The Theory of Sound
Sound is the vibration of air from a physical motion like a sound generator, loudspeakers [1]. There are many reasons to why a sound can sound so high pitched, loud, metallic, biological, why it can be quick like a clap or long like a symbol. They are measured in the frequency of waves which measures its pitch, Hz [2], and measure the intensity, or loudness, of sound in decibels (dB) [3]. Understanding these things as a sound engineer, sound technician, Foley artist will be essential so as they can manipulate sound in many different ways to get a desired sound for a certain action whether in a film or a game.
The Psychology of Sound
Sound gives clarity and further meaning with not only what is seen on a screen but in our real world. Everything you expect to make a sound normally does from typing on a keyboard, the hum of my PC, the vacuum downstairs,muffled words spoken aloud, washing dishes and even the most subtle and unnoticeable sounds like the outside wind. This makes everything more real and increases that sense of immersion even by the slightest. Because we block out or don't notice sounds in real life it makes it even harder to notice non-diegetic sounds visually on screen and makes us appreciate that effort less. Though making it subtle and unnoticeable as just background makes it feel more realistic because if you remove the basic and quietest sounds that you might not even known was there that can drop that level of immersion that makes the game feel like its really there rather than being aware that both world are separate.
Though arguably all sounds can make you immersed into a world that most likely won't be the reason behind some sounds which would be used to invoke a certain emotion or feeling from an action or sequence displayed on screen. This is very effective in storytelling as sound can create the intensity and help you understand the gravity of the situation. Like in many multiplayer shooters your always hearing heavy gun fire, how close that gun fire sounds can be very helpful and quite alarming if it sounded like it was aimed at you as your not always aware of the shooter. In New Vegas' Mohave Desert its extremely derelict with the only sound being the occasional wind and your own footsteps against the sandy ground and that's if you don't have your radio on. This is very effective in making those feel like they're actually alone in the wasteland but make you quite surprised when you hear a sudden Botfly buzzing near by or a gecko dashing towards you.
When you do turn on that radio that feeling does changes but doesn't get worse because it lets you hear classic songs played over from very early 20th century as the setting is a world that never evolved past a 1930s US which gives this whole different feeling of sounding like real a rock and roll/country world. Music is much more noticeable in the gaming medium than actual sounds because you sometimes notice when it starts because whatever before would be dialogue or natural ambience and that music would make you get into the motions of the game. Almost all games have music to support the game and triple A titles have music for every sequence of the game possibly even composing there own music. In early film sound and Foley where not possible at the time but music was so people played music in time with the silent films as films looked to dark or comical when it wasn't supposed to be. The same cannot be said for video games as sound came first before music like that of Pong[4] having two electronic sounds from a chip, though it didn't take long to incorporate music into video games long after this. It is easier to understand music because it creates passionate emotions and sounds to make the experience more real and alive. You can have one without the other but in most cases they both work best together when timed right to emphasize a desired reaction and emotion from the player.
Game Music
The video games music can work in many different ways whether you control it in game like the car radio in GTA or the on cue epic music when fighting a dragon in Skyrim. The second option is most common as the developers of the game want to heighten the experience with a specific composition of music. Now we see that games use different types of music to each other for obvious reasons; Super Mario was uses playful music whereas almost all other serious shooters use intense action music to increase that adrenaline we feel while 'running and gunning'. In away the player does control when all the music in most games are played as most music is played when your in a certain state or sequence in the game. The original Assassin's Creed, high and low profiles were introduced as two different states the character could be in the open world game. High profile initiated a really intense orchestra very suddenly to which had the effect of making the player feel very frightened as this would be associated with many soldiers coming to attack you or chase you so you'd had to rush into hiding ASAP or fight a hoard of soldiers for 10 minutes. These kind of effects are possible to to make the player do something without hand-holding all the time and help them react quicker to the actions in the game. Not only is music effective in gameplay segments but also when booting up Street Fighter, it goes straight into some electric rock music that would raise your dopamine because the music is not subtle at all blowing your eardrums from the get go, showing that music can also be used to introduce the game and its intensity giving you an idea of what to expect.
Creating the Audio Environment
Creating an environment with sound is key for games with 'over-worlds', free-roaming games, because there may not always be music to fill in the time while the player decides to wander, and the silence will break the players attention from what is on screen. Creating such sounds as: ambience, bustling of people, cry of animals, soft breezes and don't forget the character's own footsteps. These create an atmosphere just like in the way the music and visuals can and they all support each other. When played all together the experience is seamless and create the experience that the devs want the player to have.
Sources of Sound and Associated Legal Issues
Of course whether if creating your own original score will be cheaper than buying licensed music can be tough especially if you don't know whats right for your game. Knowing what type of music you want for your game is key and having a specific style for that game rather than having a broad range of music can be easier and better define the music in that game. Though using licensed music or sound libraries, as it might be better than to travel to another country and record, would require that that rights holder gets royalties off the games similar to a cut of every game sold with the use of that sound or have a one-off payment like that of talent and staff. Indie developers with little money or manpower would most likely use this rather than creating their own foley and music as they might not have the sophisticated sound equipment or travel money that the major publishers provide.
