Audacity is a very useful sound editor and is very capable of editing sounds to a high level being able to change equalisation, reverb, pitch which are some of over 20 different effects. I used it today to practice using it for our Foley and dialogue for our video game task sound design task. Recording some dialogue and editing in any random way to create an effect like higher pitch for example. the software is very simplistic and quick as cutting and editing sounds just requires a simple highlighting a specific part audio. Audacity is free which is useful for use at home so I can get more work done after school. Though it doesn't have the full capability of Logic Pro and the work must be handed in as Logic Projects.
Here I used Audacity to record some dialogue going around the room. for both of them i just messed around with the equalisation mostly, because i had specific goal, and made it sound like they were being heard behind a door or something similar.
Here I used Audacity to record some dialogue going around the room. for both of them i just messed around with the equalisation mostly, because i had specific goal, and made it sound like they were being heard behind a door or something similar.
Statement of Intentions
I have three video games to create original sound design for which I have already recorded Foley for most of the needed sounds. each will have it's own style because of the type of game, environment and colour of the game and the meeting the audiences and clients needs.
To be specific Fallout: New Vegas is a very gritty game and the setting is desolate deserts and dark corridors. I chose some music and my director advised one specifically for the game which is somewhat slow rises in intensity which fit really well with the flow of the game. I've created much more Foley sounds for Fallout than the other two because this one seemed the most tricky to create sounds for so I experimented and tried thinking of ways I could make particular sounds with what I had. Fire and cliche scanning sounds were the trickiest. I hope to make the Foley emphasise each action and movement as well as make it realistic and not overly noticeable because the sounds must come off as seamless to create an immersive experience.
Fight Night and Super Mario Brothers I've taken less lengths to create Foley because I believe that the sounds are simplistic, linear and straight forward. Fight Night Champion is simple as the basic non-action sounds are just the crowd and dialogue that commentates mostly it won't be very hard to put those in the game and their aren't many other sounds that aren't orientated with the fighting game.
In my directors meeting we discussed the age ratings for the games which shapes our target audience and also about the style or tone of the games to aim for that target audience. With Fallout I suggested 18 rating because of the extreme violence that could be simulated in the game. This markets the game to adults only ranging from ages of 18 to mid 30s men because the game is dark gritty and a realistic interpretation of a post apocalyptic world. Its an action fantasy so the sounds of the game should suit the dark and desolate world. Meaning all sounds should sound realistic and true to form but I'll want to make it emphasise the atmosphere with music and ambience to create tension and the eeriness to suits the dark colours.
Fight Night is a boxing game that lets you play as a fighter. The age rating is 16 because it wouldn't suit a younger audience because parents don't want to inspire a such a bashful nature at a young age. But you can actually start boxing around 16 so this would make sense. The game would be aimed at young adults and maybe older ones as well as fans of the sport. this audience shows that we need to make a satisfying sounds to fit the punches etc. but also make it realistic to to appease the real sports fans, and because this is meant to simulate real boxing. By satisfying sounds I mean emphasized punches that are a little louder and intense than you'd expect this feels very tense and gives you different feeling whether giving or receiving the punch.
Mario is easy to determine as age 3 and up. Nintendo uses Mario as the face of their company and Nintendo normally steers toward a family crowd when creating most of their titles. Mario franchise has always been available to been played by all ages. It's very colourful with lots of bright and colourful sounds to the jumping, coins, music, etc.
Mixing Fallout New Vegas
I Recorded much more Foley for Fallout over the other games because I believed that there were many different sounds that are to be had in the game e.g. footsteps, various fire sounds, scanning, gun shots, dynamite, etc. Music was chosen well early into preproduction but had to be cut up as it was considerably longer than the video and there were certain parts of the piece that I wanted in the game like the intense vocals at the end. I fortunately was able to use most of my Foley with the only sourced sound being the music.
