As a fellow sound designer i'd be interested to hear what your DAW of choice for various tasks are. I've used pretty much all of them bar Pyramix but since i switched to PC (for compatabiltiy reasons, not my decision) I've not found one that i really felt at home with for big mixes to picture (FMV style cutscenes, etc) in surround. I wont bore everyone for the reasons why i hate everything... but i just really miss Digital Performer, it was perfect for me :( Vegas suits me for smaller sound effect creation because it's so quick but it's just not powerful/flexible enough to do hardcore stuff... What do you use?

cheers :D

Quote:Original post by Jervin

Quote:Original post by sirGustav
#1:
how do I sound/voice-act like a grunt/hero/tough-guy?
I've tried to lower the pitch a little(~-20%) and it helps, but isn't enough. I still sound lika a programmer ;)
Is it just me that is a bad voice-actor or is there some effets that can be applied to sound more duke-nukem/serious-sam alike?
I tried to access vox feminae(the same site as eSCHEn posted earlier): "how to grunt like a pro" but it gives me a 404, the radio tutorial works though.

The proper link to that page is http://voxfeminae.planetquake.gamespy.com/tutorials/grunt.shtml

For some reason that site has an extra /tutorial in all the links they provide.

Another site I'd recommend to everyone is http://www.filmsound.org/QA/. It has lots of good information about a number of topics related to sound design, voice acting, and foley work. Of course, filmsound.org in general is great.

Cool!

Quote:Original post by Muzo72

Quote:Original post by ghetalion

There are some plugins called Waves Restoration floating around on BitTorrent. I suggest trying those. You'll need Sound Forge as well which is... also floating around BitTorrent.

Quote:Then I will revise:

-Find a way to raise up $1200
-Click here: http://register.waves.com/WavesStore/StoreMain.aspx?item=USW379-1362-510
-Buy it.
-Convince yourself that $1200 for a single one-time use of cleaning up the noise from a crappy technology wasn't the biggest waste of money in your life.

I'm not good at being politically correct. They ask me a question, I give them an answer.

You're doing a wonderful job of undermining your credibility as a source of professional advice with these comments. This is high quality professional audio software you're talking about. If someone's needs are only a one-time use, there are plenty of demos and lower priced alternatives out there that can be found with no need to resort to questionable downloads.

Take your politics elsewhere.

Quote:Original post by Kylotan
Back on the main topic...

For recording vocals on a budget... is it sufficient to use an SM58 and apply judicious EQ/compression? If so, any hints besides the obvious (eg. rolling off the bass)? And how would that compare to buying and using a cheap'n'cheerful condenser mic (eg. Samson C01I)?

A 58? hmmm...

Compression will help, but proper mic location and awareness when the talent is performing will help more then post effects. This is a unidirectional mic we are dealing with, so keep all other sounds out... shifting of feet, clothes, your computer... everything.

Next, roll off the lows.

Get a condenser. It's a massive difference in quality and clarity.

Quote:Original post by Rain 7
Hi Ghetalion. What is the best way to achieve the most realistic highest quality stereo imaging with a mix?

Depends on what you are mixing, but the key is not only panning... but equalization.. .a simulation of how the ears perceive distance. Throwing a sound effect on the right will make the listener go "ok, its on the right"

Messing with the eq by adjusting the mids and the lows will tell the listener the depth. Meaning, instead of a 2d image, the listener will now have a 3d perception.

Quote:Original post by sirGustav
#1:
how do I sound/voice-act like a grunt/hero/tough-guy?
I've tried to lower the pitch a little(~-20%) and it helps, but isn't enough. I still sound lika a programmer ;)
Is it just me that is a bad voice-actor or is there some effets that can be applied to sound more duke-nukem/serious-sam alike?
I tried to access vox feminae(the same site as eSCHEn posted earlier): "how to grunt like a pro" but it gives me a 404, the radio tutorial works though.

By using your ears.

You can only imitate what you physically hear or what you can hear in your minds eye. I haven't gotten to quantization of the vocal chords yet, so specific mechanics I can't tell you, however... the easiest way to get hte voice you like is to imitate what is already out there by listening to it, and then adjusting yourself to match it. From there, throw a deviation that makes it yours and boom, you win.

#2:

Quote:How do I create bullet-stopped-by-kevlar type of sound? I tried to hit some clothes but I didn't get the same type of effect as, for instance, half-life. tips?

The "thud" is actually the sound of the body stopping the bullet, not the kevlar. Any pre-recorded bullet sound hitting a body will work. For realism, throw in the slight sound of flapping cloth to add that extra level of detail.

Quote:Original post by VectorWarrior
As a fellow sound designer i'd be interested to hear what your DAW of choice for various tasks are. I've used pretty much all of them bar Pyramix but since i switched to PC (for compatabiltiy reasons, not my decision) I've not found one that i really felt at home with for big mixes to picture (FMV style cutscenes, etc) in surround. I wont bore everyone for the reasons why i hate everything... but i just really miss Digital Performer, it was perfect for me :( Vegas suits me for smaller sound effect creation because it's so quick but it's just not powerful/flexible enough to do hardcore stuff... What do you use?

cheers :D

Cubase for music/sound design
ProTools for recording
Sound Forge for wave editing
Vegas Video for post

Quote:Original post by ghetalion

Cubase for music/sound design
ProTools for recording
Sound Forge for wave editing
Vegas Video for post

I thought you might say something along those lines :) I've ended up using about 10 different bits of software on PC that really should be do-able with just one... I'm still hoping for some magical hiden app somewhere that does everything i want perfectly... i think i'm in for a long wait ;) Oh well... I just can't stand Cubase/Nuendo though, it just doesn't work how my brain works and the bussing system is so unflexible it's practically useless... but that's just my opinion.

As for the speech thing, it is made all the more difficult because speech is processed by a different part of the brain than all other sounds and it's a lot more picky about what it accepts as 'human' speech, therefore you are limited to what you can do to a voice before your brain shouts "this doesn't sound human!" at you. You can't process the sh!t out of a voice like you can with other sounds. Therefore it's vital you get a very good source recording that is already 'almost' there. The old pitch down trick helps, as does some sort of bass enhancement and eq. I had to do something like this a few months back and ended up auditioning a load of people, got something pretty close and then did the above steps plus added in some vocoded version with a very low bass rumble as the carrier. Added a whole extra layer of depth and sounded really ground shaking... but that might not be what you're looking for as this was supposed to be over the top... Unfortunately there's no 'magic' plug-in or preset... there never is in audio. Now if someone could make one... please?

As for the software theft thing... i think we should move that issue into it's own thread if people want to talk about it. I don't agree with it but that's not the point, it's a separate matter to what we're discussing here and no-one wants this to turn into a bitching match :)

all the best :D