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Sound Effects, Ambience, Music


Darkness_Falls

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Here are a few quick sample files I just created to give you a small feel for what my Roland keyboard is capable of. Nothing polished or final here, just a quick sampling of different effects and atmospheres. There are hundreds of sounds in this keyboard and considering each can be manipulated (slowed down, sped up, layered, pitch altered, fade ins/outs, etc.) through software, I thought it might provide some help to this DarkMod endeavor. Each of these files are around 3 to 5 MB in size. Let me know if anything here makes it sound like my keyboard has potential:

 

Probably best just to 'right-click/save as' to your hard drive...

http://208.49.149.118/TheDarkMod/audio/unf...ess_Falls-1.mp3

 

http://208.49.149.118/TheDarkMod/audio/unf...ess_Falls-2.mp3

 

http://208.49.149.118/TheDarkMod/audio/unf...ess_Falls-3.mp3

 

Edited URLs because file locations were moved...

Edited by Darkness_Falls
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Hello.

 

To answer your question reagarding equipment: I'm using a PC, with a Terratec Aureon 7.1 Universe sound card. Cubase SX + VST instruments for music and yes, I also use Goldwave. :)

 

You can probably upload the files to the Dark Mod FTP server, there is a thread about it where the passwords etc are. I should probably upload the SFX I've done for the Thief2D project there as well.

 

And regarding your samples, some of it sounds good, though I really can't tell since I'm sitting with some really crappy speakers right now. :)

Edited by pakmannen
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I'll have to check Google to find out what Cubase SX + VST instruments are... (tomorrow after I've gotten some sleep) :) Goldwave rocks.

 

Ahh, thanks for the info regarding DarkMod FTP. I hadn't seen that before.

 

Regarding the samples -- you should get better speakers, m'friend!! :) There's some rumbling bass in parts, and other subtleties, that might not be audible on cheaper speakers. Perhaps you already do and are just using a different PC than you normall do...?

 

PS: If someone with DSL or Broadband can do me a HUGE favor and move the above MP3s to that DarkMod FTP area, I'd really appreciate it! I'm on 56K and it'd take me a while :P If you're able, let me know what the new URLs are and I'll edit the above links.

Edited by Darkness_Falls
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Well I have just been listening to the MP3's, and Darkness Falls has my vote to keep working on the ambience tracks for our mod :) That kind of thing sounds like it could be developed into the style from Thief we all know and love.

 

I tried uploading them to the DarkMod FTP, but I had problems, I posted in the FTP thread.

(I have cable access here at Uni)

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I take it you're a big Silent Hill fan, huh? ;)

 

I'm with Domarius, you get my vote for doing the ambient tracks. Great stuff.

 

Edit: Just uploaded his tracks to the FTP...

 

http://208.49.149.118/TheDarkMod/Music/Darkness_Falls-1.mp3

http://208.49.149.118/TheDarkMod/Music/Darkness_Falls-2.mp3

http://208.49.149.118/TheDarkMod/Music/Darkness_Falls-3.mp3

Edited by Renzatic
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Thanks guys! I think it has potential also!! I need to play through Thief 1 and 2 again soon to try and re-capture the feel of some of the aural delights they had. I'm sure you already did this, but while listening to my tracks, close your eyes and try to envision differen't scenes/moods/situations that could be happening. There are a few bits of sounds in there I've noticed, for example, that might work well for machinery -- especially when looped. The piano & strings music sound used in the 'Darkness_Falls-1.mp3' file (about :45 seconds into it) is very similar to the one used in the mansion level of TDS (the level where you could see lightning flashes from inside.) That's the only reason I did that.

 

And, no! Honestly, I've never played Silent Hill. Does it use similar ambience? I watched a friend play a little bit of SH2 on the PlayStation2 many years ago, but I seriously don't remember what the music/ambience was like.

 

I love working with audio, so I'd love to try and help out with the audio portion of things.

 

PS: I've edited my original post to now have the revised URLs. Thanks Renzatic!!!!

Edited by Darkness_Falls
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Thanks guys! I think it has potential also!! I need to play through Thief 1 and 2 again soon to try and re-capture the feel of some of the aural delights they had. I'm sure you already did this, but while listening to my tracks, close your eyes and try to envision differen't scenes/moods/situations that could be happening. There are a few bits of sounds in there I've noticed, for example, that might work well for machinery -- especially when looped. The piano & strings music sound used in the 'Darkness_Falls-1.mp3' file (about :45 seconds into it) is very similar to the one used in the mansion level of TDS (the level where you could see lightning flashes from inside.) That's the only reason I did that.

I'm totally glad we have you on ambience. I can tell you know what you're doing. :)

 

I did try and envision some bits when I listened to them :) And I could see them, even in the sound track's undeveloped stage.

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And, no! Honestly, I've never played Silent Hill. Does it use similar ambience?