I experimented with effects and EQ a lot to make the sounds fit into the environment created by the game to make it most realistic. I experimented mostly with Pitchshifter to get the right sound for it to fit the item its attached too and the way it would sound in the surrounding area, in this case a hallway. changed most of the tracks with equalisation with the exception of the music. The Foley sounds were very raw so I had to experiment for a while to get the right sound and believed that i could make a better sound that I already had, which had me spending a lot of time doing this. When I only I felt a point at which I am only making the sound worse then I'd used that version as the 'peak' version that, I anyway, believed could be the best possible sound produced. the dynamite was a little tougher because I had only used my voice for that which was an almost terrible sound originally but with Distortion I hoped to make it less noticeable. I only used Space Designer as the only reverb for the game but only mixing the sound of the fire but not for the 'echoey' effect rather just to adjust the fire for more realistic sound. rather than using the space designer for the footsteps to show the sound bouncing around the walls I used Channel EQ as space designer was much to loud the reverb to strong. EQ was much more subtle.
The music fits well with the timing as when the player gets burned considerably by the enemy character the tempo and intensity picks up to signify that you are injured and at risk of dying. The orchestral is very natural sound that is often used as background music for many mediums and fit into different tones which means its good for different tones. Calm, horror, joyful and exciting. It goes into these very easily and can even use the same melodies and harmonies throughout these changes.
I did not make any dialogue as I only limited dialogue to one of my three games. Though dialogue could have very well have been used in this game for both the main characters voice, like heavy breathing or cursing, and the hostile enemies which would call out to or curse at you.
I did have recorded ambience but chose not to add this because with the footsteps there was always somewhat of a sense of ambience. I can only imagine adding ambience during when the game is very calm and quiet in an abandoned building or desert area and fill up lack of music, though music plays throughout this gameplay so ambience wouldn't fit in this situation.
Timing sound to visuals with the SMYPTE Time Code is extremely easy because it uses frames as well as seconds. Using frames to sync up sounds is easy as grabbing onto the frame of the SYMPTE TimeCode and dragging it up or down makes the video move at the rate you want to find the the perfect of where the SFX would sound best and most accurate. In the case of this game this was most helpful with the gunshots and the scanning as these was much more precise than footsteps or fire.
I have three video games to create original sound design for which I have already recorded Foley for most of the needed sounds. each will have it's own style because of the type of game, environment and colour of the game and the meeting the audiences and clients needs.
To be specific Fallout: New Vegas is a very gritty game and the setting is desolate deserts and dark corridors. I chose some music and my director advised one specifically for the game which is somewhat slow rises in intensity which fit really well with the flow of the game. I've created much more Foley sounds for Fallout than the other two because this one seemed the most tricky to create sounds for so I experimented and tried thinking of ways I could make particular sounds with what I had. Fire and cliche scanning sounds were the trickiest. I hope to make the Foley emphasise each action and movement as well as make it realistic and not overly noticeable because the sounds must come off as seamless to create an immersive experience.
Fight Night and Super Mario Brothers I've taken less lengths to create Foley because I believe that the sounds are simplistic, linear and straight forward. Fight Night Champion is simple as the basic non-action sounds are just the crowd and dialogue that commentates mostly it won't be very hard to put those in the game and their aren't many other sounds that aren't orientated with the fighting game.
In my directors meeting we discussed the age ratings for the games which shapes our target audience and also about the style or tone of the games to aim for that target audience. With Fallout I suggested 18 rating because of the extreme violence that could be simulated in the game. This markets the game to adults only ranging from ages of 18 to mid 30s men because the game is dark gritty and a realistic interpretation of a post apocalyptic world. Its an action fantasy so the sounds of the game should suit the dark and desolate world. Meaning all sounds should sound realistic and true to form but I'll want to make it emphasise the atmosphere with music and ambience to create tension and the eeriness to suits the dark colours.
Fight Night is a boxing game that lets you play as a fighter. The age rating is 16 because it wouldn't suit a younger audience because parents don't want to inspire a such a bashful nature at a young age. But you can actually start boxing around 16 so this would make sense. The game would be aimed at young adults and maybe older ones as well as fans of the sport. this audience shows that we need to make a satisfying sounds to fit the punches etc. but also make it realistic to to appease the real sports fans, and because this is meant to simulate real boxing. By satisfying sounds I mean emphasized punches that are a little louder and intense than you'd expect this feels very tense and gives you different feeling whether giving or receiving the punch.
Mario is easy to determine as age 3 and up. Nintendo uses Mario as the face of their company and Nintendo normally steers toward a family crowd when creating most of their titles. Mario franchise has always been available to been played by all ages. It's very colourful with lots of bright and colourful sounds to the jumping, coins, music, etc.
