Kingston HK-3000 manual lathe
Kingston CL38C CNC
Strippit Turret Punch Fabri-Center
Niagara 1/4" shearing machine
When Hollywood sound designer Michael Babcock needed industrial noises to bring the new animated movie "Storks" to life, he called on Kingston Machine Tool CEO Karen Lin, whom he knew from her days as a music video producer and short film director. "We were looking for unique hydraulic machine sounds," said Babcock ("War of the Worlds," "The Dark Knight," "Inception," "Interstellar," "Thor"), "and any kind of interesting machine-created clunks for the various machines that make up the baby factory and packaging plants."
Babcock visited Kingston's Huntington Beach, CA, facility and discovered that its 12.5" bore HK-3000 manual lathe and 7.3" bore CL38C CNC were exactly what he needed.
"The big green HK-3000 had a really cool sounding power-up sound," said Babcock. "It was relatively long, gradual and powerful, and made different harmonics as the machine powered itself up to speed. By placing the microphone as close as possible - even touching the machine to get the resonance to where the sound seemed to originate - I tried to isolate the cleanest and most interesting part of the sound. It was recorded to a digital sound machine that was running at a very high resolution, so that later on I could manipulate the sound in the computer and still retain the highest fidelity."
"I have always been impressed with the sound of our HK," said Lin, "but I never imagined it would end up in a movie. We are honored to be a part of it."
Lin then took Babcock down the street to South Bay Fabrication, where Owner Cliff Klein auditioned all kinds of metal fabrication machines for the sound designer.
"The hydraulic punching machines were gold," Babcock said about a 30-ton Strippit Turret Punch Fabri-Center 1000 SX. "I used them for heavy backgrounds on the `shipping floor' of Cornerstore.com - the Storks-operated, Amazon-like company that ships merchandise via stork."
An old gray Niagara 1/4" shearing machine became an essential element to the giant, yellow gantry-like cranes that are used by workers to maintain the factory. "Once again," said Babcock, "recording at a high resolution, I was able to slow down and enhance the sounds to make them sound huge."
Finally, Babcock returned to Kingston to record audio from Lin's six-month-old daughter. Although Lin was uncertain whether her daughter's vocals would make the final cut, Babcock admitted that "her awesome laugh is used in a couple of places for some of the main babies."
"So if you want your shop to sound like the factory in the new animated film, `Storks,' be sure to gather a Kingston HK manual lathe, Kingston CL38C CNC, Strippit Turret Punch Fabri-Center and an old Niagara shearing machine. And some storks," commented a spokesperson.
For more information contact:
Kingston Machine Tool Mfg, Inc.
5421 Business Drive
Huntington Beach, CA 92649
714-894-1648
sales@kingstonmachine.com
www.kingstonmachine.com