Tag Archives: design

Week 8 – Atmosphere

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This week I decided to start thinking about building atmosphere tracks for the horror game. A good horror film has an underlying atmosphere, a moody visual undertone that creates a sense of dread, wonder and mystique and leaves us with snapshots of unforgettable imagery (,2013 ). This quote from the Filmmaker Magazine(more information on this can be found in my research section) tells the importance of a good atmosphere, whether this is from sound or visual. I wanted to give the sound atmosphere a  Sci-Fi and horror feel. I took into account however that the game is set in an abandoned operating theatre so I also know that there needs to be some element of realism, the importance of this is talked about in my research section of the blog under Youtube. Added to the atmosphere will be hospital sounds such as breathing machines etc… These will be built into the atmosphere along with more Sci-Fi sounds. For example below you can here a change in atmosphere for when the user is left alone in the room. As soon as the atmosphere changes to this the user will know straight away that something is about to happen.

 

The atmosphere uses three different synths on the Omnisphere plug-in merged together to add depth to the atmosphere, these synths are called Rumble Winds, Rising Winds & Whispers of Doom, Whispers of Doom and Rising Winds have also been adapted slightly by taking away some of the reverb on them and putting an EQ taking away some of the low end to give it a shaper sound. During the creation of these sounds it was important to make sure that everything is organised in the Pro Tools sessions (especially for future use). Below you can see a screenshot of how to organise track names.

Track naming

As well as working on the atmos tracks for the game I have also been working on some sounds that will help to build the tension in the game. For example

 

This sound can be used when something has happened in the game to draw the users attention to this and help to build suspense.

Below is a screenshot of the Plug-in used for the Atmosphere tracks Omnisphere and its built in EQ and Limiter.

Omnisphere

Week 7 – Foley Pt 2

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As this project has progressed I have come to realise that the Foley will now need to be done in three parts. This is the second part. The reason why the Foley is going to be done in three parts is because the development time of the game. As the game development progresses so do the small sounds that need to be added. This second part of Foley recording has been used for small sounds such as the door closing and a light switch.

 

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All Foley no matter how small has been recorded using a stereo recording technique called a spaced pair. The stereo recording technique is used with two microphones, the microphones were Rhode NT5 matched pairs. Stereo recording gives a better sonic depth to the sound and this will work very well in the game for some sounds as the user will be listening through headphones. Not all sounds will be used as stereo but they will be available if needed. Research on stereo microphone techniques can be found in my research tab.

The recordings have been processed through Pro Tools and using Waves Gold plug-ins have been manipulated to improve the sound. For example the door needed to have more bass to give it a more realistic feel ( bass or other frequencies can sometimes be lost in the recording progress) I used a digital EQ to boost the signals around the 120k and 500.

Over the next week I plan to manipulate the sounds more and use Omnisphere to start to build a Horror atmosphere.

Week 6 – Discussions, Synths and Horror

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At the start of week 6 both me and the games developer Rhys met up to discuss the projects progression. After suffering from illness Rhys decided that he would now purchase the room design through the programming software called Unity so that the project won’t fall behind. This has turned out good for me because it now means that I am able to start designing the sound to match the actual room. You can see a screen shot below. Also during this weeks meeting with Rhys we discussed the running order for the game, Rhys has provided me with a document (see attachment at the bottom of the post) that breaks down what will happen during the game. This has helped me to understand what sounds are going to be needed and at what point they will be needed for. Now I have the picture of what the room will look like I will start to create the sounds to build the atmosphere of the room, sounds that you would expect to hear in an operating theatre such as, oxygen machine, heart monitor and buzzing lights. All these sounds will help to build the atmosphere.

Room Design Screenshot

Room Design Screenshot

This week I have also purchased a new plug-in called Omnisphere, this is a synth plugin that has many adaptable sounds that can be used for effects and post production atmospheric tracks. I have started to record and capture ideas that I think may be able to work well in the game. For example I have created a dramatic heart beat sound, this sound was created by using a synth but instead of holding the note for a long period of time to allow the music side of the synth to start, I played the synth very short each time increasing in speed to make the synth sound like the pumping of a heart slowly getting faster. I also added some extra reverb to the synth to help with dramatic effect.

Overall at the minute I understand that the sound design is still very much in the early stages. However now I have the running order of the game and a more detailed plan of the room I feel more confident to start to develop the sounds that are needed.

Oculus Project Running Order

Week 1 – The Plan

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I am a third year Audio production Student and for my Audio Project 2 I will be creating sound for a virtual reality game experience. After talking to Rhys Clarihew a third year Media Production student about his project he asked if I would be able to be the sound designer for this project. Rhys made it clear what he wanted from me as a  sound designer, I will be creating all the sounds in post production as there is no live recording. The aim of the virtual reality experience is to create a Horror game that scares the user. The experience is set in an abandoned operating theatre, during the game the user will be pushed around the theatre in a wheel chair and will be able to interact with arrange of objects such as the operating table, cupboards and a wheelchair. Rhys new the importance of sound for this but has left the overall sound design to me, giving me complete creative freedom on the project. The game will last between 3-5 minutes, depending on how long the user can last using the experience. The Oculus Rift headset will be used for the virtual reality experience, more information on the product can be found in my supporting materials section

My aim for the project is to research and expand on the skills needed to work in game sound and also horror as a genre. I will look into recent released games, films and academic written work  to inspire my project. Some examples of my research that I plan to undertake are the horror game Dead Space and the film Alien. I will update and talk about all my research undertaken in the research section of this blog.

The objective of this project is to complete the whole sound design in time for the deadline for this virtual reality game thats being produced.

Timescale –

Week 1 – Meet up with that game designer to discuss project aims and objectives. Develop an understanding of the game.

Week 2 – Plan out potential sounds and discuss ideas from Rhys regarding sound development.

week 3 – Begin Foley recording for natural sounds such as foot steps.

week 4 – Complete Foley and basic room recordings

week 5 – By this week Rhys hopes to have complete a basic design of the operating room. This will allow me to start designing the sounds that will add the horror aspect to the game.

week 6 – ADR recording. I will hopefully record some voices designed to act ghostly to scare the user. I will use voice over actors that I have used for past projects.

week 7 – Mixing Foley recordings and adding any effects needed.

week 8 – Creative sound design. I will create atmospheric tracks using synths and natural recorded sounds to bring the game to life.

week 9 – Create any small sounds needed to add a horror aspect e.g sounds that you can not see like the alien that is supposed to be in the room with you.

week 10 – finalising and bouncing of all sound files

week 11 – Mixing the sound and adding them to the game

week 12 – Game testing and making sure all the sounds needed are in the game

week 13 – completion

I will use this blog to update my progress and my research. You can see Rhys blog here http://rhysclarihew.wordpress.com/