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...]
A Modular Creature Design System
I’ve been working on a game project on and off over the past year and a part of the design is of relevance to this month’s theme — animals. The gameplay revolves around creatures of various kinds — some good, some evil, some tiny, some large. I had to conjure a vocalisation system that achieved the following technical and design criteria: Actions by the user would directly … [Read more...]
(Mis)adventures in Cat Recording
About three years ago, on a whim, I adopted a 6 month old kitten. I had dealt with cats before at friends’ and family’s houses, but had never owned one, and Luna (short for “Lunatic”) was full of surprises. After her initial "moving in” period, in which she hid under the bed for nearly a week, I discovered that Luna was an exceedingly outspoken individual that needed to make … [Read more...]
As Bobby Darin said, “If I Could Talk to the Animals…”
Might want to be careful if you're going to try recording this critter! We use animal sounds all the time in sound design. Whether it be the twenty some-odd creatures that went into the sound of the Velociraptor in Jurassic Park, or the Elephant bray used in the destruction of the Titanic, they seem to find their way into every situation...sooner or later. This month, we've … [Read more...]
The Recordist’s Devil Dog
Frank Bry has released a new library called The Devil Dog. Introducing Dixie, a very special English Bull Terrier with an amazing vocal ability that is unlike anything I have every heard. She is special because she is deaf and cannot hear what comes out of her mouth. She is loved and cared for by some friends here in town and they graciously allowed me to come to their home and … [Read more...]
Hart FX Releases New Alligator Library
Hart FX has released Hart a Gator, a new library of alligator sound effects, cut from 10 hours of material recorded at 192kHz. Alligators are quiet, stealthy creatures that roam the swamps and marshes of Florida like big, scaly, green ninjas. You see one silently skimming along, then all of a sudden it disappears! They hardly make any sound either – except for this one time of … [Read more...]
BOOM Library Releases Dogs
BOOM Library has released Dogs, a new library of dog sounds recorded at 192kHz/24-Bit. This 2 DVD collection offers more than 7 GB of data. Recorded with high frequency response microphones going up to 50 kHz, these source recordings are not only an extensive high quality animal library but also the ideal source for heavy pitching, designing and effect processing. You can use … [Read more...]