Recording University sound effects in busy cafeteria/foodcourt at Singapore’s largest University. The NUS!

A few months ago I connected with Cheng via the field recording community on Facebook. We met up and he told me when he was a student he used the Stuttgart airport sounds for a movie he worked on and the scenes are all shot at the Changi airport and the actor flew from Singapore to a German airport.

Everything was shot at Changi airport but he used these sound effects to create an authentic German sounding background. How cool is that? 🙂

I never know for what the most of my sound recordings are used for, but if somebody tells me about it and it makes an impact on his/her future that makes me happy too hear and these are one of the main reason that keeps me going and creating new sound recordings. Now he is an avid user of my sound collection.

We met up a few days ago and he asked me if I am interested to record some sounds in his University. It’s not just any university. It’s Singapore largest. The NUS with thousands of students and currently the semester started. We went to the Cafeteria to record these really awesome walla sound effects of the students.

Without him, I wouldn’t have the chance to record these sounds but that’s a great think about social media. If you are open to connect with real and nice people great things will happen.

What to expect in these University Sound Effects?

I split up the recordings in 3 parts and I feel like it is easier for you to download three smaller tracks then one super long one. I also think to have a nice length of 3 minutes gives you a nice variety and is long enough.

How we recorded the soundscape?

We had the glass wall behind us and all the students are sitting in front of us. I placed the Zoom and the DPA between two tables filled with students.

You can listen to the people chatting in several different languages but its hard to pick up because of it’s just so much talking.

You can listen to plates moving around, students standing up and moving chairs around and you can listen to the shoes on the floor squeaking. Behind the microphones are the trash bins and the area to collect the dishes.

The natural reverb of the room is just perfect

Another great extra is the part where a group of students starts clapping and laughing. This is in recording number 2.

A fantastic part is in recording 3 at 0:35 min. A young female student must have spotted the microphones and she sang “We wish you a Merry Christmas” and I think something in Chinese a few seconds later. Very funny and a beautiful voice by the way.

Recording 3 has more laughing students so from all three this is my favorite one.

You can download all three university sound effects soundtracks from my Bandcamp account!

NOTE: If you can’t see the Bandcamp Media Player here make sure to turn off your ad blocker or choose a different browser.

Another note if you are new to Bandcamp! Almost all albums are free so if you see “name your price” just type in “0” and make sure to check out with “wav” to get the high-quality file.