Audio Theater - Breaking Glass

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Breaking Glass

Break Glass at your own risk.

As the saying goes, if you want an omelet, you gotta crack some eggs. If you are going to create audio theater, then sooner or later you are going to need to break some glass.
The wooden knob on the under side of the door actually applies the pressure to the thin glass which is supported on a ledge located below the top of the box.

The trick is to design a breaking box that is safe, contains the shards, and is easy to transport. Always use extreme caution when breaking glass.
Leaving previously broken pieces in the box adds more clink as the new pieces fall.
Box by Daniel Taylor, Atlanta, GA.

A different approach to breaking glass.
(Oskar Hofer - Pot Luck Players)

Henry Howard goes over the procedure
with Helen Ann Lummus.

I have moved away from using the top door to break the glass as it adds to the noise when the door meets the rest of the box. I have shifted to using a long screwdriver which sits in a small hole in the top of the box, on the glass inside read to break on cue.

I buy my glass at my local Ace hardware. Since only one of my dimensions needs to be reasonably close, I pull from their scrap pile of leftovers. Cut the glass for the support width, and don't worry about the other dimension as long as it goes in the box. Since most of this glass is scrap they will not sell, I can usually negotiate a pile for $5 - 10.

Break Glass at your own risk.

Foley (1) Foley Doors (2) Other Devices (3) and more (4) Breaking Glass

Return to SFX main page.

As the saying goes, if you want an omelet, you gotta crack some eggs. If you are going to create audio theater, then sooner or later you are going to need to break some glass. The wooden knob on the under side of the door actually applies the pressure to the thin glass which is supported on a ledge located below the top of the box.

	The trick is to design a breaking box that is safe, contains the shards, and is easy to transport. Always use extreme caution when breaking glass. Leaving previously broken pieces in the box adds more clink as the new pieces fall. Box by Daniel Taylor, Atlanta, GA.
A different approach to breaking glass. (Oskar Hofer - Pot Luck Players)	Henry Howard goes over the procedure with Helen Ann Lummus.
I have moved away from using the top door to break the glass as it adds to the noise when the door meets the rest of the box. I have shifted to using a long screwdriver which sits in a small hole in the top of the box, on the glass inside read to break on cue.
I buy my glass at my local Ace hardware. Since only one of my dimensions needs to be reasonably close, I pull from their scrap pile of leftovers. Cut the glass for the support width, and don't worry about the other dimension as long as it goes in the box. Since most of this glass is scrap they will not sell, I can usually negotiate a pile for $5 - 10.