Comments on: Alan Rankin on the Sound Design of "Alan Wake" https://designingsound.org/2010/06/29/alan-rankin-on-the-sound-design-of-alan-wake/ Art and technique of sound design Wed, 06 Jul 2016 17:14:00 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2.8 By: Will Dearborn https://designingsound.org/2010/06/29/alan-rankin-on-the-sound-design-of-alan-wake/#comment-1183 Wed, 30 Jun 2010 17:23:49 +0000 https://designingsound.org/?p=4964#comment-1183 You are very right. I suppose it is a matter of perception and what we expect. With newer games like Red Dead Redemption, I don’t really have a problem with how they treat it, so I might just be slowly getting used to it.

]]> By: Jamie Hughes https://designingsound.org/2010/06/29/alan-rankin-on-the-sound-design-of-alan-wake/#comment-1182 Wed, 30 Jun 2010 10:58:31 +0000 https://designingsound.org/?p=4964#comment-1182 Will – The problem could be that often in 3rd person games the sound is treated relative to the camera . When you spin the camera around, it actually gets closer to object that is emitting the sound, and therefore it actually becomes louder. As the player is viewing the game from the camera’s perspective (not the character’s) this would seem to be the most natural solution. If the sound was perceived from the characters perspective instead, the sound would not pan at all when you spun the camera around, which would seem a little odd to me.

Jamie

]]> By: Will Dearborn https://designingsound.org/2010/06/29/alan-rankin-on-the-sound-design-of-alan-wake/#comment-1181 Tue, 29 Jun 2010 23:02:36 +0000 https://designingsound.org/?p=4964#comment-1181 Although I have yet to play Alan Wake (one of my most anticipated games this year, but I’m behind!), I’d love to know what Mark Yeend (or anyone else in the industry) thinks about audio levels in games, and if they could be more consistent amongst all speakers to form a more balanced sound-field. I’ve always felt that the surround speakers effects in games are much higher than the fronts compared to films (yes my system is calibrated ;)), which sound a lot more even and calibrated. I’ve always found this a bit of an odd disparity. To be more precise and give you an example of what I mean, try standing still and spinning the camera around 360 degrees in most 3rd person games and some first person games (Modern Warfare 2 was awful in this regard). When steady and consistent sounds go from the front speakers to the surrounds, they are raised in volume, as if they are nearer to the character, or us, when they shouldn’t be. It may just be a perception expectation thing but that’s just been a gripe of mine when it comes to game audio, so it’d be great if might be able to ask him about that and what he thinks.

Anyway, I really can’t wait to play Alan Wake and I know it’s just going to be an aural treat.

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