We here at DS have finally made tough decisions in our reviewing volunteer applications. We are quite happy with our selections and rather saddened we had to turn away many more people than we were able to accept. With this new blood our goal is to bring more content more regularly and these talented volunteers will help us do so.

Please welcome:

-John D Black

-Comac Donnelly

-Sam Ejnes

-Joshua Kaplan

-Doron Reizes

We are hoping they all do quite well in their new roles here at DesigningSound.org and that they will become permanent content providers in the next few months. We are no longer accepting applicants at this time, but if you are interested in providing a guest article please contact shaun [at] designingsound [dot] org.

Guest Contribution by Matthew Marteinsson

At first listen you can tell Mark of the Ninja is a game with a wide dynamic range. The game is all about being hidden and safe or out in the open with the danger of being seen. A very binary visual contrast between being hidden and visible informs the player clearly which state they are in. When hidden, the player has got time to observe what guards are doing and plan your approach. When they’re spotted, it’s a hurried dash to get back to a hiding spot or take out the threat. So how did the audio support having such big contrasts in gameplay?

My overall audio philosophy with games is your sounds always need to be either world building or player informing. That mindset, combined with a very dynamic gameplay, naturally evolved into a large dynamic range to the audio. One of the first things we did was plan what we were going to do with music. We knew we didn’t want wall to wall, in your face music. What we did want was for the music to signal a state change in gameplay. But we did want to have at least some music for playing the entire game.

We settled on a base level of music as an ambient piece for each world. It is very low key and at times blends into ambient world sounds. That’s our world building/mood setting stuff. Then, if a guard sees you, it kicks into a high energy piece that really lets you know something has happened. If you manage to hide, the guards will continue searching for you for a period of time. During that searching, the music calms down a notch so the player knows they aren’t safe yet. If the player is found during that search, the music cranks up again. If they aren’t, it fades back down to the ambient music level. In some levels, the music is manually raised in intensity when the player has to do something like escape a building before it explodes. All of this helped ensure the player wouldn’t get tired of the music and it could really signal changes in game state to the player.

We only had one special case area in the game where this music template didn’t fit. During one level the ninja needs to navigate through a series of building floors before the power comes back on each floor; turning the lights and alarms back on. For these we created a cue that ran the length of time the player had, with the cue rising in tension and volume the entire time. If the player made it through the floor in time the music faded and started again when they reached the next floor. If they didn’t make it, the cue ran into the start of the high energy music which triggered automatically. That would also reset when the player escaped to the next floor. This worked really well: it informed the player what was going on and gave some nice audio space so the rising music would really mean something.

The dynamics of the sound effects was a bit more subtle, and in some ways just inherently happened due to gameplay. When the player is watching and planning there’s generally not a lot going on: guards walking, lasers humming, idle chatter. Also, the guards are always louder than the ninja since they have foley sounds to their movement…while the ninja has none. He’s such a badass ninja that even his clothes don’t make a sound. When the soundscape does get loud and busy, it’s always when a lot is going on and the player’s planning time is over. Basically, when the game gets loud it’s time for action. Be it killing or running, the player can tell from the volume change they shouldn’t be sitting still anymore. And this ties into the idea that audio should be doing one of two things, in this case informing the player.

The last audio component was speech. The story driven narrative speech was as dynamic as the scene called for, but the guard chatter needed a little more thought put into it. Guards would have different “alert levels” depending on different conditions in the game. If nothing had happened, they would react one way. If they had previously seen the ninja, it would be a different reaction. This resulted in a need for different speech performances for each “alert level”. While this didn’t result in a huge volume change it did have nice toneal changes. With a system like this, we had to be careful we weren’t jumping back and forth between logic levels. At its simplest, it meant we had to be sure to have speech responses for all alert levels for each event type.

Overall, MotN’s sound dynamics were a reaction to a very dynamic gameplay setup. A well made stealth game intrinsically leads to a dynamic soundscape. Audio always has an important role in any game and sometimes that role is to be quiet. If everything is always louder than everything else, the player is just going to tune the audio out. You lose the ability to build an immersive world, or to inform the player of anything. But keep it dynamic and they’ll keep paying attention; and keep immersed in the world you’re giving them. If you don’t have any quiet you don’t know when it’s loud.