Mixing Fallout New Vegas
I Recorded much more Foley for Fallout over the other games because I believed that there were many different sounds that are to be had in the game e.g. footsteps, various fire sounds, scanning, gun shots, dynamite, etc. Music was chosen well early into preproduction but had to be cut up as it was considerably longer than the video and there were certain parts of the piece that I wanted in the game like the intense vocals at the end. I fortunately was able to use most of my Foley with the only sourced sound being the music.
I experimented with effects and EQ a lot to make the sounds fit into the environment created by the game to make it most realistic. I experimented mostly with Pitchshifter to get the right sound for it to fit the item its attached too and the way it would sound in the surrounding area, in this case a hallway. changed most of the tracks with equalisation with the exception of the music. The Foley sounds were very raw so I had to experiment for a while to get the right sound and believed that i could make a better sound that I already had, which had me spending a lot of time doing this. When I only I felt a point at which I am only making the sound worse then I'd used that version as the 'peak' version that, I anyway, believed could be the best possible sound produced. the dynamite was a little tougher because I had only used my voice for that which was an almost terrible sound originally but with Distortion I hoped to make it less noticeable. I only used Space Designer as the only reverb for the game but only mixing the sound of the fire but not for the 'echoey' effect rather just to adjust the fire for more realistic sound. rather than using the space designer for the footsteps to show the sound bouncing around the walls I used Channel EQ as space designer was much to loud the reverb to strong. EQ was much more subtle.
The music fits well with the timing as when the player gets burned considerably by the enemy character the tempo and intensity picks up to signify that you are injured and at risk of dying. The orchestral is very natural sound that is often used as background music for many mediums and fit into different tones which means its good for different tones. Calm, horror, joyful and exciting. It goes into these very easily and can even use the same melodies and harmonies throughout these changes.
I did not make any dialogue as I only limited dialogue to one of my three games. Though dialogue could have very well have been used in this game for both the main characters voice, like heavy breathing or cursing, and the hostile enemies which would call out to or curse at you.
I did have recorded ambience but chose not to add this because with the footsteps there was always somewhat of a sense of ambience. I can only imagine adding ambience during when the game is very calm and quiet in an abandoned building or desert area and fill up lack of music, though music plays throughout this gameplay so ambience wouldn't fit in this situation.
Timing sound to visuals with the SMYPTE Time Code is extremely easy because it uses frames as well as seconds. Using frames to sync up sounds is easy as grabbing onto the frame of the SYMPTE TimeCode and dragging it up or down makes the video move at the rate you want to find the the perfect of where the SFX would sound best and most accurate. In the case of this game this was most helpful with the gunshots and the scanning as these was much more precise than footsteps or fire.
Mixing Super Mario Bros.
I didn't record many sounds for Mario so I used all the sourced sound i could use for anything I couldn't make with the Foley I already had. This included: the music, the sliding and the spinning propeller sound. I reused sounds a lot like the mushroom jingle for various different things. Despite not having enough original sounds it wasn't as though I couldn't recreate the sound with what I had. I often stretched, cut, and added effects to change up the sounds and not have to record more sounds after due time.
Some sounds were much harder to mix than others like the jump sound. This I used Flanger and Distortion though these couldn't make it actually sound like the the actual Mario jumping sound. The Brick was also a similar case as I experimented with many more effects for it because the original sound is just banging against a metal object but I am more content with this one as it more or less suits the action its attached to. The spin effect, though is sourced, was something that fit best in my opinion as when it moved different motions of rising and falling and coming down hard were all similar but fit each one. Pitch Shifter helped change it to fit a propeller sound which its original sound was bubbles. This fits in the childish and colourful nature of the game as actual propeller sounds would bring you way out of the game. th only sound that actually sound true to life are the footsteps and coin, both of which actually are that from the original sound.I reused the footsteps from fallout and didn't edit it much at all because making this sound 'funny' or 'wacky' like the other sounds would be more irritating and also sounds better and fits naturally this way. the coin Foley came from flipping a coin on to a hollow metal object which was very satisfying sound and I felt didn't need much editing to improve on. being asked to make an original coin sound I am very pleased with the result.
The music, like Fallout's music, was much too long to fit in the game as well as there being different transitions in the game because Mario moves to a new stage towards the end and the song doesn't play the whole way through because of this. Playing only until Mari reaches the top of the flag pole at the end of the level. then the mushroom jingle is played during the 'course cleared'. music also plays in the sort 'level select area' but the song is the same so it doesn't show much variety as well as the same song in the next level. i chose not to put music during the black transitions between each place as it wouldn't seem like it was needed and would dilute the song track even more.