 

Very much so. It has that same hollow and rusty metallic sound that's most evident in the 2nd track. It's not exactly the same, but it's close...SH seems more dischordant and uses alot more white noise in comparison.

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I'm not a music guy, so get your salt grains ready.

 

I think these sound pretty good. Nice, quiet background ambience style tunes.

 

The first one is nice, although the exact tone of the piano gave me a different 'feeling' than I would expect in the game. A little more light and airy that I would expect, but not bad altogether

 

The second one is also nice. Defintely more ambiance than music. I was with it all the way till the end, where some of the sounds became a little too rythmic, and began to sound more music than ambiance. I think there is a place for musical ambience and environmental ambience, but I question whether they should be mixed together in the same track. Triggered changes could work with this, of course... music changes are great when done correctly!

 

The third one was probably my favorite, particularly the beginning. Great, dark, brooding musical ambiance. My one complaint is the drastic change between the first half and the second half. This is two different themes smashed into one song, I think, and maybe they should be separated. The first half should continue into a new movement, but it should definately carry over the themes.

 

Also, I noticed quite clearly the chimes used in the first two, sounding like distant clock bells. Nice sound on these. However, in ambiance, I think you may want to avoid features such as these. On a five to ten minute loop, the reoccuring bells could seem strange to a player who recognizes a midnight clock chime occurring every 5 minutes. The chimes would work fantastically as an intro segment that isn't looped, or a triggered musical bit though. Note that this restriction doesn't apply to all features; bangs sudden dischordant sounds, etc. can fit in with the environment and not call attention to themselves.

 

Anyway, just my opinion, as a non-sound designer :)

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Thanks for the feedback, Oofnish! I'm glad you could listen to them.

 

I think it's important to point out to everyone, though, that these were just quick samples I put toegether to find out if people thought my keyboard had the potential to help out with this project or not. The sounds were by no means supposed to be "songs," since I was just trying different sounds out on my keyboard and throwing them all together. I only spent maybe an hour or so creating all three of these files. I could've put them all in one big 10MB file, but I wanted to section it up for lower-bandwidth users.

 

If anything, I'd classify these files as a hodge-podge of a bunch of random sounds thrown together. I did not aim to have any bit of continuity whatsoever. :)

 

Aside from just general "ambience," I may also be creating stuff for menus, in-game melodies, very specific in-game situations, player movement sounds, player interaction sounds, weapon use sounds, steam-punk machinery, etc.

 

So, by me putting these files together, it was meant to give you a simple taste of different sounds my keyboard is capable of. When the melody or sounds in my files all the sudden shift from one thing to another, it's meant to showcase the wide variety of capabilities my keyboard has. Or when a sound in file #2 all the sudden goes from runblyness to weirdness (juxtaposed) -- for example -- I was just trying different effects. This is necessary, because as a sound person, you're listening for everything 'in-between' as a possible resource to re-create and use in some way. Every little second of sound in those files could be used for something. For example, if you take 1/2 a second of a bell sound and stretch it out to 3 seconds and lower the pitch two octaves, you might be able to cut a part of that resulting sound out to create a footstep-across-grass sound or an arrow launching sound or something. (I actually don't know what sound it would make, but this is just a theoretical example to show you what I listen for when I'm listening to the above files.)

 

I wasn't suggesting these files be used for the DarkMod either. It's simply way too early to tell, and the sounds would need to be way more polished.

 

For sounds, in general, I think it's best to hold off creating anything final for a long time. We need to get a lot more concept artwork done and possibly create some in-game scenes before we get on the track of what ambience or loops will be used. For ambience and music, it will likely be imperative to actually play through a rough draft of the DarkMod game before deciding on which sounds/music to use. I know a lot of my inspiration will actually come when I'm walking through a level and seeing what I encounter. My imagination will run wild at that point.

 

In the end, the clock bells you're referring to (if they're to be used) would likely be used for the game menu or an in-game scene near a clocktower or something, but it wouldn't repeat forever in a neverending looped sequence. It would maybe strike 12 times for a clocktower sequence... or maybe just a couple times for a game opening sequence or splash screen. Hopefully you won't have to worry too much -- I think I'll be pretty good at avoiding repitious sounds that shouldn't be indefinitely repetitious, or that stand out as being repitious.

 

Oh yeah, and the piano in file #1? LOL. I threw that 'piece' together in 2 minutes. The rhythms are off and everything. I was just trying to make a somewhat coherent 'melody' that was 'vaguely' reminiscent of a piano piece that was used in Thief: Deadly Shadows. If I were to actually create a piece for DarkMod, I'd actually spend a lot more time on it than 2 minutes ;) ... and I probably wouldn't use a piano piece from T:DS as my inspiration. Or any piano sound for that matter :D

Edited by Darkness_Falls
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Heh, yeah, I don't normally use crappy speakers for my sound and music needs. :) I'm getting a new computer soon, and I wont bother to rig my things up again before I get it. I could post the sfx I've made for Thief2D though.

 

Thief2D Music

This is a little almost-done music thing for a movie or something.