Boom Library – Horses

Knights, the Cavalry, the Three Musketeers, Cowboys, Indians, Arnold Schwarzenegger in TRUE LIES: The cool guys sit on horses. Bring these animals to vibrant life with our extensive HORSES SFX library. You get 9 GB of high quality and royalty free SFX of countless horse voices, a mass of Foley sounds, pass-bys and steps in various gaits and different surfaces.

Included with the library, as evidenced by the video above is a playable Kontakt instrument! Head over to the product page on the Boom Library website for further details.

The Recordist – Firearm Foley HD

Introducing Firearm Foley HD Pro Sound Effects Library. This is a massive collection of gun foley sound effects recorded at 24-Bit 96kHz over a five year period here in my North Idaho studio and in the field. Some of the weapons were recorded with two microphones and others with a single microphone. The multiple microphone tracks include a close up extended frequency response version and a medium distant perspective. Most of the weapons were recorded indoors with some extra “outside in the field” recordings.

Check out the site for the full list of weapons included in the library.

Hiss and a Roar – Wet Traffic

While recording this library I became obsessed with my barometer & waited for opportunities to cleanly capture traffic on wet roads immediately after rain. I’ve selected the best material from over ten hours of recordings – many options & densities of traffic are provided, from busy 8am rush hour on a grey Wednesday to spasre passes late on a Sunday night, wet motorway traffic from multiple perspectives (recorded from overbridge, from the side of the motorway, closeup fast passes and wide perspective) as well as single passbys on wet suburban roads. Also included is a compile of bus & track passes, a little boy racer passby selection and a collection of random oddities (horns, brake squeaks etc).

Wet Traffic is available on the Hiss and a Roar website here.

Chuck Russom FX – Violet Rain

Because if the rain were purple, Prince might be upset.  Violet Rain features all-new recordings of actual rain.  Each recording length is between 1:20 and 2:45 for a total of over 14 minutes of all-new rain sounds.  Once again, I’ve drenched myself and my equipment so that you don’t have to.

Sir Russom is also running a little experiment with this library: “Name your own price!” Violet Rain is available here.

Soundmorph – Galactic Assistant

We’ve mentioned this interesting tool in a previous SFX Indpendence, but Soundmorph has decided to make it available outside of the library it is normally bundled with. $19 for a UI synth anyone? Check it out here.

Photo (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) jpmath

We are just under two weeks into Dynamics Month here at DS and I think a fantastic site that has been dealing with this concept is GameAudioMix.com. Founded by the sagacious Rob Bridgett; this simple Tumblr blog has some excellent info about some of the most crucial aspects of game audio design. Some of the most recent posts include; overview of iZotope’s Insight (which we will have out a review of ourselves very soon), a few articles about Wwise’s new HDR feature and even a link to the superb GDC talk about “Game Loudness Industry Standards” which I had the pleasure of seeing with my own eyeballs.

Rob has even put up a article called: “Dynamic Range: The Symptom at the End of the Chain” that ties into our Dynamics Month and you can check out here.

• Disconnect your iLok
• Log in to your account
• Click on “My Licenses” and look down the “Type” column

If any of your licenses have been converted to “Temporary”, then do not update your client software and sync your iLok. If you do, they may fail to authorize when you load them up. If you don’t sync your iLok, all of your authorizations should work normally. Best to wait for official word from Pace, Inc. that the issue has been resolved.

This bug was first brought to my attention by Gearslutz user Simon Morrison. [Forum thread here.] Be sure to thank him for making this public knowledge and, hopefully, preventing a lot of people from experiencing the issues he’s had to deal with.

Technically speaking the same principles are used in audio signal limiting and compression processors but just the transfer curves and envelope follower settings are different. Ultra fast attack rates and high ratio amounts are used for limiting purposes which causes just very few peaks to pass on a certain threshold.

