In order to create the best quality sound effects I decided that I would try and record as many as I could myself. I read through The Complete Guide to Game Audio and received some great advice from the book.
Simplicity is king. I worked on Metroid Prime 2 and Metroid Prime 3. ‘Prime 2’ was huge for me and I wanted so desperately to impress Scott Peterson, Clark Wren, and fans of the Metroid series. I overdid it though. I over-thought sounds, I added too many elements, and I forgot that my sounds are not the focus – the experience is the focus. It took me a very long time to realise that at the end of the day you might hear a sound only once and if it calls to much attention to itself, regardless of technically how good it is, it’s not appropriate. (Marks, 2009)
The list of sound effects needed are as follows:
- Birdsong
- Carriage crash
- Church bells
- Crows
- Doorbell
- Footsteps on pavement
- Footsteps on grass
- ground rumbling
- Horse and cart
- Horse neighing
- Keys rattling
- Rusty metal gate
- Tools rattling
- Wind gust
- Wooden door creaking
There may be a few more sound effects needed if Amelia needs them. So I would record them closer to the hand in date if needed.
In order to record the sound effects in high quality, I purchased a Zoom H2 portable digital recording device. The Zoom H2 could record in stereo as well as mono, at 44.1 kHz and 16 bit resolution. There was some of the sound effects required, such as horse and cart and horse neighing, that I would be unable to record myself, so I would need to take a trip to the University’s sound library to acquire those sound effects.
For each recording I would need to get plenty of takes, at least 8, so that I would have a wide selection and be able to choose the best recording. Once the recordings have been imported into Pro Tools, I would need to strip any silence, and if there is any back ground noise, I would need to highlight the space and let a noise-reduction plug in analyse it and process the file with this setting.
Trim off the dead space from both ends, being careful not to cut any of the sound wave. Use the zoom feature to see exactly where the sound begins and ends. This process will ensure the file is as small as possible and that the sound will play immediately after it is triggered, instead of playing any silence first. (Marks, 2009: 284)
I considered the recording techniques I would use, and most importantly, where and when I would record. It would be no good recording footsteps next to a busy main road, or recording some keys rattling when the kettle’s boiling. I have a lot of different sound effects to record so planning when and where I would be recording them is essential.
The only things you can control when doing remote work is when and where it takes place. Either find some place which has negotiable background noise, or pick a time such as night, when the chance of silence is improved. (Marks, 2009)
Another point to consider, is that because I am designing sound for a game, there would be no need for foley as such, because I would not be recording sounds while the visual plays. Although there is an animation in the form of cut scenes, there is still no need for foley work, as I can record the sound effects needed and implement them to the animations.
When it comes to recording footsteps, I needed to create individual sound files for each footstep, because the game would trigger the sound when the characters foot touches the ground, which is very different to animation, which would have a recording of someone walking until they stop, and you would do this using foley. I would need to create two individual footstep sounds, one for the left foot and one for the right foot.
To soup it up a bit, you could use a left and right footfall (because each step in real life never really sounds the same) and some heavy breathing (because the character is supposed to be running) (Marks, 2009)
Bibliography
Marks, A. (2009) The Complete Guide to Game Audio: For Composers, Musicians, Sound Designers. 2nd ed. Burlington: Focal Press.
