Sony for a very long time has spearheaded the effort to standardise loudness in games. The recent PS4 SDK update (2.500) includes a mastering suite -- Sulpha analysis tools -- to help developers master their titles for a variety of playback systems, from full range surround sound systems to TVs, to mobile devices. It features a 4-band equaliser, a 3-band dynamics processor, … [Read more...]
Time And Psychoacoustics
When designing audio we are often thinking of time across a large variety of units: samples, milliseconds, frames, minutes, hours and more. This article is inspired by a conversation I had with Andy Farnell about a year ago at a pub in Edinburgh, right before a sound design symposium, where we discussed about time and the role it plays when it comes to designing audio. Like … [Read more...]
What’s The Deal With Procedural Game Audio?
Guest contribution by Martin Roth We've all heard of the promises of procedural game audio. A veritable Valhalla where sounds are created out of thin air, driven by the game engine, eliminating the need for huge sample libraries and tedious recording. Sounds great! So why aren't we hearing more of it in games today? We've all experienced Rockstar's work in GTA 5; those … [Read more...]
Spaces From Noise
Impulse responses are great for recreating spaces, whether it is a resonant glass bottle or a large cave. Here's a handy a trick for sculpting your own impulse responses, and therefore your own reverbs, from something that we spend a lot of time getting rid of -- noise! If you listen to an impulse response by itself, you'll find that it has noise-like qualities, except the … [Read more...]
Car Engine Approximation In Max
Years ago, when I first started dabbling in the deep and dark world of Max/MSP, I attempted to create the sound of a car engine. This month's theme (which is 'vehicles', if you didn't know) reminded me about it. I opened up the patch after ages and was a bit appalled by the state of it. There are hidden skeletons in every old patch! Instead of digging through a … [Read more...]
AudioGaming competition — results!
The results are in! Thanks for taking part in the competition, I'm told the AudioGaming crew were quite overwhelmed by all the responses they received. Here's what Amaury said: Some quotes were just too funny so we decided to award two prizes. One for the best serious quote, one for the funniest. The two winners will get full post-production bundles. (..drum roll..) Serious … [Read more...]
Silence At Work
For the past few years I have been bothered about the amount of time I spend on a job — not specifically about how busy I am, but rather how much time I spend concentrating on the task that needs getting done. By default, most of us learn to constantly optimise our workflows as our experience grows. This is very important, as successful projects are judged not only on their … [Read more...]