 

In digital implementations limiting processors can be more strict due to look-ahead and clever gain prediction functions which guarantees that no peak information passes the threshold. That is called brickwall limiting then.

Continue Reading here.

Oh…he also has a number of freeware VST plug-ins you can check out too! Descriptions of each plug-in can be found here.

This awesome photo, by Jeff Meyer, is used under a Creative Commons license. Find more of his photos on flickr…username: soundman1024

For June, we’ve chosen to focus on the theme of “Dynamics.” As the title of this post implies, we don’t think of this topic as narrow or specific. There are two obvious directions this theme can go.

We could start a discussion about the use of dynamics processing: compressors, limiters, expanders, or transient enhancers. How do we use these in the design phase to mold a sound? How can we use them in the mix to glue together disparate elements?

We can explore the idea of contrast. There is no light without dark. Similarly, there is no loud without soft. What are the implications of this concept in terms of narrative, manipulating the audience, or the simple difference between holding attention or becoming a distraction?

We have some fertile ground to till this month.

Time for our regular addendum. We are always open to guest contributions. If this topic sparks your scrivener impulses…or implores you to stand up on a soap box…you have a willing audience on this site. Contact shaun[at] designingsound [.] org if you’d like to share your thoughts/experience with the community. We’re also planning to cover acoustics next month; a topic for which we will definitely be seeking assistance.

DS: For our theme on the site this month we’re talking about “time,” and I though it would be interesting to talk about Looper (2012) as a time travel movie and your work on that.

JP: Yeah!

DS: When did you get involved in Looper? Were you asked early on, or was it just in post…?

JP: No. It was just in post, and it turns out that it was a lot later…I guess they had finished shooting about a year before I got started. Just because it was a low budget indie, and they were doing a lot of cutting. It turns out that it was a lot later than I expected.

DS: And what were you asked to bring to the project? Did they have any ideas that wanted to see you work on? Was there anything that you wanted to bring to the film?

JP: Well one of the things I talked to Rian [Johnson] about early on was this concept that I’ve been working with: things evolve within a scene. Just because you have a background track doesn’t mean that it stays the same for the entire time you’re in that scene. Things are constantly changing depending on either the mood of the scene, or the kind of texture that you’re trying to help out with. It’s a slightly musical idea and not necessarily obvious. In reading the script, there was a lot of opportunity for that, especially in all of the different types of locations we’re in…in the cities, or the farm area with all the bugs and different wind and tress…that kind of stuff. That’s one of the things I really wanted to bring to it.

Take, for instance, the Joe scene where Bruce Willis comes in from the future. That was one of those scenes where, originally, it was supposed to have music. That was one of the first scenes they gave me to work on. They said, “We don’t want to do music here. What can you do?” So, I went through and applied that theory…and was able to present it in a way that, in the final, there was no need for music.

DS: The film definitely has a unique feel to it. It’s set in the near future, but it has this melange of elements that are sort of anachronistic to one another. At times it feels like it’s referencing 1940′s or 50′s U.S.A., there are things that feel perfectly in place in our current society, and then there are others that seems decades away or completely fantastical in nature. What kind of challenges did that present?

JP: That was a HUGE challenge, because it meant that no matter where we were or what we were looking at…nothing was “stock” about it. Everything had to be built to be kind of futuristic, or built to be very retro. So, that was a big challenge.

DS: And how did those widely disparate elements influence the sound design?

JP: The biggest thing that they kept saying was, “Imagine it’s the future and all of the rich people have all of the cool stuff, but you’re set in Cuba.” So you have all of these old cars that have been retro-fitted. It’s this total mix of different technology and equipment. It made it kind of interesting, because anytime there was something futuristic sounding it made it seem MORE high tech…just by the contrast of the very retro, or modified retro, stuff that we had.

DS: That must have been a really useful concept. I mean, I’ve never thought of that connection, but it describes the setting of the film to a “T” there.

JP: [laughs] Yeah. It was a lot of fun, but a lot of work. You couldn’t just open up your library and start cutting. You had to make stuff, or fashion it in some way.

