24 pdr firing

[Artilleryman]

Came across this photo taken will we were recording sounds for Master and Commander that might be of some interests.

[Cat Whisperer]

Looks like Miss January 2011 to me.   

[Cannoneer]

That's a worthy photo Norm, thanks.
I like the M&C movie, and I enjoy the way the artillery sounds were presented in the final cut; but what's your opinion on the way the gun audio (including the sound of balls in flight) was handled in the movie? Do you think a lot of audio special effects were used to alter the actual recorded sound of the cannons you fired?

[Artilleryman]

To me firing on the range and listening to it in a movie are different.  I haven't figured out why.  M & C comes close and is best when listened to in a movie theater.   I don't think they altered the sound, but in the movie they mixed it with other shipboard sounds.  I wouldn't know about the sounds of the projectiles in flight as I have never been down range to listen to them coming overhead.  There is a special edition of the DVD that has a section which speaks to the making of the film and has some audio of the cannons firing and the sound of the projectiles. 

[dominick]

Definitely a calendar photo!

[gulfcoastblackpowder]

The audio you hear from the real thing is dependent only on your hearing and your location.  In a movie, the audio mix, post production, storage medium (vhs/dvd/bluray, etc.), receiver/amplifier, speaker quality, speaker arrangement, and your hearing and positioning are all factors.  I have a GOOD home theatre setup (it can knock down closet doors on the other side of the house without having distorted audio), and watching M&C on it, it sounds really good - one of the best movies for cannon fire, but even that won't match the experience of witnessing it first hand.  Perhaps if you added some dirty BP residue and sulfur smells...

That's a great photo!  Thanks for sharing it!

[Cat Whisperer]

Been under quite a number of 7.62 nato's and a bunch of 155's going overhead.  They sort of whistle...  My concern at the time was the (National Guard) sergeant pointing back towards the source to a 'clearing' where he said last year was where they had a short round - and cussing the forrest service for billing them for 121 trees.   

[Artilleryman]

We had to use reduced powder loads for some of the projectile recordings in order to have a sound that lasted longer.  We would fire over a mic at 500 yards and they would be able to record the sound as it was coming in, going over, and going on down range.  We fired solid shot, grape shot, bar shot, and chain shot for them.

[Cannoneer]

Thanks, Norm. I liked the (whooosh) sound that the passing cannon balls made when the Acheron was firing its bow guns (at some distance) trying to land a lucky hit on the HMS Surprise in the two different scenes where the French ship was in pursuit of the Surprise. It's interesting to learn that you fired the projectiles over the microphones; I had been (wrongly) thinking that the mic's were set up like a chronograph with the solid ball aimed to go between them.

Was the solid shot that you used made of cast iron?

[Artilleryman]

The solid shot, grape and bar shot were made of zinc, the chain shot was made with aluminum balls to keep the weight (pressure) down.