Squeaky, high-pitched-sounding silencers

[AgentBauer]

Hi everyone, I'm new to the forum. Unfortunately I don't own any silencers nor do I live in a state where they are legal, but I find their proliferation in the American marketplace absolutely fascinating, especially given their restricted, $200 Tax stamp, paperwork status.

My first post on this forum will be regarding squeaky-sounding silencers. I know it sounds like a stupid post but hear me out: One of my favorite video games as a kid was Goldeneye for N64. If you recall that game (and I'm sure at least one person on this forum does) you'll remember that the silencers made an odd high pitched sound. You may also recall that only pistols and subguns could have silencers in 007. When I started reading about silencers and watching YouTube videos of people shooting guns with them, I never heard any that sounded like the one in Goldeneye...until one day. In Future Weapons season 2, episode 8 during the testing of the Barrett M468, there is a scene in which Chris Barrett (Ronnie Barrett's son) is firing the M468 with a suppressor, first on semi auto and then on full auto. The first time you might miss the high pitch but when he switches to full auto it is very obvious. Is this some kind of anomaly? Has anyone experienced this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2k9oVgM8WqE at 8:09 for semi auto and 8:14 for full auto.

[Bendersquint]

Hi everyone, I'm new to the forum. Unfortunately I don't own any silencers nor do I live in a state where they are legal, but I find their proliferation in the American marketplace absolutely fascinating, especially given their restricted, $200 Tax stamp, paperwork status.

My first post on this forum will be regarding squeaky-sounding silencers. I know it sounds like a stupid post but hear me out: One of my favorite video games as a kid was Goldeneye for N64. If you recall that game (and I'm sure at least one person on this forum does) you'll remember that the silencers made an odd high pitched sound. You may also recall that only pistols and subguns could have silencers in 007. When I started reading about silencers and watching YouTube videos of people shooting guns with them, I never heard any that sounded like the one in Goldeneye...until one day. In Future Weapons season 2, episode 8 during the testing of the Barrett M468, there is a scene in which Chris Barrett (Ronnie Barrett's son) is firing the M468 with a suppressor, first on semi auto and then on full auto. The first time you might miss the high pitch but when he switches to full auto it is very obvious. Is this some kind of anomaly? Has anyone experienced this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2k9oVgM8WqE at 8:09 for semi auto and 8:14 for full auto.

What you are hearing is what Hollywood portrays a silencer as sounding.

FutureWeapons is notorious for dubbing gun sounds.

[TROOPER]

I remember Goldeneye, and I remember the *pew, pew, pew* of the silenced PP7. They changed the name of the gun from "Walther PPK" to "Walther PP7"... probably to avoid royalties or lawsuits or who-knows-what. Not only did they alter the sound of the silencer, but the reality of a silencer on a Walther PPK is extremely, disappointingly loud. Basically that gun - and guns like it - don't suppress well at all. It's a double-whammy.

The quietest setups are 22 rimfire on a bolt-action rifle, and I'd say they're about as quiet as Hollywood / Goldeneye depicts a normal silenced gun, but it doesn't sound the same, and silenced "sniper" rifles, like in the game, sound - at best - like a regular 22 rimfire without a silencer at all.

Also, the RCP180 was really just a renamed P90. The Phantom was just a renamed Spectre M4. The Cougar Magnum was either a Ruger 44 mag, or a Colt Python. Essentially every gun in that game was renamed, and none of them function in the hierarchy as the game portrays.

Future Weapons alters their video and audio. Red Jackass Firearms alters reality. There was one time when RJF added a buttstock to a Desert Eagle for a customer without a tax-stamp, and then at the firing line, the younger female in the show wanted to try it out, but the camera clearly showed her shooting a Beretta 92FS stainless, with a little 9mm hole in the paper, and then the woman saying, "Wow, that thing is nuts", or something like that. No credibility, no reality, and no truth. End-to-end nonsense.

[MJF1911]

I heard a can on an AR15 one time that had a really high pitched zing/whistle to it. I have no idea the make of it though.

[ThaDoubleJ]

Silenced gunshots sound like exactly what they are called. Gunshots, just quieter. There is no mistaking the sound my Tirant makes for what it is. Anything in a movie or on a show will probably be tarted up and incorrect. You gotta hear one in real life.

[rimshaker]

Yep that high pitch squeaky sound is just artificial sound effects. Could be high or low... depends what the movie director or game programmer wants.

In real life without ear plugs, the cycling action of the pistol/rifle is what you really hear more of.

[ThaDoubleJ]

Yup, quiet gunshot, recoil spring, piston spring, next round chambering, bullet flight, and impact can all be heard.

[paper9]

I can hear some squeak like sounds in the Hush ammo video currently for view in this forum, especially in the 50 yard from camera sequence...

[L1A1Rocker]

Red Jackass Firearms alters reality. There was one time when RJF added a buttstock to a Desert Eagle for a customer without a tax-stamp, and then at the firing line, the younger female in the show wanted to try it out, but the camera clearly showed her shooting a Beretta 92FS stainless, with a little 9mm hole in the paper, and then the woman saying, "Wow, that thing is nuts", or something like that. No credibility, no reality, and no truth. End-to-end nonsense.

