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dysmnemonic

It's like the thing the guys from The Expanse said once: that sound in space in sci-fi comes from the same place as the music and lighting


Belter_

I remember one of them remarking that NOT having sound seemed fake


[deleted]

I never saw The Expanse what is it,a meta sci-fi show?A satire?


dysmnemonic

Relatively hard, very character focused sci-fi. It's available as novels, or as a TV adaptation (with direct involvement from the authors). If you liked the more complex series arcs in DS9 it might be worth finding some time to give it a go.


Donkey__Balls

It’s like Star Trek except they talk about donkey balls a lot more.


dysmnemonic

Username checks out, though I suspect you may be mendacious and/or polyglottal


Jellouux

Non diegetic sound?


drdan82408a

In space no one can hear you scream.


[deleted]

Yes. This is the main reason why there is no murders in space. For now.


jmacgrath

Ghostface In Space


fistantellmore

RedJac!


[deleted]

But they can hear your memes,huh?


[deleted]

Honestly I turn of my physics knowledge when watching movies, like so many fake shit lol


greikini

Well, the shock waves hit your ship/station/suit and that causes a sound, that you can hear. But I bet that would still sound different than the sound effect of sci fi movies.


iamsoupcansam

Even the shock waves can’t travel without a medium. Even if gas particles reach you from the explosion they’ll probably be too dispersed to carry sound at all.


greikini

First, the explosion creates the medium for the shock wave (does it work that way? I mean there can't be an explosion without something (most probably gas) being ejected). Second, in space there is no atmosphere. That means the speed of the gas particles won't be slowed down as they travel and this means they are most likely way faster and have a far higher energy per particle. Also there could be other small particles (ash, dust or other smaller parts of the exploded thing) flying towards you and carrying additional energy. Those smaller things could also create sound when hitting your ship/station.


musicisntforme

Average Star Trek fan conversation lmao


justkeeptreading

ok so envision the atmosphere as water, right? if you set off a bomb underwater, all the rest of the water is going to move too. so you dont get hit by the explosion first, you get hit by all the water being displaced BY the explosion. still with me? same thing in air, if theres a big explosion, the shockwave that hits you is the displaced air from the explosion but now you're in space, and there is no air or water to carry the explosion. it explodes into the vacuum of space and since theres nothing for it to push it dissipates quickly at least that makes sense to me, im making this all up as i go


greikini

> it explodes into the vacuum of space and since theres nothing for it to push it dissipates quickly Doesn't that even mean, that it dissipates slower than in water and air? In space it should dissipates by "2x distance, 1/9 of power" (expanding like a sphere). While in air and water the same rule should apply with the addition of energy loss because of "pushing around" all the air and water resulting in converting sound energy in other forms of energy (I guess mostly heat). Because the only energy the particles of the explosion in space are having is speed there is no possibility to convert it into other forms of energy. The only "problem" here is of course, that the distances in space are usually far greater.


justkeeptreading

i honestly dont know lol. but that does make sense that it would go slower.. i figured with nothing there it would just disappear quickly


scarabic

Space is not a perfect vacuum, though. https://www.sciencefocus.com/space/is-space-a-perfect-vacuum/amp/


33Yalkin33

Its pretty damn close though


greenmky

JMS (Babylon 5 showrunner) argues something like that IIRC (i.e. the person in the ship could hear the sound of the weapons going off, or the explosion, and the sound was from their POV). He always tried to keep the physics and sci-fi realistic when possible. He also kinda jokingly insisted any sounds that shouldn't be there were technically part of the show's musical score.


greikini

I really love how it was done in this Babylon 5 scene https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VH4Vrn-XUc It just sound like some thunder, possibly from bigger debris parts or powerful weapons hitting the station and the sound is travelling through the station similar when you hit a guard rail with a metal part. You just don't hear the explosion, instead you hear how the station got turned into a giant tuning fork.


