Darkness_falls Work

[Darkness_Falls]

These are pretty basic sound bits. Not much layering going on. I wanted them to remain in a raw format for now; they can always be layered later. It's hard to 'unlayer' once you've layered Other sound guys can also layer these on their files, if desired. I'm having troubles recording loudly with my setup. Not sure why. Thus, HumAmb1 is pretty quiet.

 

Here are some new files, in .OGG format. Note: If you're not on the sound team, you may need to instead listen to the identical .MP3 counterparts at the bottom of this post:

MachineHum1

HumAmb1

BellAmb1

CutsceneAmb1.ogg

Harp-Soft

Harp-Loud

 

If you can't hear the above, you probably don't have the right software. Try these MP3s instead:

MachineHum1 - Loop it. Some sort of weird machine hum. Could also be layered with other ticks, drones and hums to make an interesting machine sound.

HumAmb1 - Loop it. Background hum. I wish this was a bit louder; you may have to crank your speakers. Intro/End can be chopped off for a continuous hum.

BellAmb1 - Loop it.

CutsceneAmb1 - Might work well as some background ambience in a FM slideshow cutscene, as 'Garrett' talks.

Harp-Soft - I loved plucking the strings of that harp in T2! I think we should try to have different music instruments, so when touched they produce a sound.

Harp-Loud - A louder version of the above. I didn't like that it was so loud the first time you plucked the harp in T2. I think this louder version could be used for if the player repeatedly plucks the harp. Maybe have soft/loud versions of other instruments for the same reason.

 

Let me know what feedback/suggestions you have.

Edited November 1, 2004 by Darkness_Falls

[pakmannen]

Alright. You've got some pretty good sounds there. Could be tweaked some though.

 

1. MachineHum1. I think you missed something with the volume here, shouldn't it sound something like this: machinehum with lowered volume

I did some variations on this sound, (it's such a nice sound you know.. ) here:

machinehum variation 1

machinehum variation 2

 

2. HumAmb. It's a nice sound, too low though, I raised the volume for you: HumAmb with raised volume

 

3. BellAmb. Pretty! Still, I think it could be improved. Not sure how though!

 

4. CutsceneAmb. Also nice. Try the mechanize effect in Goldwave. I think it could work.

 

5. Harp sounds. Love them! I gotta edit the Soundeffects document and include a bunch of instruments...

[Darkness_Falls]

Good job, Pakmannen. Wow, I really like the louder sound you made of the HumAmb file!! It really brings out just the right things to make it sound great! I could see that working for some parts in a campaign. The 'wet finger around a crystal glass' part of the sound, though, may be just slightly a little to pronounced. I've had your revised HumAmb playing for a couple minutes here and it does get kind've piercing to the ear, unfortunately. For the most part, though, I love it. Or, if it were ever to get used in game as is, then it would just need to be for a short time.

 

I kinda knew BellAmb was lacking -- I think it maybe needs more solid foundations. I just kept it in it's raw format for now, but I'll try to layer other sounds with it to bring out more fullness and richness to it.

 

Yeah, I need to do something different to record sounds here, but I'm not sure what. Any advice? I have to record at a very low level, otherwise the sound wavelenghts that show in Goldwave go all the way to the top and bottom and get cut off, hence distorting my sounds and losing a lot of the cool sutbtleties of the sounds.

 

I don't know if the issue is Goldwave software 'cheapness,' my sound card or what. Would a more professional audio program solve this dilemma? Right now, I have two cords coming out of the stereo phono plugs of my keyboard into a Y-splitter that take it down to a single stereo 1/8" jack, which then gets plugged into my nForce 2 (SoundStorm) sound portion of my motherboard. Using the nVidia Mixer software (from nVidia), I have to turn the 'Mic Booster' on to get decent recording levels and hear the sounds better thru my PC. But it's all so touchy. I can then only turn the volume up on my keyboard about 1/3 of the way, otherwise I'm at a great risk to have the recording go 'in the red' on Goldwave's VU Meter. I'm hoping you know what I mean. Here's a pic showing the VU Meter maxed out. A very common occurrence for me:

 

Yet, when I record at lower levels and try to use Goldwave's effects to 'increase volume,' I can rarely increase it by 150% or 200% without it clipping the wavelenghts at the top and bottom again.

 

All's I know is if I plug my keyboard into my home stereo system and crank it, it sounds awesome. My PC is a lot more touchy.

 

PS...

5. Harp sounds. Love them! I gotta edit the Soundeffects document and include a bunch of instruments...

YES!!! I'd love to give FM authors the ability to have instruments lying around in their maps (pianos, harpsichords, harps, guitars, cellos, etc.) and have sounds tied to them in case the thief chooses to touch them. Is it possible to tie two sounds to a given object, so the 1st time the object is touched it's a quiet sound, and the 2nd time a louder sound?

Edited November 3, 2004 by Darkness_Falls

[pakmannen]

Judging from my experience with the HumAmb sound, I would say that you are recording too much bass. If you remove the bass sounds from the file (effect > filter > equalizer and then lower the 60 and 150Hz bars) you'll notice that the amplitude is very low. Then you can maximize the sound (effect > volume > maximize) and you'll get a louder sound. So you might want to check the bass setting on your synth.

 

About instruments: Yeah, I think so. Fingernail said something about sound shaders. Otherwise it'll be easy to do with code.

[Darkness_Falls]

Oh, excellent! That'll be very helpful for me, Pak. I wasn't aware of that feature.

[pakmannen]

Now that I'm going through all the sounds we've made, I also noticed the "piercing" effect of HumAmb. Quite frustrating! (Since I love it otherwise)

 

Do you think you can try to reproduce the sound without this effect? That would be great. Also, the harp sounds have quite a lot of noise in the background. Could you check that out as well?

[Darkness_Falls]

Just sent you a PM, pakmannen. Let me know your thoughts...