Categories Menu

Posted by on Jun 3, 2014 | 1 comment

The Story in Surround – Game narrative and sound

Venn-diagram-of-narrative-and-gameplay-copy
I recently came across the Frictional Games blog and have spent the last few weeks trawling through it’s archive. It provides a wealth of informaiton on game design, and in particular discussions on the point of game narrative. One particular post, 4 Layers, a narrative design approach, written by Thomas Grip, Frictional’s creative director, raised the concept of the mental model, and the impact this can have, not only on game design, but also on a players experience of a game.

Read More

Posted by on May 30, 2014 | 2 comments

Art of Surround

Acousmonium_1980_photo_Laszlo_Ruszka__c_Ina
Acousmonium, INA-GRM, 1980. Photo by Laszlo Ruska.

Surround (Oxford Dictionary)

  • (verb) [with object] – Be all round (someone or something)
  • (noun) – A thing that forms a border or edging around an object.
  • (adjective) (Surrounding) – All around a particular place or thing.

Based merely on a technological approach, one might think that Surround sound is just the technique of reproducing audio signals in a particular array of speakers that distribute sound around space in order to give a three-dimensional illusion for the ears…

Surround is not visual really, is not something we can see. Surround is not just a technique of distributing sound, but the consequences of it. It’s a characteristic of sound itself, natural to the sonic phenomenon and responsible of the entire notion of the “auditory field” which is more than simply one dimension of space, but a multi-layered, multi-dimensional representation of sound.

In this article I aim to explore different experiments and perspectives toward the use of surround sound and the experiments between space and form, getting out from the image/film relationship in order to explore how sound “alone” can be enriched by the process of multichannel distribution, which has been deeply explored aesthetically, psychologically, musically, etc.

Read More

Posted by on May 15, 2014 | 4 comments

Remembering Alan Splet

dunecinemat

One of the main reasons to start this site back in 2008 and also one of the things that keeps me motivated to do this is the impact that some people had in my life; curiously, people who I haven’t met in person, but I’ve deeply met with my ears.

I’m talking about those sound designers who created initial routes for all of us and started to develop a truly amazing way of working with sound, by establishing the essence of this art, not just from a technical perspective but an emotional, narrative and even spiritual one. I’m so glad to make this post about about one of those sound genius, a person that I know many of us deeply admire, Alan Splet.

He had the main faculties any sound designer needs to have, as described by Splet’s widow Ann Kroeber: “attention to detail, nuance, perseverance, ability to vastly influence the mood of a scene by the choice and placement of sounds”. 

Read More

Posted by on May 6, 2014 | 0 comments

Designing Sound Discussion Group – Noah and Atmos

Noah_CroweConnelly

We’re happy to announce that we’ve got another Designing Sound Discussion Group coming this Sunday! We’ll be hosting a live chat with Noah’s Craig Henighan and Coll Anderson. Given this month’s theme, we’ll be focusing in on a discussion of the impact of Dolby Atmos on their work for the film. Of course, we won’t be restricted to that, so make sure you come with your questions too!

The broadcast will be hosted through Google Hangouts on Air at 4PM, U.S. Eastern Time, this Sunday (May 11th). You can watch the live stream here on the site, but you’ll have to head over to our Google+ page if you want to ask questions/participate in the discussion.

Don’t forget that you can check out all of our previous Discussion Groups in our Archive, including our last web-panel with the audio post team for Orthodox: Remote Collaboration and Maintaining a Consistent Voice.

Read More