Low-budget filmmaking tip #189
Recording live sound at a beach is problematic at best. Beaches are great places for action scenes, fight scenes, and dialogue-free contemplative scenes. Anything that requires sound is going to sound like crap. If you must do dialogue at a beach, plan for ADR.
If you have a higher budget, you can afford someone who knows sound well enough to do it.
Low-budget filmmaking tip #183
When doing sound design, try to not use the same sound more than once — unless there’s a very specific reason to. Every monster roar is different — even if it’s the same monster. However, for an automatic weapon, it’s okay if every discharge sounds the same (for small bursts).
Low-budget filmmaking tip #179
For every sound you record for your sound design, keep in mind that you can pull three different sounds from that: the original recording, a speeded-up version, and a slowed-down version. An ordinary impact sound when speeded up becomes a sharp crack, and when slowed down becomes a deep whoomph.
Low-budget filmmaking tip #171
Here’s a nifty “Emergence” kind of sound: Reverse the first five seconds or so of your sound effect or music, add a little echo to it, then reverse it back. Mix that into the original beginning bit and voila! Now you know how to do that tricky sound thing they do a million times in “Torchwood.”