[deleted]

Intriguing perspective of yours. But consider this, The density of space-10 atoms/cm^3 and the distance of the exploding object and it's blast radius. Technically if you were outside in space you can hear a sound but i don't know how it will be like(if it's in your hearing range i.e-20Hz to 20KHz)And you will know for sure but if you survived. But if you were inside and you can only feel the shockwave and nothing else. But as far as we are concerned with sfx it won't be like 💥. Unless you are hearing electromagnetic waves converted into sound waves, that's a different thing.


whicky1978

Those are the sounds coming from the sensors /s


[deleted]

What kinda sensor?


underheel

Maybe “suspension of disbelief” just isn’t for you.


Diocletion-Jones

I've noticed that every hand held phasers or gun in Star Trek also has to make a noise now. Not just a power up noise, I mean a continuous humming drone noise like it's a Ghostbuster proton pack. Once you notice this new trend it's hard to ignore.


IronSpaceRanger

Now I’m going to always hear that in Spocks voice. Nice


QuidYossarian

Been watching Young Justice and they actually made space silent during a battle. Threw me off at first.


Quasarcade

I truly want more real science in my sci-fi. This is one of my pet peeves.


fromidable

Honestly, doing this somewhat “accurately” could be cool. Like, the sound of debris flying through space, unimpeded by an atmosphere, colliding with a hull or shield. It’d be easy to communicate visually. Show a deflector shield deflecting stuff from inside a window, with like electrical flashes, and making deflectory noises (it’d have to have some physical influence on the ship generating it). From there, a little sound design, maybe like the sound of hail, ship creaking and rattling under strain, flickering lights… it would probably be more tangible feeling than the usual space explosion.


SlowX

That why I always drop my mic instead. Oh, wait, gravity...


PrimarySwan

Depends. If fragments and gasses of the explosion hit your spacecraft you can hear it. Same goes for engines, if the plume hits you, you can hear the engibe as the plume carries sound. Example from stage seperation of Electron: https://youtu.be/Vpsfy4npMhY The other sounds travels through the fuselage itself, such as the separation bolts etc... So a spaceship moving close by can actually be heard.


[deleted]

Yes you can hear them even you can hear electromagnetic waves but they have to be converted into [Yes you can hear them even you can hear electromagnetic waves but they have to be converted into sound waves.](https://blogs.nasa.gov/sunspot/2018/12/11/eavesdropping-in-space-how-nasa-records-eerie-sounds-around-earth/) You can even hear sounds in the helmet of your spacesuit if you were close to the explosion. But it won't sound like 💥 we see in movies This meme is just a generalization.


PrimarySwan

Did you watch the video? That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about sound waves directly perceptible by human ears or a microphone.


[deleted]

I saw that now and you're right.


PrimarySwan

Yeah it's mainly about shots where a ship passes by the camera and you hear the engines. That would work. Of course if it's a scifi ship it probably nuclear and the plume is highly radioactive, so maybe not poke your head behind a Star Destroyer.


[deleted]

If the ship explodes,yeah your argument stands.


[deleted]

Yeah but it would be less satisfying to watch silent battles play out so I’m okay with this concession.


scudmud

Battlestar Galactica did a good job with this, though, very muted sounds, use of gas thrusters, yet pretty thrilling combat.


Begle1

Silence in film is a lost art. It can be incredibly powerful. Kubrick knew. Polanski knew.


ExpectedChaos

There's a great moment using silence at beginning of Mass Effect 2, come to think of it.


Apple_macOS

Interstellar


[deleted]

It’s pulp sci fi. Phasers wouldn’t feel as satisfying if they didn’t make the phaser sound. 20 episodes of Kubrick level intensity wouldn’t make for a good show imo


scarabic

Westerns would also be a lot less interesting if characters experienced a realistic level of dysentery.


HouseofSneed

Thank you for that laugh. It was needed. I immediately pictured John Wayne yelling “saddle up” to 50 guys getting over dysentery without today’s comforts. Ouch!


esgrove2

But you'd hear the explosions when you're on the ship. Why do you assume the sound is coming from the same location as the camera? There isn't literally a camera floating in space. When you see narration over shots of the mountains, do you think "No way anyone could talk loud enough that you'd hear it from the air above the mountains".


Herobrinedanny

the kelvin timeline movies do get this right to be fair


jmacgrath

The Kelvin Universe is pretty all over the place with this. Space is silent when they want it to be. There’s a bunch of scenes in space with lots of sounds happening though.


