i thought id start a topic around good ideas for sound in game, understanding the sound a game creator is asking for is easy, but truelly achieving the sounds they want can proove more than difficult. i have done alot of work for "sound for moving image" in the horror genre so i have spent alot of time creating some of the most distorting and disturbing sound even ive ever heard so heres some good ideas and techniques.

-musique concrete is always a good place to start when creating sound for horror games if you have never heard of these techniques i suggest you take a quick look at

essentially you take your sound and manipulate it in variouse ways to create a completely different end result.

procceses usually used are:

-reverse (reverse the sound you have recorded)

-transposition (take the sound you have and transpose the pitch to octaves higher or lower) // this may also effect the speed inwhich you're sound is played at)

-filtering (to add or cut frequencies to controll how sharp/dull you're sound is sounding)

-looping (cutting the sound in designated places and looping to give effect)

-adsr (attack decay sustain and release) (you can controll the adsr through volume automation over a audio sample making the sound come in slow or an instantaniouse hit)

-splicing and cutting (cutting sounds in certain places can cause some wierd effects for instance taking the initial hit of a piano will you with a droning sound instead of the sound of an instrument playing)

these are just some ideas in how you can effect your sound to achieve a greater success for a game in the sound department

other things that can be done is manipluation through effects such as:

-phaser (on a piano this creates a really creepy feeling if peramitors are controlled correctly)

-reverb ( i cannot stress the propper use of reverb this can make or break a sound, it can add alot of effect to a sound but can also damage sounds aswell, if you have a footstep sound and apply reverb that reverberates for several seconds when in game you're in a forest its going to completely destroy the dynamic the creator is trying to set)**** also controlling the dry and wet on a reverb can make a sound feel near you or 100 yards away from you this is good for sounds that will be triggered in game like a pipe falling in a tunnel etc

-delay (delays are always fun but like the reverb they can seriously ruin what you are trying to achieve! KNOW WHAT YOU'RE GOING TO BE CREATING BEFORE USING THESE EFFECTS)

another thing i have found in the past is to create for certain angles aswell,

its fine to create a footstep on a gravel road but understanding where your sound will be coming from in the game is important, i usually do several takes of the same sound slightly manipulated in different ways,

directly infront - if the sound is directly infront of "the player" i leave the sound with full frequency.

sideways- if the sound is coming from the left or right or the player controlling the panning is a good technique slightly lowering one headphone or even delaying it up i believe 30 ms (CAUTION i do not know if this kind of effect is proggrammed by the game designer or whether they put the stock sounds in if a game creator can do this without you leave the sound slap bang in the middle)

Although, you can apply some slight filtering to one of the channels cutting frequency from 20khz to somewhere in 19khz (this happens in real life your head acts as a frequency absorber, so if a sound is coming from the left the right ear will not pick up the entirety of the sound

i hope this thread has helped any of you, if you have anything to add please feel free i would love to hear what you guys have to say about this kind of stuff!

thanks for your time

I don't want to be an ass but the people coming here are usually already composers and/or sound designer, they already know this since it's the very basics.

I guess it's still a nice thing to do but there is not much point. If you want to make some kind of tutorial I think particular tips on how to make some sounds would be much more useful.

Valoon was a bit too harsh, in my opinion, but he does have a point. Your post could do quite a bit more explanation because right now it reads like a recipe without any measurements. Maybe focus in on a fewer number of techniques but go into more detail about how to make those sounds. After all, any of those suggestions could sound great... or horrible depending on the settings used!

Thanks,

Nate

I was a little bit too harsh that's true. Sorry for that, my point is the same as yours, I think something more detailled and specific is needed if he wants to make some tutorial.