band saw would be the predominant sound but was surprised when the dominating sound by far was the crashing of logs being moved on the handling equipment as they were moving through the process. It was actually a boring disappointment but, maybe it has something to do with the scale?
Peter Smith, Memphis
Not necessarily. Remember, background sound is used as an “enhancement”.
O.K, Picture this scenario:
A layout scene in which the mailine tracks crosses a trestle over a river. You faintly hear the sounds of the clear water flowing gently. A few birds chirp in the trees. Here comes your train hauled by a pair of sound equipped SD45s.
The double-header rumbles by with turbo chargers whining. The engineer (you) blows the horn for the grade crossings up ahead. At the moment, you can’t even hear the background sounds (just as in real life). The train passes, the clickety clack fades, it’s gone. All is quiet and once again you barely hear the gentle flow of the river and birds chirping.
This is what is meant by “enhancing” the scene. A real life scenario that can be easily duplicated. This is an example of enjoying a model railroad layout from a “railfan’s perspective”.
What I would like to see is a sound decoder for cabooses.
You could consist the decoder address in with the head end, and the caboose sound decoder would have train rumble tied to loco speed, along with clicky clack and some random flange squeal.
I think this would add immensely to the train running sound experience. I know if they made these decoders, I would be first in line to get them. [swg]
I suppose it might be possible to do this with Loksound decoders and adding your own sound?
Joe,
Have you purchased the Lok Sound program yet? A friend of mine got his and all I could was “Wow!” It is impressive and worth the price. You can probably do exactly what you’re thinking about with this system.
Antonio:
I haven’t tried the Loksound decoders yet, but with everything I’m hearing about them, I’ll have to.
The only thing is they are not cheap, and they don’t make sound-only decoders. It would be a shame to put a perfectly good back EMF decoder into a caboose just to get some train sounds … what a waste!
Alternative ideas:
The Beach Boys 1980 England concert…or maybe a loop of Guy Clarke’s “Texas 1947” (his recollection of first seeing a “…big and red and silver…” diesel as a boy in Monahans, Tx.
Cheers,
Mike