DS: So, the high tech stuff…everyone always sees that as the play-box, where you get to do wild and crazy things. What about on the other end of the spectrum, where you’re dealing with the “Cuba” aspect? What were some of the interesting things you got to experiment with there?

JP: There was a lot of old farm machinery-type stuff that was used…trying to figure out a concept for these cars that look like they’re from our time period, but have all of this recirculation equipment built into them. They’ve been retro-fitted with whatever technology was there. Trying to build car sounds that sound similar enough like a car, but have a feel to them that they have this new technology built in as well. There were processed trucks…like this dump truck I recorded out in the Angeles forest…and some sort of prop plane. It was fun in that respect, because you could do all kinds of crazy things to create these old funky looking vehicles.

DS: Sticking with the subject of “old and funky”…ticking clocks and watches play a big role in a couple of scenes, and they have that antique mechanical quality to them. You touched on one scene briefly already: older Joe’s appearance in the corn field. There’s a build up until he appears and we hear the gun shot. There are also Sid’s freak-outs. Those are two examples that come to mind.

JP: Right.

DS: What, in your mind, were the significant uses of these ticking sounds in the film, and what direction did you find yourself heading in while playing with that particular sonic element?

JP: It’s interesting, because some of that was stuff that I’d done…and some of it was what the composer had done. Just because of the nature of how he was constructing the music. That played a character in his ball park.

DS: Was that something that you two communicated about at all during the process, or did you both end up implementing it separately?

JP: Not totally. I don’t remember there being too much interaction, because the time and schedule was such that there were a lot of things happening in a short period of time. In terms of when we would do temps and stuff, obviously those elements came into play. We just went with them. We tried to blend as best we could, so that we weren’t getting in the way of each other. I would say that the clock is the biggest motif in the film, just because of the time travel aspect to it. Every time we were either near the pocket watch or looking at it, we’re hearing it as a constant reminder of the “ticking clock.”

DS: To shift over to another element that is there throughout the movie…and I realize this was probably more under the responsibility of the foley team…but I really love the rattle of the blunderbusses. It felt like a reflection of the Loopers’ status and position within the organization. Were there other attempts to apply that kind of sonic representation of class hierarchy in the film?

JP: Well definitely the blunderbuss. You take the blunderbuss, you take the gat gun, and the distinction between those. You know, that gat gun, certain types of enforcers had that. In terms of other class type stuff, the cars and vehicles that people are using to get around is another distinction of the different classes…be it a slat bike, the vintage Miata, or these funky trucks with the recirculating systems.

DS: Yeah. Those are good examples. Did you try to emphasize the differences between those items through their sonic characteristics?

JP: Just by the very nature of the individuality of each of those elements. It gave it its own contrast…take the Miata. That’s the only gasoline powered car that we hear in the film. The slat bike is obviously the only jet powered vehicle, and there are a couple of cars and the pickup truck that are based on that recirculation technology. The TYPE of tech gave its own distinct character sonically.

DS: There were these quiet moments that were used for effect in several scenes, but the film was allowed to be quiet even when there was no overt purpose…when that approach wasn’t being used to comment on the story or the visuals. If there wasn’t any major action going on, it still had this measured and deliberate feel to it. Even the city felt closed in and shuttered most of the time. That really gave it a distinct quality. Would you talk about that approach a little?

JP: How I like to approach backgrounds, and elements like that, they need to support what’s there in the literal sense of where we are…location-wise…but I think it also has to help emotionally. Sometimes, in certain scenes, it makes sense to just back off a little bit and let the music, or even just the sense of isolation, let that be part of it. Going back to the farm, it’s easy enough to have crickets all of the time or cicadas…but sometimes it’s nice, depending on what the character is going through, to see it from their perspective and let that all go away.

DS: And you had the opportunity to control that, because you were both sound designer and a re-recording mixer as well. Correct?

JP: Yeah. But the way I approach backgrounds…a lot of that gets built into the design point; strictly because of this ever-changing and evolving approach that I take. It takes a little more work, but I think, ultimately, it’s a much stronger effect.