Sound is the vibration of air from a physical motion like a sound generator, loudspeakers [1]. There are many reasons to why a sound can sound so high pitched, loud, metallic, biological, why it can be quick like a clap or long like a symbol. They are measured in the frequency of waves which measures its pitch, Hz [2], and measure the intensity, or loudness, of sound in decibels (dB) [3]. Understanding these things as a sound engineer, sound technician, Foley artist will be essential so as they can manipulate sound in many different ways to get a desired sound for a certain action whether in a film or a game.
The Psychology of Sound
Sound gives clarity and further meaning with not only what is seen on a screen but in our real world. Everything you expect to make a sound normally does from typing on a keyboard, the hum of my PC, the vacuum downstairs,muffled words spoken aloud, washing dishes and even the most subtle and unnoticeable sounds like the outside wind. This makes everything more real and increases that sense of immersion even by the slightest. Because we block out or don't notice sounds in real life it makes it even harder to notice non-diegetic sounds visually on screen and makes us appreciate that effort less. Though making it subtle and unnoticeable as just background makes it feel more realistic because if you remove the basic and quietest sounds that you might not even known was there that can drop that level of immersion that makes the game feel like its really there rather than being aware that both world are separate.
Though arguably all sounds can make you immersed into a world that most likely won't be the reason behind some sounds which would be used to invoke a certain emotion or feeling from an action or sequence displayed on screen. This is very effective in storytelling as sound can create the intensity and help you understand the gravity of the situation. Like in many multiplayer shooters your always hearing heavy gun fire, how close that gun fire sounds can be very helpful and quite alarming if it sounded like it was aimed at you as your not always aware of the shooter. In New Vegas' Mohave Desert its extremely derelict with the only sound being the occasional wind and your own footsteps against the sandy ground and that's if you don't have your radio on. This is very effective in making those feel like they're actually alone in the wasteland but make you quite surprised when you hear a sudden Botfly buzzing near by or a gecko dashing towards you.
When you do turn on that radio that feeling does changes but doesn't get worse because it lets you hear classic songs played over from very early 20th century as the setting is a world that never evolved past a 1930s US which gives this whole different feeling of sounding like real a rock and roll/country world. Music is much more noticeable in the gaming medium than actual sounds because you sometimes notice when it starts because whatever before would be dialogue or natural ambience and that music would make you get into the motions of the game. Almost all games have music to support the game and triple A titles have music for every sequence of the game possibly even composing there own music. In early film sound and Foley where not possible at the time but music was so people played music in time with the silent films as films looked to dark or comical when it wasn't supposed to be. The same cannot be said for video games as sound came first before music like that of Pong[4] having two electronic sounds from a chip, though it didn't take long to incorporate music into video games long after this. It is easier to understand music because it creates passionate emotions and sounds to make the experience more real and alive. You can have one without the other but in most cases they both work best together when timed right to emphasize a desired reaction and emotion from the player.
Game Music
The video games music can work in many different ways whether you control it in game like the car radio in GTA or the on cue epic music when fighting a dragon in Skyrim. The second option is most common as the developers of the game want to heighten the experience with a specific composition of music. Now we see that games use different types of music to each other for obvious reasons; Super Mario was uses playful music whereas almost all other serious shooters use intense action music to increase that adrenaline we feel while 'running and gunning'. In away the player does control when all the music in most games are played as most music is played when your in a certain state or sequence in the game. The original Assassin's Creed, high and low profiles were introduced as two different states the character could be in the open world game. High profile initiated a really intense orchestra very suddenly to which had the effect of making the player feel very frightened as this would be associated with many soldiers coming to attack you or chase you so you'd had to rush into hiding ASAP or fight a hoard of soldiers for 10 minutes. These kind of effects are possible to to make the player do something without hand-holding all the time and help them react quicker to the actions in the game. Not only is music effective in gameplay segments but also when booting up Street Fighter, it goes straight into some electric rock music that would raise your dopamine because the music is not subtle at all blowing your eardrums from the get go, showing that music can also be used to introduce the game and its intensity giving you an idea of what to expect.
Creating the Audio Environment
Creating an environment with sound is key for games with 'over-worlds', free-roaming games, because there may not always be music to fill in the time while the player decides to wander, and the silence will break the players attention from what is on screen. Creating such sounds as: ambience, bustling of people, cry of animals, soft breezes and don't forget the character's own footsteps. These create an atmosphere just like in the way the music and visuals can and they all support each other. When played all together the experience is seamless and create the experience that the devs want the player to have.
Sources of Sound and Associated Legal Issues
Of course whether if creating your own original score will be cheaper than buying licensed music can be tough especially if you don't know whats right for your game. Knowing what type of music you want for your game is key and having a specific style for that game rather than having a broad range of music can be easier and better define the music in that game. Though using licensed music or sound libraries, as it might be better than to travel to another country and record, would require that that rights holder gets royalties off the games similar to a cut of every game sold with the use of that sound or have a one-off payment like that of talent and staff. Indie developers with little money or manpower would most likely use this rather than creating their own foley and music as they might not have the sophisticated sound equipment or travel money that the major publishers provide.
Ref. No. | Time & Date | URL or source |
[1] [2] [3] [4] | 14:14 28/02/15 14:16 28/02/15 14:18 28/02/15 21:47 03/03/15 |