Tire Skid/Power Slide

Very recently I had to create a skidding sound effect for a game where engine sounds would not be acceptable. What I did was I acquired a carpet tile and used my foot to add weight to it and dragged it across different surfaces – did the same with a 12″ x 12″ piece of metal and a small cardboard box, then got a balloon and dragged it over a surface to create a controllable squeal sound.

When in your sound editor, make a copy of the sound of the floor tile so you would have all effects; metal – cardboard – floor tile and balloon – plus an extra floor tile sound.

Add a gate to the extra floor tile sound so it increases and decreases in volume every half beat (or quicker whichever suits the size of the vehicle best). This decrease has to be sharp, but not to completely faded out, you still want to hear this sound just not as prominent as the original. EQ the master track to suit your needs. The balloon squeal sound should fade in over the overall sound and not be present throughout the entirety of the sound unless it suits the visuals. For more realistic sound the actual squeal should be just like a background sound to the overall effect (less is more) – add EQ and a little bit of reverb and voila, tire screech.
– Thomas Harris