DS: So, editing for the goal of the mix, as opposed to just throwing in the kitchen sink and then mixing by removal…

JP: Absolutely. As I’m designing stuff, I’m always thinking about how it’s going to sound, final-wise. So I am mixing as I go and trying to figure out if this is working for me, rather than just prepping the element and getting it ready. I want to see it in context and be able to experience it that way…and deliver it that way too. That way, when we show stuff, it’s doing what it already needs to do. That was actually part of the process. I would work on a reel, and I would show it to Rian before shipping it off to be put into the Avid. That way he could hear it, experience it in the way that it was meant to be used, and be able to comment on it. He could see where I was trying to go. Then we’d discuss, and he’s say, “Hey, let’s go here,” or “I like that, but I don’t like this.” It gives a unique opportunity to the film-maker to build the track, or to hear how it’s going to work early on in the process.

DS: And to follow up on this idea of quiet…Was there ever any discussion or debate over the idea of trying to apply a sound to the telekinesis. That’s a trope of the science fiction as a genre…

JP: You know, I’ve got to say, that was Rian early on. That was his thing. He definitely didn’t want it to be over the top, he didn’t want it to fit into any cliché. The sound that’s in there is a pretty subtle one. It’s a high pitched whine, and we use it a couple of times when other people are using telekinesis. We use it at such a level that it’s just barely there. And that was the point. It needed to feel natural, as opposed to some sort of weird magic.

DS: And it is very hard to notice anything going on that is really tied to that ability. I think that helped it sit there as…it’s just part of the culture, part of everyday life. So, for me, it did work that way, quite well.

JP: Cool! Thank you.

DS: You’re giving me a nice sequé into the next question that I had. That was a high-pitched drone as a kind of hard effect, but there are a lot of tonal drones and stingers in the film. They help to put everything on hold at several key moments…just slow everything down and hold it at one point. Were those sound design, the composer, or both of you?

JP: That’s really a combination of both of us. It was really interesting to see. There are places where it was sound design, and then there are places where it’s music. You don’t always know, and you don’t have to know. It’s just part of the fabric of the movie.

DS: As long as it’s helping the story…

JP: Exactly! There are times where I may have been doing something that was kind of the same thing the music was doing. We just make choices. Rather than having a bucket too full of sound, we would go with what really worked. It was cool how…there were places where I was doing things based on what the music was doing, and there are other things where the music was based on what I was doing. It was an interesting process in that respect.

DS: Was that something where the two of you were going back and forth, or did it just happen that way?

JP: No, it kind of just evolved that way. There are places where…when I was building the temp track, I unknowingly had the demos in there. I would hear things that I would want to do, but I would make it fit around the music. Then after the temp, they would have my sound effects that they could figure out how to weave into and out of. It was more of a…

DS: So you had some cross-pollination going on; to react to on both ends.

JP: Yeah, but it wasn’t necessarily like we sat and said, “OK, well I’m going to do this.” It just kind of evolved naturally, and it just kind of worked. It’s pretty rare that it works out that way.

DS: I was going to say…

JP: [laughs]

DS: I’m glad it did, because it sounds fantastic!

JP: Thank you. I mean, I’ve got to say, Nathan’s [Johnson] score…when he told me what he was up to, I was a little concerned that we would be doing all of the same kind of things. That it would all be very tonal and dronal and not very melodic. At the end of the day, what he brought to the table was just quite fascinating. Really interesting, really helped the movie. It gives the movie a unique flavor, but it’s musical too.

DS: It’s ambient where it needs to be, and it carries where it needs to as well.

JP: Definitely.

DS: Looking back on the film, now that you’ve had some time to separate from it and move on to other projects, how do you feel about the time you spent on it and your efforts there?

