FWSim - Small Firework Samples

[@mangosde]

Many people ignore these small fireworks and just go with the big ones. I think it's a shame because the small shots have quite some potential and can be extremely effective at creating some low-level "sky saturation". I personally love how you made the salutes, are there shells with a very high velocity and quick lifespan that they form the cloud of sparks?

[@mangosde]

Apologies for double cmment, but an element which really caught my attention is the sound. I thought I had opened one of the videos of the Redentore Firework Show in Venice, since the sound was so realistic to what I actually heard back there. I think you improved in post-production. Did you use any particular settings to achieve this?

[@iamtherealrenedescartes]

Yeah I did edit the sound post production.
I recorded the sound into my DAW and added extra reverb (open field reverb). I used various dynamic processing effects; specifically multiband expansion. There is a short boost in volume at the bottom end specifically to give the explosion more meat (everything below around 100hz) and another in the mid-highs to add more of a transient to each pop (3-8khz). It's very short.
I then added a delay and filtered out the top end on the delayed sound and added even more reverb to the delayed sound (this creates a distant echo after each explosion which you'll typically hear in real life). It's very faint but if you listen to the moments after each explosion during the silent parts you'll hear a distant echo.
Finally and perhaps something that's the most important thing for me, is I litterally shifted the entire sound file forward a little based on how far the camera is zoomed out to create a delay between the flash and sound in video editing software (I muted the original sound and replaced it with my own edited file). This delay changes throughout the video. So during the salutes you would have noticed I zoomed in and as a result, the delay was shorter but when I zoomed out for the bigger ones the delay is longer. You'll hear a slight glitch in the background wind noise when shifting cameras if you listen carefully (very hard to mask that cut).
Something that bugs me is the sound of the explosions is instant regardless of how far the firework is away. I imagine it's difficult to create a delay on the sound dependant on the camera position relative to the firework. It's just a simulator after all.
And yeah the salutes are made by using invisible stars or selecting the sparks in star size and adding tails to the stars to create the flash powder effect. The stars relative speed is boosted and the burn time is extremely short (typically from 0.1-0.5 seconds) and the tails of the stars burn time is extremely short too with slight variations. I typically increase the particle size of the tails effect to determine the size of the sparks. The actual stars themselves are invisible since "sparks" tend to be too small and "small" is too large lol. I need between those sizes. And particle size in the tails effect is litterally a slider with percentage as you know.

[@mangosde]

@@iamtherealrenedescartes Thank you so much for the detailed description and instructions. I do not have a DAW at the moment, the only audio element which can aid me are the Grado Headphones. I attempted to replicate the process with Premiere's stock audio plugins, which are just bass amplification, parametric EQ, Multiband Compressor, Reverb and Analog delay. I cannot get the quality and control of your work (I think I struggle a lot in the mid-high frequency, since the sound looks flat). I still have to try the salutes effects but plan on including them on these stutata-type shells: th-cam.com/video/nB43qpOI5b8/w-d-xo.html