Well I'll be darned. I'd never heard of that before, I never really followed that red jacket show. But here it is. . . skip to 1:19

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBCZuj5Eja0

As far as the sound in the O.P. The reason it sounds so familiar is because it's the same sound used on the video game. Stock "silencer sound", just like stock door squeak, from an FX database. REAL cheesy to do that on a show that's supposed to be "real".

[Dieseljay]

I can hear some squeak like sounds in the Hush ammo video currently for view in this forum, especially in the 50 yard from camera sequence...

That noise is caused by the microphone on the recording device digitalizing a sound pressure that is above the amplitude that it can record at the bitrate. Gunshots have a very short peek impulse noise which 99.99999% of consumer microphones can't record correctly let alone save in a raw audio format.
That and cameras have this feature known as auto leveling where the microphones gain is boosted when their is low ambient noise or reduced when interference is detected (wind background motors and stuff). This is why many videos the first round pop is amplified due to the noise sampling being "leveled" across all samples within a time frame. Since the gunshot was the first loud noise the microphone hears some of the loudest parts arn't cut down in time. As more shots follow the noise leveling will contribute that impulse noise as interference and try to silence it from the recording.

Additionally the audio is compressed to a smaller bit rate to save space on the video sound file. To accomplish this the frequency is cut from the sampling rate and extreme frequencies to save space. When a value above that is recorded it just puts the highest value for a moment since the sound exceeded the input codecs limitations (think file type). Hence why on youtube you can hear different sounds from the same suppressor and host due to the camera's software trying to equalize a sound signature to balance/ hide the max-min values of the sound.

So your n64 could have been a recorded sound of a gunshot compressed down to an 16bit audio format giving it that whistle effect cause the quality of the recording is so degraded.

Or in English.. The microphone is bottoming out like when you blow on one. Or think of it like why Hollywood movies audio sounds amazing compared to your phone call.

A phone call is an extreme example of compressed audio as they are really only delivering 70% of what you say to the person on the other end of the line. They just cut out tiny pieces and your brain corrects for the missing sound.



So short answer is the squeak isn't real. A recording vs what your ear will hear are completely different. This is why you can have a job title of Sound Engineer.

Audiophile out!

Edit: watches the youtube video from the future weapons and cranked out my old n64. The n64 is a sound recoding that they slowed down the peek audio signal channel to save audio space. Thats why the phew is a high pitch noise from simply tweaking the pop/crack of the mic bottoming out and stretching it over several 10ths of a second. The future weapons flat out edited a sound channel over the existing sound channels and they used a mic with auto leveling. (Someone mentioned above they did not use real sound). The issue is the youtube video is a re recording of the original using a different sampling rate than the original. From that I can't get out lithe sound channels to isolate the background noise. Funny thing is you might be able to make a suppressor that can make this noise when its being recorded.
You just need to place a mic off angle to the sonic crack and then make sure your mic's signal gain is turned way down. This should make a pew like noise. I'll try it this weekend and see how much tweaking I have to do to get to golden eye sounds. I doubt they will be quiet.

[Conqueror]

Not sure I agree with the above. I have a video from the (2006 or 2007) silencer shoot where the Clyde Armory guys are shooting a .223 bolt gun with an old Ceiner reflex can. Every other gun audible in the video sounds like a normal suppressed gunshot, so I think the camera mic was reasonably accurate. And that bolt rifle made an honest-to-goodness high-pitched squeaking sound every time it was shot. I put the video on YouTube and it got like a million views. It's hard to hear the rifle over the background noise but if you know what you're listening for it is clearly audible and very different from other suppressed rifles. They were shooting full power .223 ammo from Georgia Arms.

[quiettime]

I saw a youtube vid, 99% sure it was Fireman1291 where he did multiple hosts on Tirant 9 and 45 from different views. One shot was from the target facing him. Almost every shot from that angle had the Hollywood "PEW" sound and I think it was coming off of the bullets going through the air, not from the muzzle.

[LavaRed]

I've managed to get a somewhat Hollywood-esque high pitched sound on exactly one suppressor only, and that was a mini-can that I built for a Beretta 21A. 4" long by 7/8" OD, with 3 parabolic baffles, all welded into a monocore, CF tube.

[tacticalhillbilly]

Red Jackass Firearms alters reality. There was one time when RJF added a buttstock to a Desert Eagle for a customer without a tax-stamp, and then at the firing line, the younger female in the show wanted to try it out, but the camera clearly showed her shooting a Beretta 92FS stainless, with a little 9mm hole in the paper, and then the woman saying, "Wow, that thing is nuts", or something like that. No credibility, no reality, and no truth. End-to-end nonsense.

Well I'll be darned. I'd never heard of that before, I never really followed that red jacket show. But here it is. . . skip to 1:19

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBCZuj5Eja0

As far as the sound in the O.P. The reason it sounds so familiar is because it's the same sound used on the video game. Stock "silencer sound", just like stock door squeak, from an FX database. REAL cheesy to do that on a show that's supposed to be "real".