JP: I look back on those extremely fondly. I mean, it was a lot of work, but it was a lot of fun to do. It was definitely a unique experience, because it was one of those films where, as soon as I read the script, I told Rian, “I want to do this, and I want to start tomorrow!” I wasn’t available, but it was one of those films that I just REALLY wanted to work on…and it was a joy to work on it. I’d go out recording, just to get some new material for the movie. I would hear something, and I would put out my mics at midnight…because I heard something that would be good for the movie. So, it was definitely a good experience.

New Libraries Available Now…

New Sound Lab’s Optical Drives

This library features recordings of computer optical disc drives (two internal desktop CD/DVD-R and one internal laptop slim CD/DVD-R slot-load).

Two induction coil pickups were used to record the electromagnetic fields emitted by the drives, capturing a very unique set of sounds and textures. These range from sharp percussive bleeps, glitchy static and noise, to electromechanical motor sounds, and drones. You’ll find use for many applications, including UI interface design, transitions, sci-fi, robot/servo sounds, technology, and computer sound effects.

Recordings include all functions of the DVD drives, e.g. disc loading, reading, writing/burning, spin up/down, errors, and disc ejecting. Also, each drive was taken apart and manipulated to create additional sounds.

Check it out here!

Coming Soon…

U.S.O.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Kyma Ambiences is the third sound effects bundle created by Matteo Milani (U.S.O. Project). The generation of these “Artificial Reality Ambiences” starts entirely in Symbolic Sound Kyma – during the development of projectgenesismovie.com – from the processing of white and pink noise by filtering – in the time/spectral domains – and convolving these sources with custom FM, additive, formant and granular synthesis.

Keep an eye out for it here!

Hiss and a Roar

Tim Prebble is releasing two new libraries under his Hiss and a Roar label. They both come out on May 28th. They’ll be available on the Hiss and a Roar website.

Cool Happenings…

Airborne Sound

Has just undergone a site rebuilding and is currently in “beta testing”. What does that mean? It means that Paul Virostek is giving away free effects libraries! He’s already posted the Train Collection and the Crowds Collection. There are three more free libraries on the way, but they’ll only be available for a limited time. Head over to those links now to get your copies and sign up for the newsletter…so you’ll know when the next library is available.

The Recordist

Frank Bry has recently re-launched his website. He’s offering new bundles with the new site design as well. You now have the ability to purchase his complete HD Pro and Soundbox Pro libraries. The bundles can be found at the bottom of the respective product pages. He’s also offering a 30% discount for Memorial Day on all individual libraries (i.e. Bundles and Combos excluded). The sale ends at 11:59PM (PST) on May 27th. To take advantage of the sale, use the coupon code: MEMORIAL2013. Head over to the therecordist.com if you don’t already know what he has available…and if that’s the case, crawl out of the rock you’ve been hiding under all of this time.

Boom LibraryThat image says it all. Boom Library has teased their next library on their Facebook page, but the sale they’re running is the more imminent concern. Now through May 31st, you can get a third library for free when you purchase any 2 using the code: 3FOR2.

For News Editors: we’re looking for content aggregators who will keep up on interesting articles, editorials and library releases; providing “block quotes” from said content and links out to our friends and fellow conspirators in the community…perhaps with the occasional nugget that appeals to the gear lust in all of us.

For Contributing Editors: we’re looking for more people to do what we already do. News, reviews, interviews and insights into the many sorts of multimedia audio we take part in.  Contributing Editors will be expected to do much more than a News Editor and long interviews, editorials and articles which will require more effort and time.

Requirements:

-Reliability.  You will be expected to make multiple posts in a month (for News Editors in a week), sometimes at short notice. And you will be expected to do so *every* month. If you are incapable of this please do not apply.

-Autonomy. We are looking for self-motivated and self-sufficient audio professionals who also want to help out the audio community without being having to be poked to get work done.

How to apply:

-Send your portfolio (Audio and/or Writing) as well as a writing sample to: volunteer@designingsound.org

-State in the email subject which you are applying for: “Contributing Editor” or “News Editor”

If you do not have a writing sample then please make one before applying. The writing sample can be an example news post, a full article or a review of a product.

Applications will remain open for the entirety of May 2013 and we will begin selection in June.