I’m always looking for any way / concepts to enhance the subjective loudness of sounds without falling into the easy overall volume increase. This “Hi/Lo offset technique” is going to be really helpful for sure.

I’ve actually done a list like you did and realized how much faster it would be if I had it within my libraries. Since I have Soundminer, I’ve commented my sounds in a Metadata field just by describing its emotional characteristic / content with one or two words. For example, a baby cry could actually sound “HAPPY”, a door creak could seem “SAD” or a Doberman growl could appear to be “FUNNY”. I usually don’t use that field while I’m searching in my libraries unless I want to dial in the “out of context” material, then I have a field that can help me to convey subjective emotion. I’m still learning it but I try to remember everyday that sound has that great particularity to sneak you from the back door while the picture is limited to the front one.

Great article. Loved reading some of the ways you enhance regular sounds with other emotion evoking sounds.

Hope things are going well for you. Are you still working with EA? I recorded some songs with Jesus Delgado recently which was fun.

We’re doing lots of interesting things at DCM Studios and were always interested in new and exciting projects. Last year I did all the sound design and mix for a war documentary about paratroopers similar to the guys from “Band of Brothers” called “The Forgotten Battalion”. http://www.theforgottenbattalion.com

Tyler