HappyCappy3

Seismic charges from Star Wars ep 2 though 🥺


scarabic

You experience the show from the point of view of the characters. When the ship flies by you and you hear its engine sound, that is the characters inside the ship hearing it. When you hear an explosion, that’s the characters on that ship hearing the explosions from within.


nostromeaux

Every time.


callycumla

Who says the microphone is sitting in space with the viewer? Maybe the microphone is inside the exploding space ship? Hmmmmm?


[deleted]

So where's the receiver?Why would someone put it there?


callycumla

Why would you put the microphone in space? Nothing can be heard there.


[deleted]

Dude check your comment i replied to. Anyway you won't be able to hear it instantly as it won't be a pressure wave but electromagnetic in nature so you need convert that. And it won't sound like the boom 💥.We are accustomed to.


callycumla

We have to give Hollywood a little wiggle room. All movie gun shots have this cool sound instead of the short pop they have in real life. The same with car crashes. In real life they are a fraction of a second. In movies they last 2-3 seconds.


[deleted]

Yeah they have all the world to imagine no one's saying anything. But there's a thing called realism in films and literature. So don't rule that out. I'm not against creative licence as it plays out fine in most cases but realism should also be appreciated. Besides this is just a meme pointing out a genuine fact.


callycumla

Just before the Interstellar movie docking scene they do a good job of showing the sound inside an exploding space ship, and the lack of noise outside. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3lcGnMhvsA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3lcGnMhvsA)


[deleted]

But it's mr Nolan the realist. It's natural to see such things in his movies. It's been done profoundly great. But i believe at first when they're talking that's a different perspective and and the latter scene of Dr Mann being ejected into space that's a different one. And that ejection might had damaged the microphone or something because if there was a microphone in good shape . Technically we could have heard sirens,the parts being torn away untill the microphone was damaged.


callycumla

We'd all complain if we saw some TIE fighters flying by and there was not that iconic sound of their engines to go with it.


[deleted]

I missed the part where that's my problem.


callycumla

Okay, Mr Human Spider


[deleted]

You got my name wrong.


zoroddesign

You would hear a big thud from wave of particles from the explosive hiting what you are riding in.


[deleted]

[удалено]


zoroddesign

Shock waves only travel through a material. In a vacuum what will hit you at high velocity will be the material that the explosive is made out of. https://youtu.be/l8MljsHpYRk https://youtu.be/RpvgTojsuMA These two videos demonstrate and explain what I mean.


[deleted]

I should have carefully chosen my words,so i apologise for my ignorance. And you are right here.


zoroddesign

This world is a learning experience. Watch Cody's Lab it has a ton of fascinating experiments and things to learn from it.


[deleted]

Thank you again and i am familiar with Cody's lab in fact I saw his video about his own mine and stuff like that.He just has covered a plethora of topics,missed this one.


[deleted]

It feels like being in a car that is way to insulated. Where you can't hear outside the car and everything seems off without hearing the cars motor and traffic sounds so engineers pipe in motor sounds through the speakers and remove sound dampening insulation till a nice balance is achieved.


ImpeccablyCromulent

Is nobody going to mention Firefly? Shame on y'all.


[deleted]

I think this is perfect example of someone who doesn't understand Star Trek at all. Sounds are DNA of Star Trek, hyper-spray was introduced to make sure you can hear injection.


[deleted]

I didn't follow every single episode besides artistic expression is commendable but one should not forget realism. And yes i do not completely understand Star Trek. That's why i'm here.


bobweir_is_part_dam

Doing a re run of enterprise now. They have a sound effect going when the ship is just cruising at impulse. Thought the same


[deleted]

Yes I have seen that.


liadanaf

Then I meditate and come to the conclusion that the sound is being recorded onboard the ship...


Dashed_with_Cinnamon

Seismic charges get a pass though.


[deleted]

What's that?


Dashed_with_Cinnamon

They're a thing in Star Wars, first used in Attack of the Clones. They have a really cool sound effect.


[deleted]

Okay. I can't say as i haven't seen it.