This page contains audio work for Project Anaximander.

Contents

Audio in games

• Music
  • Non-diegetic (outside the world of the character)
  • Diegetic (in the world of the character)
  • Lyrical/instrumental
• Notification/Indicators/Cue/UI sounds
  • Sounds that alert the player of something
• Ambient
  • Weather sound effects
    • Rain
    • Wind
    • Thunder
  • Crowd noise
  • Background noise
  • What you would expect to hear in the area you are in
  • Environmental sounds
• Sound effects
  • Gun shots
  • Reloading
  • Walking
  • Sprinting
  • Vehicle Engine
  • Sword swipe
• Dialog
  • Voice lines
  • Narration

Sound Effects

Pong

Sound effect	How do you think it was created?
Ball hitting paddle	Computer software
Ball hitting wall	Computer software
Round ending	Computer software

1943

Sound effect	How do you think it was created?
Text appearing	Computer software
Gun shots	Computer software
Explosion	Computer software
Picking up a power up	Computer software
Lighting strike	Computer software

Skyrim

Sound effect	How do you think it was created?
Horse	Recording a horse
Cart wheels	Recording a cart
Wooden doors	Recording a wooden door
Footsteps	Recorded footsteps on different surfaces
Arrows	Record arrow being fired and hitting a target
Head being chopped off	Axe hitting a watermelon
Dragon	Computer software
Fire balls	Computer software

Starfield

Sound effect	How do you think it was created?
Rumbling of the elevator	Recording metal things being banged together
Footsteps	recorded footsteps on different surfaces
Cutter (laser mining tool)	computer software
Cutter crate	Recorded a manual roller shutter door
Rocks breaking	Recorded rocks being dropped
Mining/drilling vehicle	Recorded heavy machine vehicles

Audio Editing

Definitions

Equalization (EQ) – the levels of frequency response of an audio signal, or controls which allow their adjustment, Adjust the volume level of a frequency (or range of frequencies) within a sound.

Panning – placing or moving audio in a stereo field

Reverb – simulating sound bouncing around in a space

Delay – creating an echo by replaying audio multiple times with a gap in between the replays

Pitch – frequency of a sound

Video Editing

Spotting

Spotting is when you go through a video and write down when you want certain sound effects to play. We went through two different methods of doing this:

Pen and Paper

#	Time In	Sound Effect Description	What would you need to make the sound effect?
1	00:00	Footsteps on dirt	Tray of dirt. Hiking boots.
2	00:04	Holstering handgun	Handgun
3	00:10	Scrambling up wood	Wood. Hiking boots
4	00:29	Footsteps on concrete	Concrete. Hiking boots
5	00:33	Door being lifted. Wood scraping on concrete	Wooden door. Concrete
6	00:42	Footsteps on tile	Tile floor. Hiking boots
7	00:46	Footsteps on carpet	Carpet. Dirt. Hiking boots
8	00:51	Wind	Grass. Hiking boots
9	01:00	Footsteps on grass	Stone hiking boots
10	01:02	Footsteps on stone	Fan
11	01:03	Leaves moving in the wind	Bush and fan
12	01:08	Leaves being walked through	Bush
13	01:41	Ladder being picked up	Ladder
14	02:00	Ladder being placed on brick	Ladder brick
15	02:03	Ladder being climbed	Ladder
16	02:11	Footsteps on wooden floor with lots of rubble on	Wooden floor hiking boots bricks stone rubble
17	02:19	Landing on rubble	Hiking boots rubble
18	02:38	Breathing through gas mask	Gas mask
19	02:41	Flash light being turned on	Clicky button
20	03:23	Moving wooden strut	Wooden strut
21	03:23	Rubble falling	Rubble
22	03:52	Gun shot	Handgun

Adobe Premiere Pro

Microphones

Types

Polar Patterns

Foley

Foley – the reproduction of everyday sound effects that are added to films, videos, and other media in post-production to enhance audio quality

Foley work

Google Drive

“I will just record one footstep and repeat it every time the character steps”

This wouldn’t work not every footstep sounds the same so having the same one repeat over and over again would make it stand out and sound bad. The player would recognise the repetition of the same footstep sound and probably drive them crazy if there is a lot of running around in the game.

What is the purpose of music in a game?

To make the game more immersive if it’s music that is playing because it’s in the world of the character for example a car radio. Music outside of the characters world can enhance the emotion of a scene or the gameplay for example in Payday 2 fast music is played when you do a heist loud which makes the gameplay feel faster and more exciting.

• Setting mood/tone
• Identifying time/era/location
• Establishing gameplay pace
• To increase immersion
• To create suspense

Music

Analyse a game of your choice in terms of the music it uses throughout the game

Most of the music is indie/alternative/rock music minus a couple songs. It fits into the theme of the character. In the game Chai, the main character, is infused with his MP3 player so all the music playing would be from his MP3 player so indie/alternative/rock music fits with what you would expect his character to listen to. The music and gameplay are very intertwined in this game as it’s a rhythm game where you have to time your attacks to the beat. So the speed of the music affects how the gameplay plays. I don’t think another genre would have worked as the music is such an integral part of the game if you were to use a different genre you would have to change the game as a whole or it just wouldn’t fit.

BeepBox

BeepBox is an online tool for sketching and sharing instrumental music.

My song

When creating the song I worked on the basis of each layer having a different role:

• Melody 
• Harmony
• Bass
• Beat

How do character’s and level’s musical themes help with the overall narrative of a game?

A character’s musical theme can tell you a lot about a character. The overall mood and tone of the musical theme will match the overall mood and tone of the character. If the character were to change during the story for example go from the villain to a hero then the musical theme would match that. It wouldn’t be a whole new musical theme it would be similar to the old one so you still knew it was the same character but it might be brighter and high pitched to symbolize the characters change. The musical themes for levels will inform you about how it will play. If the music is fast pace then the level will be fast. You might also get music themes for a type of level for example in HiFi RUSH there is a theme for the hideout that is copied across the game many times but not just in the hideout it’s used when the player has some time to relax and is in a down time period where they can talk to the other character. As well for the hideout theme it will be changed to mimic the mood and tone of the game at that time. For example the theme will become faster and more up beat when the characters in the story are about to do something exciting in the next level or the theme could be slower and sadder when the character find out something sad. The hideout theme is still the same at the core so that it can still signify to you that you are at a hideout where you can talk to the other characters and continue the next level when you choose but it will be slightly different depending on the mood and tone of the story at that time. 

The music will mimic what is happening in the story or mimic the character. If the character is evil the music will symbolise that. If the story at that moment is sad then the music will be slow and sad. It helps the viewer understand what is happening in the story or help them understand a character better. The music adds another layer of depth and understanding to the story and/or the characters. In HiFi RUSH when you are playing the boss battle level against Mimosa the music in the game changes from the games usual indie/alt/rock music to jazz to show you: 1 that Mimosa is a boss because she has taken control of the music which is the main characters source of power and 2 the sort of person Mimosa is someone who likes to be the centre of attention and like to perform and be on stage.

Copyright, trademark and sponsorship

Copyright- protection for intellectual property that gives the owner exclusive use of the property

Trademark- a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from others

Sponsorship- paid to advertise a brand or product (product placement)

When would either be used within games?

You would copyright the intellectual property of Mario and the Nintendo logo would be a trademark for the company.

Games Sound Designer Task

Games Sound Designer Task