This month at Designing Sound, we are focusing our lens on the concept of Audio Programming. The above image is from David Padilla's (AKA dabit) Banjo (here is the github link), which is a MIDI looper for live performance. He is a professional programmer (and an audio hobbyist) who's work producing music within a programming language is quite impressive and academically … [Read more...]
What My Deaf Cat Taught Me About Sound
Guest Contribution by April Tucker Meet Yuki, one of my cats. She’s a tiny, feisty 6-year-old tabby. Earlier this year, we learned that Yuki had gone deaf after having normal hearing most of her life. She probably lost her hearing gradually, but it wasn’t obvious until one day when I was vacuuming and realized she was right by me, happily curled up and sound asleep. There’s a … [Read more...]
Monthly Theme: “Pure” Sound Design
What is the essence of sound design? It is widely accepted that individuals who are visually impaired develop the ability to hear heightened detail and extract deeper levels of information through their other senses, in which hearing/sound is a large part. For many of us, the sounds we regularly design are for the distinct purpose of supporting, and enhancing the context … [Read more...]
Thoughts on Limitations in Game Audio
Rob Bridgett is an audio director at Eidos-Montréal. Leonard Paul is the president of the School of Video Game Audio. Images courtesy of Rob Bridgett & Leonard Paul Nine years ago, we collaborated on an article on the idea of limitations for Gamasutra and wanted to see where our thoughts would take us. This time around, rather than produce another article, this … [Read more...]
Monthly Theme: Restriction
What do you think of when you hear (or read) the word restriction? Unfortunately, the word restriction often carries with it a negative connotation. Though within the creative process, restrictions can be quite beneficial, and sometimes inspiring. As Belle Beth Cooper explains in her Buffer blog post, "What restrictions do is take away some of the choices available to us, … [Read more...]
The Month of Favorites
What is your favorite... sound design project? synthesizer? resource? application? story? piece of gear? technique? This month's theme is, to say the least, open to interpretation. I am sure you know that feeling. The one you get when you come across something that is just too good to keep to yourself and you feel the need to share it with any colleague that will listen. … [Read more...]
Pure Data Destruction
Guest Post by Leonard J. Paul Introduction To fit in with May's theme of “destruction” at DesigningSound.org, I wanted to create a patch that demonstrated how Pd (Pure Data) could be used to create interesting sounds of “digital destruction” with a fairly minimal amount of implementation. Hopefully this patch will be helpful for those wanting to learn a bit about Pd. Just to … [Read more...]