Syncing was much more noticeable in this one rather than Fallout as this one had much more defined movements like the running and jumping. In the second and third track shows the running and jumping being in time with the movements and fits perfectly. I even changed the rate of the steps depending on how fast the character was moving. which was tricky as this took quite a bit of adjusting but important to the player so they can better perceive their movements in the game.
I didn't record many sounds for Mario so I used all the sourced sound i could use for anything I couldn't make with the Foley I already had. This included: the music, the sliding and the spinning propeller sound. I reused sounds a lot like the mushroom jingle for various different things. Despite not having enough original sounds it wasn't as though I couldn't recreate the sound with what I had. I often stretched, cut, and added effects to change up the sounds and not have to record more sounds after due time.
Some sounds were much harder to mix than others like the jump sound. This I used Flanger and Distortion though these couldn't make it actually sound like the the actual Mario jumping sound. The Brick was also a similar case as I experimented with many more effects for it because the original sound is just banging against a metal object but I am more content with this one as it more or less suits the action its attached to. The spin effect, though is sourced, was something that fit best in my opinion as when it moved different motions of rising and falling and coming down hard were all similar but fit each one. Pitch Shifter helped change it to fit a propeller sound which its original sound was bubbles. This fits in the childish and colourful nature of the game as actual propeller sounds would bring you way out of the game. th only sound that actually sound true to life are the footsteps and coin, both of which actually are that from the original sound.I reused the footsteps from fallout and didn't edit it much at all because making this sound 'funny' or 'wacky' like the other sounds would be more irritating and also sounds better and fits naturally this way. the coin Foley came from flipping a coin on to a hollow metal object which was very satisfying sound and I felt didn't need much editing to improve on. being asked to make an original coin sound I am very pleased with the result.
The music, like Fallout's music, was much too long to fit in the game as well as there being different transitions in the game because Mario moves to a new stage towards the end and the song doesn't play the whole way through because of this. Playing only until Mari reaches the top of the flag pole at the end of the level. then the mushroom jingle is played during the 'course cleared'. music also plays in the sort 'level select area' but the song is the same so it doesn't show much variety as well as the same song in the next level. i chose not to put music during the black transitions between each place as it wouldn't seem like it was needed and would dilute the song track even more.
Syncing was much more noticeable in this one rather than Fallout as this one had much more defined movements like the running and jumping. In the second and third track shows the running and jumping being in time with the movements and fits perfectly. I even changed the rate of the steps depending on how fast the character was moving. which was tricky as this took quite a bit of adjusting but important to the player so they can better perceive their movements in the game.
Fight Night Champion
Most of the Foley creation was various different punching sounds so i could choose which would sound the best on its own before editing. Most of the punching Foley was unused but as they sounded too much like a slap rather than a glove. Fortunately I did have a selection of punching sounds that did sound very much like how it should. I really didn't record much Foley other than a ring bell, 'On Location' footsteps, and clothes ruffling. I also signed a peer of mine to do voice work with myself as commentators of the fight.
The most satisfying part of this game was putting in the punch sounds as this sounded the best and closest to the actual thing out of all the Foley I have recorded. To most of these sounds I left untouched but the punches as it could have sounded in more crisp though not by much. I didn't use just one punch sound as this would have sounded like the same punch over and over again. And because I had quite a few I just used a different sound every punch and would just do that over if i ran out of punch sounds which I believed mad every punch different and non-repetitive. another feature I added which is very subtle is the ruffling of the clothes which is especially noticeable when the fighter move around a lot. I made the ruffling play over the entire round and raised the sound, with automation, during parts when the fighters side-step a lot. Another thing I tried was putting in the footsteps which you see in the third to last row but cannot be heard a when i tried to raise it didn't really fit. I felt like I should have put something during when the blue fighter was in the corner, besides commentary, but with time and not having any more sounds that would go there, there wasn't much to do.
No music was included as it would seem very out of place during an actual fight as this could cover up the commentary of the fight, and plus the fact that music isn't really played during actual boxing fights. Instead commentators comment on the fight with various remarks about the fighters and the fight in real time. At the beginning I had them talk about the fighters to introduce the first round and then comment on their fighting during that round.
