Final Project

Final Project: Game Audio

HOUYANHENG

0378215

Our task this time is to record and edit the sound effects from a game video. We must choose a time to go to the recording studio to record or record all the sound effects ourselves, without any music.

The teacher provided several videos to choose from.I choose Red Goddess Inner World

I've played many side-scrolling games, and I've played all the other games the teacher gave us. The main reason I chose this game is that I was worried I would unconsciously replicate the sound effects from games I've played, resulting in a lack of imagination in my project. So I chose a game I hadn't played before.It was a challenge.

Audio list:

Based on the videos provided by my teacher and other online videos, I summarized the game's style and main sound effects, and meticulously broke down all actions that could produce sound effects, creating an audio list. I believe that interaction is the prerequisite for sound effects, so I focused on watching interactions between players, NPCs, and items, such as running, jumping, and picking up items.

Audio Storyboard

Based on the actions and sound effects in the video, I created a timeline and determined the approximate location of each sound effect for my subsequent creation.

Recording

My next task is to go to the recording studio. Before that, I've planned out everything I need for the recording as thoroughly as possible. I first visualize it in my mind, then try out the sound effects of various objects colliding or rubbing together at home, and choose the suitable items to take with me.

By watching the video and comparing different items, I found some suitable objects, such as a passport, toilet paper, a piece of metal, a backpack, a data cable, a water bottle, coins, a plastic bag, bubble wrap, and a necklace.

Plastic bags and wooden sticks

Passport and metal phone holder

Garbage can

Data cable

Toilet paper

When I went to the recording studio, I brought these items. We recorded in groups of four, with one person recording while another recorded for them. 

We brought a lot of stuff, so we tried putting everything together to test the sound, and found it very effective, creating amazing sound effects.

After a morning of recording, I completed a total of 15 sound effects.

This includes most of the character's actions, such as running, jumping, falling, and collecting.

After getting home, I left ambient sounds on and started aligning my footsteps with the video. Because I recorded my footsteps at the same speed as the video, I didn't need to adjust my own speed; I only needed to edit.

Import and edit the recorded storyboards one by one to achieve alignment with the video actions.At this point, all the sound effects recorded in the recording studio have been imported.

Upon closer inspection, I found that many sound effects were too thin, such as jumping sounds and landing sounds.The sound effects production should be rigorous. I wanted the sound effects to be more three-dimensional and richer, so I recorded the sound effects myself in my apartment.

Sound effects recorded at home

I recorded an additional sound effect for every important action to make the original sound more three-dimensional. For example, the sound of landing would be very thin if only the original sound effect was used, but by adding another track below it, aligning it with another similar sound effect, the amount of information in the sound effect is increased. For example, I originally recorded the sound of the character landing by throwing objects on the floor, which was very dull, but most of the time in the game, the character lands on grass. So I needed to add a sound of landing on grass, different from walking on grass, and then add a quieter, duller sound on the track below to balance it. If the character lands on a rock, it also needs to be different from landing on grass, using two louder sounds of different degrees.

Feedback

However, I didn't import the recording immediately. By Monday, I showed my current project to Mr. Razif. He first thought I shouldn't have any downloaded sound effects because I hadn't yet decided on an interactive sound effect for one of my objects, so I downloaded a resource online. Secondly, he thought the footsteps had a buzzing sound, which I hadn't even noticed was a continuous sound. I found my jumping sound too heavy and should be made lighter. 

Sound editing

To increase the density of sound information, I filmed the sound effects of each important action two to three times, such as a jumping sound, a stomping sound, a leaping sound, and a friction sound.This increased the difficulty of my editing.

I experimented with different primary sound effects for the same action; for example, sometimes the jumping sound was more of a friction sound, and sometimes the soaring sound was more of a booming sound. This involved changing the arrangement and combination of sounds, as well as adjusting the volume, to reduce player visual fatigue.

Noise Cancellation

I first optimized the footsteps, reduced noise in the waveform interface, and then reduced the buzzing sound. After continuous attempts, I found that the buzzing sound was reduced when I cut off the 750Hz and 1500Hz frequencies.

I imported all the audio effects I recorded later into the appropriate locations and finished editing.

Original sound

After noise reduction

Adaptive noise reduction

Noise Cancellation

After importing and editing all the sound effects, I denoised all the sound effects that weren't recorded in the studio. I captured noise samples on the waveform page and used noise reduction and adaptive noise reduction to keep the sound clean.

Audio-visual

Because side-scrolling games have a fixed perspective, players can only move in the left and right directions. The relative distance between objects and players is only the left and right sides and the front. This makes things much easier. For example, the sound of a spike trap should appear on the right side when the player is about to walk over it, and gradually shift towards the center as the player gets closer, until the player walks over it, at which point the sound shifts to the left side.

Before entering the cave, the ambient sound also moved from behind to the left rear.

Reverberation

Room reverb and full reverb are quite common in my projects. When the scene moves to a cave, all sound is added to the room reverb. High-frequency cut is increased, the room size is moderate, and humidity is increased by adjusting the output level.

The NPCs' chanting will use full reverb to create a sacred and guiding atmosphere. This is achieved by increasing room size and diffusion, along with delay and echo.

Parametric equalizer

The vocals are rendered with a parametric equalizer that lowers low frequencies and boosts high frequencies, creating a sacred feel in conjunction with reverb.

The sound of dripping water scattered in the cave

Document：

Final File：

Reflection

Through this assignment, I learned a lot. This was my first time creating sound effects in a recording studio. I had been to recording studios many times before, but always for recording instruments. This experience was very different; I think it's a completely new way of creating. The recording process in the studio was very interesting and creative. My colleagues and I would place objects together, bump them against each other, and compare them to find new effects—it was a fantastic feeling. During the Audition project, I learned to use various reverb and noise reduction techniques to make a very ordinary sound effect very clean, or conversely, to make a very faint sound effect rich and full. This is something I'll continue to learn. In short, through this course, I learned a lot and was exposed to new creative mediums. Overall, it was a very enjoyable journey.I hope to have the opportunity to continue creating in the future; I would be very happy.