Whenever we add some sort of lo-fi effect to a sound we usually get two things, the removal of some details of the sound and the addition of artifacts. This can be a bunch of different things, like aliasing and quantization error in the case of bit crushing, distortion, speaker emulation, or the more complex artifacts created by data compression (mp3, aac etc.). I'm interested … [Read more...]
EQ as a Sound Design Tool
Ah EQ. The first type of DSP you learned how to use in school to make your sounds clean, bright, warm, etc. EQ is so much more interesting and powerful than just changing tonal balance though and I want to really focus on some of the crazy sound design we can do with an EQ, some by exploiting the DSP going on under the hood that makes an EQ work. I'll be going through some of … [Read more...]
Making a Plasma Gun from a Beer Can
Designing sounds for really large or complex objects can be really intimidating especially for younger sound designers and those with limited access to sound libraries. I’ll be showing you how I go about breaking down complex sounds into simple little sounds that we can easily access with household objects, and then we will build our complex sound using these techniques. This … [Read more...]
Being a Good Mentee and Getting the Most Out of a Mentorship
A great mentor is only half of what makes a successful mentorship. A mentee needs to put just as much, if not more effort to make sure that the relationship is productive and time is used efficiently and respectfully. I've been fortunate to be on both sides, as both a mentor and a mentee. Through some of my own successes and failures, I've come up with some ideas … [Read more...]