Dang girl you ain't kidding! It's so powerful it changed the manufacture and caliber!!!


Sorry couldn't resist. That my favorite show!!!!

Eddie

[Emilio]

Careful , lots of people here where interested in the new Red Jacket cans and they don't care about stupid or,,,,,,,,, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0kkC8oawgp0

Same for Silencerco and AAC going stupid. People just don't care or have standards.

[RangerX]

I was at the range this past weekend and encountered a squeaky/whistling suppressor. Specifically, it was a Silencerco Harvester 30 on a 308 AR. At first I thought my ears were playing tricks on me, particularly since I was wearing earplugs and over ear hearing protection - I was under roof cover and most folks on the firing line were not suppressed.

Whether I was standing directly behind, to the rear left or rear right of the shooter, every shot produced a "pew" sound. I asked a friend who was also there if I was hearing things, they said "nope". It was making that noise and everyone heard it.

Best guess as to cause was that some of the gas which is being contained/managed then leaves through the muzzle and causes a slight whistle, similar to blowing air over the top of a bottle. Like I said - best guess.

But it was damn sure going "pew" with every shot.

[RJT]

.308 subs through my Cyclone sounds like disconnecting a low pressure air hose. A "pffffft" sound, with higher pitch, is as close a description as I can come up with, on a keyboard.

[Prince Yamato]

I've gotten something similar to the sound when I shot a .22 can really wet. It was on the first one or two shots, when it expelled a bunch of mist. I was shooting supersonic ammo through it. It made a sound like, "pffffffffffffffffewp". Though, I don't know if the "ewp" was the bullet hitting the target (it was from 10 yards)

My guess is that the foley artist (the person who records Hollywood sound effects) probably used a recording of a reflex can that was wiped and shooting super-sonic ammo. The sound effect is old enough that it probably comes from the reflex can era and when most ammo was super-sonic. The microphone probably picked up the sympathetic noise/vibrations of the wipes being passed through by the bullet. The distinct "Pew" might actually be the bullet entering the target and the foley artist clipping the audio short so as not to leave the sound of a ricochet or impact. Since it was probably a difficult sound to record, it probably is used over and over again as a "stock sound" and is probably second only to the "Wilhelm Scream" in identifiable Hollywood audio.

[JLBourne]

You gentlemen are talking about Red Jacket Firearms, LLC, correct? Same company showcased on the television show, Sons of Guns?

This guy?:
http://theadvocate.com/news/9965583-123 ... r-arrested

I just wanted to make sure that you know who you were watching, you know, as a PSA.

Apologies for getting off topic.

[a_canadian]

That feel when the noob with just 6 posts decides to make his 7th post bleedin' obvious, a rehash of a rehash of a long-since-dead discussion... which makes.me maybe not quite such a complete noob by comparison. Ah, feels good.

[TROOPER]

You gentlemen are talking about Red Jacket Firearms, LLC, correct? Same company showcased on the television show, Sons of Guns?

This guy?:
http://theadvocate.com/news/9965583-123 ... r-arrested

I just wanted to make sure that you know who you were watching, you know, as a PSA.

Apologies for getting off topic.

I don't know that I care.

The foremost point regarding the "reality" show was that it was not only NOT reality, but it wasn't even really FAKE reality.

What he does in his private life is his own business. He opted for some actions which got him arrested, and could conceivably cause him an incredible amount of personal, fiscal, and legal hardship. But that set of action-&-consequence doesn't involve me or mine, and so I don't care about it.

At least on "Pawn Stars" the scripted guy walking in with the unique item actually HAD a unique item. I don't know that I watch Pawn Stars as an ongoing activity, but if it's ever revealed that the items themselves are made-up fakes, then I won't watch it again. As it is, it doesn't bother me in the least that it's scripted the way that it is; can you imagine how insanely boring it would be to watch what REALLY happens at a pawn shop?

[JLBourne]

That feel when the noob with just 6 posts decides to make his 7th post bleedin' obvious, a rehash of a rehash of a long-since-dead discussion... which makes.me maybe not quite such a complete noob by comparison. Ah, feels good.

Incredible.

[a_canadian]

You're incredulous?! Imagine how I feel! Sorry, just couldn't resist teasing a new guy. There is a 'search' function for the forum, so if in doubt at any time about whether a subject has been brought up and discussed previously it can be useful to seek it out. But no harm, this is a silly thread and I made a silly comment. My apologies if you were offended.

[JLBourne]

You're incredulous?! Imagine how I feel! Sorry, just couldn't resist teasing a new guy. There is a 'search' function for the forum, so if in doubt at any time about whether a subject has been brought up and discussed previously it can be useful to seek it out. But no harm, this is a silly thread and I made a silly comment. My apologies if you were offended.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=site%3Asilencertal ... unction%22

[a_canadian]

I'll see that... and raise you a http://lmgtfy.com/?q=site%3Asilencertal ... of+guns%22