A bit of audio work (Patreon)

Audio work is one of those things that I only seem to do once a year, maybe less.  I usually end up forgetting how to use whatever program I used the last time and have to learn as I go each time. Fortunately I've always managed to make what I want relatively quickly because the program I use most (Audacity) is quite intuitive for what I'm doing.

I'm usually making sound effects, and it is the same in this case. I'm not going to say exactly what it is for, but it is Space Exploration related. My workflow for people that are interested is:

1. Figure out what sort of sound I'm actually going for. As it's a sound effect it is probably representing something physical so there is a range of what is physically plausible, then in and around that space there is some scope for creative adjustment - making it clunkier, electric, etc. 

2. What are the technical constraints?  Some sounds need a middle that can loop, a sound to start the loop, and a sound that can end the loop. Some sounds have very specific limitations, for example, when I made the snow and water footsteps for Alien Biomes there is almost no time between when the audio clip plays and when the footfall is supposed to happen. That's quite awkward for water and snow where most audio clips have a lot of scrunching or splooshing sound before the main foot-down sound. If that extra time is left in then all the sounds are delayed and it won't match the character's animation. 

3. Scour the internet for useful audio clips that I can use legally. This can be really tough if I'm after something specific. I try to get quite a few clips that might be useful so I have some options later when editing. 

4. Start messing around with distorting the sounds. For footfalls this can mean altering the timing without altering the pitch. For other things this usually means altering the pitch and/or timing, often to make things sound bigger than the real recorded object. For example, you could take an air conditioning recording make 2 distortions; 1 where it is lower pitch and slower, 1 where it is higher pitch and faster, and layer them to make it sound more like a jet turbine. 

5. Very carefully blend everything together. I focus on getting it sounding good first. I try to keep in mind what the technical requirements are so I have everything I need when making those clips, but I try not to let that control the sound too much. It's mostly a case of leaving enough additional material to for loops to not sound repetitive, and that additional layers for start/end effects to blend nicely with the loop. I find this phase quite a lot like doing colour manipulation in Photoshop where you get layers, apply effects to them, and control where they go with masks. 

6. Make it fit the technical requirements (loop, start, end, etc). It's often useful to get a draft version exported quickly and tested in game to make sure the game engine will accept what you're trying to do. I tend to end up with a lot of layers at the end especially if there are parts that need to blend seamlessly.  The image for this post shows just under half the layers in this project. 

7. Export the final versions. There's something quite satisfying about seeing a directory full of original sound effects at the end. 

Most people reading this have probably already heard the sounds I've made in the past, but maybe not realised that I made them:

Snow footsteps in Alien Biomes. Factorio doesn't have snow and no sound in-game were suitable so I had to make original ones from online recordings.

Water footsteps in Alien Biomes.  Factorio actually has the 2 types of shallow water in the base game, but they aren't part of normal mapgen, and there's no audio for them.  Again I had to make original ones from online recordings. 

Warden vehicle Electro-bolter. The EMP burst is mainly made from one of the electric sparks from Factorio's lab sound.

Space Exploration: The main ones are the rumblings from the sky when a meteor enters the atmosphere, and a sound that plays when a spaceship launches/anchors. These were both quite difficult as it's hard to find suitable recordings for these things.  There's also a sound for the tesla weapon which was from altered Factorio sound... but I forget which audio files were used.

Hope was was interesting. I can't provide more eye candy without huge spoilers.