Sound designers by nature have an inherent curiosity towards sound. We explore the way sounds work every time we approach a project. With each new opportunity to design a sound, we ask ourselves questions such as: What object/event produced the sound(s)? Where is the sound source located in relation to the listener, and just as importantly, how does (or how will) the sound … [Read more...]
Medieval Weapons Sound Effects Library – Kickstarter Announced
The team that brought you the Free Firearm Sound Library is running another kickstarter, this time looking to provide the world with a completely cost free, high quality collection of CC0 licensed medieval weapon sounds. The project aims to include just under 500 unique sound effects, each with multiple takes, designed for use in all kinds of film and video game projects. For … [Read more...]
Just Listen
Back around the time I was first starting out, I remember opening up a demo of Cubase VST (on my trusty PowerMac 6400) and taking a look through the various menus. Everything seemed pretty standard, but something in particular caught my eye, a menu item labeled “Ears Only”. Curious, I clicked on it, only to have my monitor go completely blank. After a few seconds of panic … [Read more...]
Designing Silence
"Ideally, for me, the perfect sound film has zero tracks. You try to get the audience to a point, somehow, where they can imagine the sound. They hear the sound in their minds, and it really isn't on the track at all. That's the ideal sound, the one that exists totally in the mind, because it's the most intimate. It deals with each person's experience, and it's obviously of … [Read more...]
Silence is the Sound of Listening
"One can look at seeing but one can't hear hearing" - Marcel Duchamp As you may know, silence is the topic chosen for this month here at Designing Sound. One may think silence is not existent if we value it as an absolute sonic absence, but here I'm going to examine its role and possibility towards the act of listening to sound, silencing, not as that state of complete sonic … [Read more...]
Art of Surround
Acousmonium, INA-GRM, 1980. Photo by Laszlo Ruska. Surround (Oxford Dictionary) (verb) [with object] - Be all round (someone or something) (noun) - A thing that forms a border or edging around an object. (adjective) (Surrounding) - All around a particular place or thing. Based merely on a technological approach, one might think that Surround sound is just the … [Read more...]
Glitchmachines release Quadrant
Quadrant is a new modular sound generator and effects processing plugin geared towards experimental sound design. It features a broad selection of modules, connectable through a graphical patching system, allowing for a very wide and customizable range of sounds and effects. The plugin can be used to generate textures, or as an effects processor, providing a number of different … [Read more...]