Unit 73 - Sound

Unit 73 - Sound:

Aircon
white noise
ocean

  • Sounds are made from sine waves.
  • The medium is the air.
Wave length = from one starting point to another same point
Wave length is measured in frequency/Hz (how frequent it occurs)
Amplitude is measured in Lambda
Human's can hear from 20 Hz - 20 KHz
Image result for high frequency and low frequency wavesImage result for lambda symbol






Waves lengths = how many times you hear it per second, if you hear something 500 times in a second then its 500Hz

Middle 'C' Hz = 261Hz

Violin
Piano

 Timbre = Tone Colour (quality of the sound)
Vibrations of harmonics at the same time producing the pitch.
Timbre (tone quality, color) is what differentiates two sounds in the same frequency (same note). For example, the Do (C) note played in a guitar has a really different sound of a Do (C) when played in keyboard or flute. This means that these instruments have different timbres.
timbre of the instruments

Loudness = level of sound. Measured in dBs.
Voice = 5.5PPM
SFX  = 4.5PPM
Music = 3.5PPM

Avoid Distortion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40aU-YkNDHw here is an example of distortion in a audio clip.


Sound source = pressing of a key, your feet steeping on a surface which can be used in Foley etc...

Footstep Foley - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eobm9HzVnvI
Game Sound designers - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udQOi5cgIqo
League of legends showcase of voice lines and game sounds - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-7H0GrQOlw

in the league of legends clip above lots of game sounds have been used to create some music however this video is a great way to display loads of the games sounds, for example it have some of the weapon attack sounds which would've been created using foley and there are other sfx sounds in there too, these sounds would've probably been recorded in a foley studio and then edited using specialist software, such as audacity, https://wabisabisound.com/services/, this link here is to wabi sabi sounds they create sound, music and other audio services for game companies they have produced the audio for the opening cut scene for COD Modern Warfare 2, they have also produced all of the music for farmville, they use professional grade recording hardware and some of the best recording software money can buy to produce the best quality sound for video games in the game sound designers video above there are examples of their work.


Purpose of game sound-

  • Atmosphere
  • immersive (gun needs sound)
  • brings game to life
  • Sound to force player to feel
  • Character definition
  • Inform Player
Examples of game audio:
Psychology:

Sounds need to be balanced

What sounds do you need to create calm:
Music- for the music this will be the background setting to create a calm atmosphere 
high pitch
major key

SFX - the sound effects of the trees and birds will make the scene feel a lot more immersive which will make them feel more calm
leafs rustling - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVFasUmGztw
birds tweeting - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMWeQWGla0Y

Voice - then having a calming voice, like gandalf, it will calm the player more
calm warm voices https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dG2UO2F0iY4


Audio environment link:
https://educwaac-my.sharepoint.com/:w:/g/personal/415211_edu_cwa_ac_uk/EaoAXeQH9yRGnzNt_0RpgcIB60d93CALTRlHTe7lxFSsFw?e=WbPSeY

League of Legends audio environment:

I-nterface = ping sounds in league of legends, the menu sounds in the shop when you buy items https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSmCwy1eqSk
E-ffect = Spells effects https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtTm8Zh5UPE
Z-one = Ambient jungle sounds https://youtu.be/JoM1YxRCLDM?t=117
A-ffect = DJ Sona's background music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgLTNCMzd9Y

One of the main sound designers for league is Adam Swanson.
http://www.adamkswanson.com/work
On this link you can see all of his work to do with the game.

Sound sources:

  • Company source library (buy)
  • Foley (buy)
  • Voice acting (buy)
  • Software - Audacity, logic, garage band, adobe audition
I - i would source the sound for interface through sound libraries because i could find lots of basic sounds which would work well in a H.U.D https://sonniss.com/sound-effects/

E - i would use foley do source the effects for the game https://wabisabisound.com/services/

Z - for zone i would also use a sound library to source the background sound for my game

Image result for cardioid microphone- Cardioid microphone:
  • Rifle mic
  • Shot Gun
  • 416
  • sm58






Image result for bidirectional microphone- Bidirectional microphone (front and back) interviewer/interviewee 
Image result for omnidirectional microphone-Omnidirectional microphone (records all around it)
Image result for microphone cardioid omnidirectional bidirectional

Room sizes:
Ideal dimensions for recording rooms can be calculated by using the following ratios: #1 Small rooms> Height=1, length=1.6, width=1.25. In other words, to build a small music studio, the ceiling should be 10 feet, the width 12 1/2 feet and the length 16 feet.

