Why are there sounds in this video in space?

March 19, 2012 11:56 AM

How was the sound recorded from this recent 'Riding the Booster' video?

A friend thought there wouldn't be any sound in the parts where it's in space. The only thing I could come up with is that the camera is in some sort of air bubble type case that lets sound vibrate through the air in there, but we'd love to hear some more details about the process if any NASA employees/enthusiasts, or any sound engineers at Skywalker Sound are lurking around today. Thanks!

posted by zackola to Science & Nature (5 answers total)

Best answer: This sidebarred comment on the blue has a lot of detail.
posted by inigo2 at 11:57 AM on March 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

I'll trust the guy who said it was dubbed in, but it could have been done easily enough with contact microphones recording the vibration of the metal itself rather than the air (or lack thereof) around it.
posted by Sys Rq at 12:01 PM on March 19, 2012 [2 favorites]

Wait a sec--there aren't any "space" scenes in that video, are there? From what I gather, the boosters are dropped at 45 kilometers, well below the space boundary. Sound travels just fine up there, doesn't it?
posted by MrMoonPie at 12:19 PM on March 19, 2012

Best answer: Even in the atmosphere, if you're traveling faster than the speed of sound you won't hear stuff behind you. As the air thins out the speed of sound gets lower and lower. So after a minute or so, any sound from the thrusters must have been either transmitted through the metal, or dubbed in afterwards. Given the original videos, I guess it was dubbed in afterwards.
posted by aubilenon at 12:34 PM on March 19, 2012

Best answer: A few comments down from the excellent comment which inigo2 refers to is a link to a video with the actual sound recorded by the camera. It's quite a bit different from the fake sound.
posted by hattifattener at 7:36 PM on March 19, 2012