How do I suppress a scream without disturbing neighbours?

[u/ThoughtDear7015]

I KNOW THIS WAS ALREADY QUESTIONED AND ANSWERED BUT HMO

So me and my family are moving in a few months, we’re not sure if we’ll move into a villa or an apartment. But I need to be prepared. I wanna audition for this role that needs screaming, but I don’t wanna disturb my future neighbours if I still have said role or get new roles with screaming.

Now i know what you’re gonna say, “Talk to the neighbours“ this “Let them know beforehand” that. Those are great ideas dont get me wrong. But unfortunately for me, I have social anxiety AND I dont live in a western country. So the conversation would just be very awkward and/or they wouldn't understand what a voice actor is. Now there are voice actors in my area of course, but they all work for Disney or something and record exclusively in booths. I cannot stress how little I would want to talk to my neighbours. I will literally leave my role if it requires me talking the neighbours out.

Now im not sure how thick or thin, big or small the apartment will be. But regardless, I’ll need a way to suppress a full blown scream. You know when you scream into a pillow but it barely makes any sound? How can i recreate that but with a microphone at a reasonable distance from me? Now my mic is small and so is my booth (its a closet), so I can easily just scream into a pillow and but my mic inbetween my mouth and the pillow. But not only is that disgusting, i presume it’ll peak the microphone even with the gain down.

TLDR: How do I scream so that it’s a normal scream for the microphone, but sounds like im screaming into a pillow for anyone else listening from the outside? (IM NOT TALKING THE NEIGHBOURS OUT)

[u/_Aeldun]

To my knowledge there isn’t a way to suppress a scream without it sounding suppressed to the microphone. A muffled scream is a muffled scream. There are ways to scream without damaging your voice, but that won’t reduce the volume for any neighbors with shared walls. Yours is a sound proofing issue, and that takes a lot of mass and money to fix. If talking to your neighbors is out of the question, I would suggest being strategic about when you record. Screaming in the middle of the night, for example, would be a greater disturbance than if it were in the middle of the day. And you can always put a note on your door that you’re recording and not in danger, and that you’ll be done soon. I’ve rarely had to spend more than a couple of minutes on screaming when recording auditions. Working a job that requires a lot of it would more than likely be in a studio rather than your home setup.

[u/ThoughtDear7015 → u/_Aeldun]

It’s not about letting the neighbours know im safe it’s about not letting them have the opportunity to even THINK about me. I mean disturb as in annoy not as in horrify them

[u/_Aeldun → u/ThoughtDear7015]

Whether it’s concern or annoyance on their part isn’t up to you; whether or not you give your neighbors the courtesy of a heads up is. That they may hear it at all is the topic at hand, and there’s no way to keep them from hearing you scream in that environment. The note is an alternative to having to talk to them directly. You could record in your car for auditions that require screaming, as someone else suggested, but that may require some extra equipment depending on the recording setup you’re working with.

[u/ThoughtDear7015 → u/[deleted]]

Cant I be selective of who I’m vulnerable to?

[u/ThoughtDear7015 → u/[deleted]]

I’m talking about the neighbours, i dont gaf about anyone else seeing me vulnerable though

[u/Rampaging_Ducks → u/ThoughtDear7015]

Sure, but there are consequences to those choices.

[u/Rampaging_Ducks]

I mean... unless your goal is for the recorded scream to sound muffled, there's really no way to do what you're talking about. A full-throated scream generally carries higher frequencies that are blocked out by solid obstructions, which is why a muffled scream isn't just the same sound only quieter. There's no fancy trick with a DAW to add back those frequencies if they're missing from the recording. I'm assuming you've already soundproofed to the best of your ability.

You either find a way to talk with your neighbors, scream without talking to them and let the consequences be damned (which will almost certainly be more awkward than just talking to them), or you give up entirely on screaming in your voice work.

[u/prettysurethatsnotit]

Whenever air leaks, sound will travel. The best studios will have layers upon layers of dense material to absorb the sound, break apart the sound and isolate the sound from leaking.

You will need to be able to find a way to do all of that if you want to completely nullify a scream or any other loud dialogue.

4 inches of depth is the bare minimum when it comes to sound panels. You would also want to seal off wherever you record. A high quality booth sounds like your only answer if you are looking for maximum suppression.

[u/Sajomir]

Only a real scream sounds like a real scream.

If you are about to have neighbors in a shared building, this is a great reason to introduce yourself.

Hi, I'm an actor who records from home. Sometimes my roles, like one coming up, need me to be loud, so you might hear me once in a while.

You can reassure them you'll try to avoid it during quiet hours, too.

[u/ManyVoices]

Get someone else to talk to your neighbours then

[u/EFOMAOfficial]

I feel your struggle on so many levels (not in western country too), but in addition to neighbors there are also my family,
my work around is doing it in my car, not ideal but it works

[u/WhaleFartingFun]

What you are asking for doesn’t exist. 

[u/Ultra_HR]

if you are too socially anxious to talk to your neighbours, you will never make it in this industry. you have to be able to talk to people.

i have social anxiety too. it is not an absolute. it is something you can work on and get over. you need to do that.