How to record game music:


  • Plan
  • Room
  • Chairs which don't produce sound
  • Software
  • Instruments directly connected to computer
  • Sm58 Microphone to record vocals
  • Lyrics
  • Vocalist
Sound files for game:

Lossless:
  • .wav (PC friendly)
  • .aif (MAC)
  • .flac
Lossy:
  • ac3 (lossy/Dolby 2.0)
  • .mp3
  • .ogg

Limitations:
  • Time
  • Money
  • Brain
Hardware:
  • R.A.M - 32Gb
  • C.P.U - AMD thread-ripper 2
  • Hardrive (S.S.D)
Software:
  • Gamemaker
  • pro tools
  • Antivirus
  • Adobe
  • Pro Tools
  • Logic
G.D Speaker:
  • Bose
  • WharfeDale
  • Denon
Small = Tweeter (high frequency/trebble)
Medium = Mid-range speaker 
Large = Whoofer (low frequency/Bass)

Headphones:
  • Razer
  • Steel series
  • Corssair
  • etc...
Bad headphones = bad immersion (Sony - V150 Headphones)
Good headphones = good immersion (Astro a50)

Good speaker and headphones avoid distortion.

Size matters:
  • Lossless = under 500Mb
  • Lossy = under 50Mb




If i wanted to capture a gun shot for foley i would record it with a cardioid microphone so that i only get that one specific sound, this will export a .flac, once it's recorded i'll check the sound on WharfeDale speakers to check if it needs to be recorded again, then it'll be edited in pro tools and then it will be put into adobe media encoder where it will then be compressed to a .mp3.

Legal issues:

  • Copyright
  • PEGI rating
GTA V - PEGI rating = GTA 5 is rated for players 18 years of age or older, according to PEGI, Europe's video games ratings system.

GTA uses explicit language such as racist and other bad language.

The ESRB's ratings page for GTA 5 lists its potentially objectionable material as including: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Mature Humor, Nudity, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, and Use of Drugs and Alcohol.


Retail stores are not supposed to sell games to youths younger than a game's rating without express consent from a parent or guardian.

GTA advise that children should not play this game because of all of the points above. for example above some of the example material is things like strong language and intense violence and the sound which is associated to this also adds to the rating

Voice:

  • U - 'Infrequent use only of very mild bad language'
  • PG - 'Mild bad language only'
  • 12A/12 - 'Moderate language is allowed. The use of strong language (for example, ‘fuck’) must be infrequent'
  • 15 - 'There may be frequent use of strong language (for example, ‘fuck’). The strongest terms (for example, ‘cunt’) may be acceptable if justified by the context. Aggressive or repeated use of the strongest language is unlikely to be acceptable'.
  • 18 - No constraints on language

Effects:

  • With effects this includes things such as the sound effects behind strong violence, such as hitting someone on the head with a shovel or the sound of stabbing something.
  • What is the overall attitude of the film towards violence?
  • What is the dramatic context of the violence?
  • Is the violence perpetrated by the hero or villain?
  • Are there consequences or rewards for the violence?
  • How is the violence treated?
  • Is there undue emphasis on weapons?
  • Is it prolonged?
  • Are there frequent close-ups?
  • Is it stylised eg slow motion, soundtrack, editing, and do these techniques accentuate the images or restrain their impact?
  • How much do we see of process, e.g. blows, bullet impacts, blood spurts, etc and effects, e.g. injuries, bodies, forensic detail etc?
  • What is the viewer’s relationship to what is shown?
  • Do we identify with victim or aggressor?
  • Are we repelled or excited by the violence?
  • What is the power relationship between victim and aggressor?
  • Is there an element of torture/sadism?
  • Does the amendment to the Video Recordings Act apply (harm to viewer or to society through viewer’s behaviour)?

Music:

  • Is the music copyrighted of include offensive language.
Rock band The Romantics filed a lawsuit against Activision over the use of their song “What I Like About You” in Guitar Hero Encore, Rocks the 80s in 2007. Despite giving Activision written permission to use a cover version of the song, the Detroit-based band claims that the song used in the video game sounded too much like their original. A Detroit federal judge sided with Activision under the license agreement the company had acquired from the rock band.

(1) - Technical sound
(2) - Psychology of player
(3) - Audio environment
(4) - Sound sources
(5) - Purpose of music
(6) - Legal issues
(7) - Methodology (peripherals) 
(8) - Compression of gaming audio
(9) - Audio limitations on different platforms
(10) - Recording systems (software)





Comments

  1. Very well detailed page, I've learned a lot from that. Thank you Harry, very cool

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