Metal Grate Footstep

How it's made

Source

a boot heel compresses over 3 ms, then its forefoot loads the grid 55-105 ms later. Filtered noise models rubber contact; a short 95-155 Hz pulse supplies the weight transfer.

Body

welded steel bars have inharmonic modes at 310, 527, 883, 1397, 2249 and 3611 Hz. T60 falls from 0.30-0.44 s in the low bars to 0.07-0.11 s in the highest crossbars.

Events

6 irregular joint collisions between 18 and 205 ms re-excite a smaller modal bank; their strength falls exponentially as the loaded grid settles, rather than sustaining hiss.

Envelope

heel and toe each excite a 4-9 ms clank; a 45 ms sole rub follows the toe. The ring darkens naturally; a safety fade at 480-545 ms leaves silence before 0.6 s.

Variation

seeded timing, contact strength and modal tuning vary each step by a few percent. Weight controls the sole thud; looseness controls joint rattle; bar size shifts all steel modes.

Presets

firm welded walkway, loose rattling grid, heavy low catwalk and light quick tread. All are dry mono foley so a scene can supply its own space and position.

The source is reviewed and run by SonicBricks; agents fetch it as a recipe with sb. It is not published on this page.