Syncing the punches was something that was very precise and there was even punches that were almost simultaneous or too close to fit into on track so I made a second track for punches in this case.
Most of the Foley creation was various different punching sounds so i could choose which would sound the best on its own before editing. Most of the punching Foley was unused but as they sounded too much like a slap rather than a glove. Fortunately I did have a selection of punching sounds that did sound very much like how it should. I really didn't record much Foley other than a ring bell, 'On Location' footsteps, and clothes ruffling. I also signed a peer of mine to do voice work with myself as commentators of the fight.
The most satisfying part of this game was putting in the punch sounds as this sounded the best and closest to the actual thing out of all the Foley I have recorded. To most of these sounds I left untouched but the punches as it could have sounded in more crisp though not by much. I didn't use just one punch sound as this would have sounded like the same punch over and over again. And because I had quite a few I just used a different sound every punch and would just do that over if i ran out of punch sounds which I believed mad every punch different and non-repetitive. another feature I added which is very subtle is the ruffling of the clothes which is especially noticeable when the fighter move around a lot. I made the ruffling play over the entire round and raised the sound, with automation, during parts when the fighters side-step a lot. Another thing I tried was putting in the footsteps which you see in the third to last row but cannot be heard a when i tried to raise it didn't really fit. I felt like I should have put something during when the blue fighter was in the corner, besides commentary, but with time and not having any more sounds that would go there, there wasn't much to do.
No music was included as it would seem very out of place during an actual fight as this could cover up the commentary of the fight, and plus the fact that music isn't really played during actual boxing fights. Instead commentators comment on the fight with various remarks about the fighters and the fight in real time. At the beginning I had them talk about the fighters to introduce the first round and then comment on their fighting during that round.
Syncing the punches was something that was very precise and there was even punches that were almost simultaneous or too close to fit into on track so I made a second track for punches in this case.
When managing this entire process time wasn't something I particularly payed attention to, though I might have been able to juggle this and another project better, It didn't really affect the quality of the sound design meaning I didn't pay attention to the schedule that I had planned out. It wasn't as though I had to re-record missing sounds so Following this schedule wouldn't have really helped.
Other things like risk management wasn't something I looked out for because all the post-production work was on a computer which poses no threat to me or anyone else.
Saving and naming the Logic files was important as remembering and saving the files on the school network made it easy to access the work on different computers so I didn't have to save it on my ow storage device or be limited to one computer.
I didn't keep a consistent diary on my blog of all the edits I did when working on the sound design which would have been more detailed than it is now but rather just worked on my video game the whole way through.
On my final product for each game I believe I did meet the requirements of both the audience and director very well. All sounds for each game suits the game and audience as the sounds to both Fight Night and Fallout are realistic for its audience of older crowd and Mario having more colourful, wacky sounds. Even Fallout has some intense gameplay with the added music and use of fire to bring the mood. Fight Night punches sounded like it had weight to every landed punch and movements was more noticeable with added ruffling sounds. Throughout the editing process most of the post production skills I used was all experimental and guess work using any familiar effect on a sound if I thought it could help. Workflow was good as each lesson I spent a lot of time editing, experimenting and syncing sounds to the video so it will sound good and how I expected it to sound.
Other things like risk management wasn't something I looked out for because all the post-production work was on a computer which poses no threat to me or anyone else.
Saving and naming the Logic files was important as remembering and saving the files on the school network made it easy to access the work on different computers so I didn't have to save it on my ow storage device or be limited to one computer.
I didn't keep a consistent diary on my blog of all the edits I did when working on the sound design which would have been more detailed than it is now but rather just worked on my video game the whole way through.
On my final product for each game I believe I did meet the requirements of both the audience and director very well. All sounds for each game suits the game and audience as the sounds to both Fight Night and Fallout are realistic for its audience of older crowd and Mario having more colourful, wacky sounds. Even Fallout has some intense gameplay with the added music and use of fire to bring the mood. Fight Night punches sounded like it had weight to every landed punch and movements was more noticeable with added ruffling sounds. Throughout the editing process most of the post production skills I used was all experimental and guess work using any familiar effect on a sound if I thought it could help. Workflow was good as each lesson I spent a lot of time editing, experimenting and syncing sounds to the video so it will sound good and how I expected it to sound.