Sound of 88 (flak36)

[nodlew]

I have researched (which for me means, I browsed YouTube) in an attempt to discover the authentic sound of the German 88 mm. But I am still in doubt. Footage from WWII often has sound overdubbed after the fact. It's hard to know where the producers got their Gun Sounds from. The 88 seems to have two distinct sonic signatures: 1) A deep, sharp boom; 2) A deep, sharp boom accompanied by the high pitched "pew" of its high velocity shell. I have watched footage of 88's in action that included one or the other, and then occasionally both of these sounds.

Which of these is the appropriate sound for 88 armed Panzers in the game? One natural assumption would be that the Boom is from a lower velocity HE round, and the Pew is from the HV AP round, but I don't know for sure.

If anyone does know, please enlighten me.

[Rends]

there are at least 2 sound mods out there you can try out.

[nodlew]

Yeah, the Frontline Acoustics mod, and the Steel Sound Mod. I'm presently using the Frontline Acoustics mod--had to disable the Steel Sound mod because it turns off Subtitles, and now that my Commander is giving me target positions in addition to range, I need the subtitles to know what he is saying. However, I like the 88 sound in the Steel Sound mod, so I just made it a stand alone mod called 88Sound and enabled it via JSGME. I had to go through a process to get that file to work properly. When 88s were firing at some distance away, I would get a distinct crackle right at the beginning of the 88 sound. It drove me crazy. I finally had to download a free ware wav file editing program and modify the wav file to correct the problem.

But that wasn't my question. Apparently no one so far has any idea, but the question was what did the 88 mm as a tank gun actually sound like? I've been snooping around looking for WWII testimonials and such. Eventually I'll find somewhere where someone describes what an 88 sounds like I'll have my answer. As I said, I don't trust the documentary footage I've seen so far as I'm pretty sure it's all been over-dubbed. Maybe sound recording equipment back then was particularly hard to transport to a battlefield. Watch most of the videos and you can hear guns firing, etc, but that's all you hear. You don't hear people screaming obscenities at each other, you don't hear the breech closing, or shots in the distance--you hear over-dubbed stock Cannon Firing. Just like when you see tanks rolling you hear over-dubbed stock Tank Tracks Squeaking.

[frinik]

  Nodlew; I share your frustration. I have been wondering what are the real sounds of the various guns, not only the Tiger's KwK36 but the Panther's and Tiger II's and T34/85's as well. Playing Tvs t the sound of the Tigers' and T34s' guns are radically different from those in SF.I suspect other sims use different sounds. I also agree that neither newsreels from that era nor recreations give an accurate sound.I guess the only way would be for one those tnaks museums to actually fire the guns of their working tanks so it can be recorded.The T34/85 is still being used although greatly modernised by some armies that shouldn't be a problem to get first hand data.I'll google and see if it's possible to find live reocrding of those guns sounds.

Cheers

[Stig]

I would have to imagine that even restored vehicles are restricted to having NON-FIRING guns. The same applies to military aircraft. A private citizen can actually own a MiG, but you can bet your arse you can't sling an operative 23mm or 37mm cannon under it.

[nodlew]

I have seen video of people on You Tube at gun shows firing various restored cannon--57mm, 90mm, 20mm, etc. And they even fired the guns using real (full power, projectile) ammunition. I haven't seen that for an 88.  There is one video of some German reenactors firing a restored 88, but they use a blank shell--it doesn't even have enough power to stir gun, and it sounds like a fart. German WWII equipment of all kinds is relatively rare even for equipment of their most mass-produced items. Hell, there are almost no working BF 109s and the Germans made 35,000 of the things. It's a shame. But with all of the footage shot in WWII, propaganda, newsreel, training, historical, testing of captured equipement--somewhere there is bound to be numerous examples of most Axis and Allied weapons on film, with authentic sound. Maybe Museums could be contacted? The Aberdeen Proving Grounds might know something.

It is possible to obtain licenses to operate fully functional military-grade weapons for demonstration purposes--here in the U.S. I suspect Germany is more strict about such things. Not to mention the U.K. where you can't even own a hunting rifle.