There's a common joke among game audio artists and designers: if you ask any number of sound designers what genre they'd most like to work on, the odds are good they'll all say "horror", twice. It's no surprise it's such a common answer, either; horror games offer designers some of the most interesting and diverse sound design opportunities one can come across. There's no doubt … [Read more...]
News: A Sound Effect: How to Design Supreme Sci-Fi Weapon SFX
In a recent blog post, A Sound Effect spoke to sound designers Ruslan Nesteruk and Glen Bondarenko on the techniques and tools they utilize in creating sci-fi weaponry SFX. The post delves into layering, synthesis techniques, breaking down each weapon into its constituent components, and a great deal more. If you want some insights on creating better sci-go weaponry, you owe it … [Read more...]
Lessons of a Reckless Freelancer, or How I Learned to Love the Paperwork
When I first started up as a freelance sound designer and re-recording mixer, I had never been responsible for running a business. Working for myself seemed to be the ultimate job; I could set my hours, pick my projects, and do things how I wanted to do them. Beyond this freedom, what else was there? As it turns out, I completely glossed over that whole “how to run my own … [Read more...]
Creative Field Recording: “Visual Microphones” Create Missing Audio
In his newest blog post, Paul Virostek of Creative Field Recording examines an interesting question: If we're able to recolorize black and white films, can we do the same with audio? The article discusses unique techniques and tools like visual microphones, which transcend regular audio restoration and offer the possibility of creating audio that would have been present in the … [Read more...]
Rev. Dr. Brad Meyer on the PS4 controller speaker
Ever considered using the built-in speaker in the PS4 controller in a sound design? Or are you just curious about some creative approaches to special-case speakers for games? Check out this post by the Rev. Dr. Brad Meyer on the subject over at his blog for some quick info on effective approaches to controller speakers. … [Read more...]
“Hearing Lips and Seeing Voices” – The McGurk Effect
Want to see something that’ll mess with your head? [youtube]http://youtu.be/73LE1vKGfy4[/youtube] Now, you may not have noticed anything all that strange watching the video, but mute the sound and watch it again. After that, close your eyes and listen to just the audio. Notice anything strange now? You’ve just witnessed one of the more interesting perceptual illusions, … [Read more...]
Sound Design Inspiration from Outer Space
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MmWeZHsQzs[/youtube] A few months ago I came across a Twitter post made by Stephan Schütze (a recent Designing Sound contributor) that continues to resonate with me (no pun intended) and I wanted to share it with anyone in the sound design community that has yet to hear these sounds. As a side note, Stephan's tweet was unrelated … [Read more...]