A few nights ago, I was struck by an idea that hadn't occurred to me previously. I was prepping for a presentation on loudness metering at a game development studio that would take place the following day. It was a question... Would bit rate or sample rate reduction affect the loudness measurement of sounds metered using ITU-R BS.1770? Both are practices common to game … [Read more...]
Different Loudness Ranges for Console and Mobile Games
This article is a guest post, written by Bernard Rodrigue of middleware vendors Audiokinetic, discusses loudness measurement over a range of game audio specific scenarios, such as mobile platforms versus home consoles, and family friendly versus AAA war titles. Overview The EBU R-128 loudness recommendations and ITU-R BS.1770-3 specifications include three different kinds … [Read more...]
Experiments with Digital Microphones
While AES42 compliant digital microphones are relatively new to the audio world, they're not "brand-spanking" new. There have been several on the market for a few years now, and new ones are slowly being added as well. For all the time they've been available though, I had never heard one in action…not in a controlled environment anyway (the AES show floor is hardly the place … [Read more...]
Loudness and Metering (Part 2)
Guest contribution by Owen Green [This is the second of a two part series on loudness, mixing, metering and the new ITU loudness spec] The New Loudness Standards, and What They Might Mean for Us Depending on the field in which one worked, standard production practices have tended to be orientated around peak normalisation of material. That is, lining up recordings by their … [Read more...]
Capcom Audio Director Tomoya Kishi Interview
Japanese video game composers and musicians get a good bit of coverage and acclaim over in the West, but the people making the booms and whoosh sounds don't seem to get much visibility. To that end I reached out to Tomoya Kishi, who is the Audio Director and Senior Manager of Audio Design and Production at Capcom: "Tomoya Kishi joined Capcom in 2001, beginning his career as … [Read more...]
Loudness Webinar Recording Available
If you missed Saturday's webinar, the recording is now available. Just click here to load it up. We had some reports of audio issues, which appear to be due to the service's compression settings. All of the truly pertinent information is included in the slides that were part of the presentation. So if things get a little difficult to make out sonically, don't fear that … [Read more...]
Loudness and Metering (Part 1)
Guest contribution by Owen Green [This is the first of a two part series on loudness, mixing, metering and the new ITU loudness spec] Understanding the complex relationship between sound level and perceived loudness turns out to be very important to us as designers of sound for a number of reasons: Our perception of loudness is not constant (or even remotely linear) … [Read more...]