 

I'll put the sound effects on the FTP once I get a chance.

Edited by pakmannen
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Well, it sure sounds like you've got it in hand :) I certainly couldn't put anything close to those together in such a short period of time.

 

I replayed a little of Moira's mansion to look at an AI feature the other night, and was suprised when I noticed a piano tune similar to the one you had in your first file. I stand by my tone 'feeling', but thats probably a minor tweak.

 

Good stuff

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If there is anything I'd comment on it'd be the orchestra hit sample you use in the first track, I think something that sounds a bit more lonely and eerie might fit better. Everything else sounds great, and I'd probably use it in a map or two.

 

One thing you'll need to keep in mind is that with Thief you rarely ever have true single tracks, instead you have individual pieces that play at certain points and can mix together easily and produce something that sounds great. Like if you were to start a mission you'd only hear a bassy rumble, but as you approach the mansion you intend on breaking into you'd eventually have a weird warble sound come in on top of the rumble that'd go away if you were to back off and go return to the starting point. It's all locational...if that makes sense.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Again, this was just a mixture of many different sound effects to showcase some capabilities of my keyboard :ph34r:

 

Considering I might be working on sounds effects, music, atmosphere, and/or menu noises, etc... I threw in several different sounds with little or no aim for continuity and didn't intend for any of the tracks to be used (as is) for DarkMod.

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nice to meet everyone in here :)

 

one main thing about orchestrating music that films do...

they normally dont score a film until they have ruff cuts done and the composer/artist can work around that.

it should not happen where we make sounds and the programmers of the game work around the sound. we are there to bring the world "alive" not to make the people that create the world fall into the guidelines of the score.

 

sure its ok to get general guidelines of the music we want, but nothing should be set in stone, until ruff demos can be played, or story boards are drawn so all the sound people can huddle together for the ambient track, efx and voices.

 

just something to think about

 

peace

LB

 

home studio consists of:

 

Hardware

 

Yamaha S03 music synth

Boss DR-670 drum machine

Peavy RQ 200 6 channel mixer

samson 8 channel head phone amp

PreSonus "smart" compressor

Art Tube Amp

Rode NT1-A Condensor mic (on loan to someone at the moment)

Shure BG 2.1 stage mic

M-audio Delta 44

M-audio 24/96

Numark Turntable

DJ mixer

Teac 6 Disc cd player

2 stand alone burners for on the fly burning

 

Software

 

Acid Pro 4

Wavelab 4

Waves Bundle Gold efx pluggins

and too many samples to name :P

Edited by LiquidBronze
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Yeah, but Thief music isn't really music in the strictest sense, it's more like a bunch of seperate ambient sounds that can mix well together into something that sounds similar to music. It's all locational, certain bits will come and go depending on where you're at...for example

 

Start of the mission: A subtle sound effect similar to someone humming "oooohh OOOOHH ohhh"

 

Inside the mansion: A slow, monotonous background beat begins to play. Gives you the impression that you're truly starting what you set out to do.

 

The basement: An odd warble accompanies the previous 2 effects, adds tension to the creepy enviroment

 

It's all layered like that. It's not something you'd score like a movie soundtrack, all you'd need to know before you start writing the music is the theme, the mood, and the locations.

 

This is just for the missions of course, for cutscenes it'd work more like what you said.

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Ooo, you got some nice things there! I was actually going to buy an M-Audio, but decided to go with a Terratec instead (partly because they don't even sell M-Audio cards here.. d'oh).

 

I'm mostly using Cubase SX with a whole bunch of VST instruments for music. And for simple audio editing I use a small freeware program called Goldwave, which I love and adore. :)

 

You should check on the darkmod's FTP server where I have uploaded the SFX and ambient stuff I've done so far. It's right there under the "Sounds" directory. (You can find the login and password in the FTP thread.)

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Ren wrote: It's all layered like that. It's not something you'd score like a movie soundtrack, all you'd need to know before you start writing the music is the theme, the mood, and the locations.

 

I agree for the most part. The mansion level of T3, though, used some moody music which seemed more like music than white noise -- and I felt it was pretty effective. Felt lonely, atmospheric. The orchestra hit I used in my first track that you commented on earlier is actually very similar to (if not the same as) what that mansion level used in it's track. Venture through that level again and you'll know what I'm talking about.

 

But I must say a track like that should be more of the exception than the rule. I'll be focusing more on ambience than actual 'songs' like that one in T3.

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Man, reading through this thread again makes me realise that I repeated myself a whole helluva lot. ;)

 

But I must say a track like that should be more of the exception than the rule. I'll be focusing more on ambience than actual 'songs' like that one in T3.

 

I'd try and go for something inbetween...an ambient track that almost sounds like it has the flow and beat of a song, but works on a more basic level.

 

Widow Moria would be the best example to use here. It ambient all the way, but it almost has a movielike soundtrack feel to it all the same due to the occasional piano twinkle.

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