Sound design tips, tricks, thoughts, resources, etc

[daft cunt]

Sound design is a very wide topic so feel free to add anything you want that's in touch with it.
Personally I'm getting more and more interested in games and movies sound design so here are a few things I learnt regarding atmospheric sort of sounds :

* ripping samples from modern games like Starcraft II or Warhammer 40000, listening carefully to the different sounds they're made of and trying to reproduce/imitate them is a great way to learn about sound design and layering. Usually they're a fine combination of synthesized and recorded sounds, which leads me to thought #2 :

* if you haven't already, consider buying a portable digital recorder so you can start sampling all these cool sounds around you : creaking doors, metallic objects hit by random objects, weird natural reverb from long pipes, etc

* timestretching, reversing, pitch shifting/bending and layering are simple yet great ways to make wicked sfx and soundscapes.

* when layering always ask yourself what kind of sound would complement the other(s) (or what part of the spectrum is missing something) : a percussive hit, a high pitched metallic pad, a low rumble, a weird bleepy synth sound ?

* also, make sure that the sample you add isn't clashing with the other(s) : each sample will have to be EQed separately.

* get to learn different synthesizing methods like FM or additive as they will provide you with a whole new range of sounds that you'll need to make more complex and interesting sounds.

* watch this vid and all the others in the channel, amazing stuff (thanks to Kid Simple for pointing me to Jim Stout) : http://www.youtube.com/user/designingso ... MgovfQjxUA

[deadly_habit]

http://designingsound.org/
that should keep peeps busy for awhile
also when reverse engineering a sound a spectral analyzer and oscilloscope are your friends

[daft cunt]

that should keep peeps busy for awhile

Indeed
Thanks

[Kochari]

Good thread

All I have to add is that massive feedback on delays can make really interesting sounds, layer with atmospheric stuff like rain/waterfalls/etc and your halfway there...

[Dropkick_Kid]

There was a thread I made a while ago with an interesting tutorial
I'll edit the link in after.

[Capture pt]

http://designingsound.org/
that should keep peeps busy for awhile
also when reverse engineering a sound a spectral analyzer and oscilloscope are your friends

Dogstep, its on.

[green plan]

Wicked thread. I've been trying to layer heaps of different atmospheric parts. Each is mainly quiet, but with a few louder bits in it. When they're layered it means you have different things coming in and out, and can get complex atmospheres.

For example: layered recorded sample of me walking, kids talking, rain, girl friend brushing hair, some friends talking. EQ-ed, little bit of compression, heavy verb, different delays. These each have different peaks, and line them up in different audio tracks so each one is mainly background noise but comes in every now and then. Normally bus these to an atmos bus and EQ out 200-300hz and add another hipass to keep the low end free.

[Kochari]

wut?

[Phigure]

wut?

[deadly_habit]

wut?

coming soon 16 bit - growling dog calligraphy

[frizzwah]

wut?

coming soon 16 bit - growling dog calligraphy

apologies for the topic derail.
canine fronted grindcore band:


www.myspace.com/caninus

[deadly_habit]

wut?

coming soon 16 bit - growling dog calligraphy

apologies for the topic derail.
canine fronted grindcore band:


http://www.myspace.com/caninus

this just made my day

[green plan]

Haha massive thread derail...

[daft cunt]

Haha massive thread derail...

Thread derail on DSF is harder to prevent than drug use in raves. We need a Derailment Enforcement Administration or something.

Sound design is a very wide topic so feel free to add anything you want that's in touch with it.

Thank you

[pete_bubonic]

http://www.freesound.org/ is a great resource for royalty free unique field recordings.

I use a host of vst to mangle samples I use to create new sounds. PaulStretch is a classic (recently used on that Justin Bieber x800) though sometimes you get horrible artifacts in it.

There's a suite of spectral based sample editing vsts/audio units by a guy called Michael Norris, which if you're going for more digitised sounds, is superb.

lol at recording dogs.

[JFK]

There's a suite of spectral based sample editing vsts/audio units by a guy called Michael Norris, which if you're going for more digitised sounds, is superb.

Is that guy related to Chuck Norris? If so then these vst's will be BADASS!!

[deadly_habit]

wow mac only
damn it i was hoping to play with some new toys

[pete_bubonic]

Ah shit sorry, didn't clock it was mac only.

[deadly_habit]

all good i have enough toys to mess with as is, prolly shouldn't be adding more at the moment till i master all the ones i have

[Isturite]

Wicked thread. I've been trying to layer heaps of different atmospheric parts. Each is mainly quiet, but with a few louder bits in it. When they're layered it means you have different things coming in and out, and can get complex atmospheres.

For example: layered recorded sample of me walking, kids talking, rain, girl friend brushing hair, some friends talking. EQ-ed, little bit of compression, heavy verb, different delays. These each have different peaks, and line them up in different audio tracks so each one is mainly background noise but comes in every now and then. Normally bus these to an atmos bus and EQ out 200-300hz and add another hipass to keep the low end free.

THAT is something i haven't tried... a lot my buddies who make beats get pretty surprised when I start layering and resampling a bunch of wacky sounds, I get pretty into it and end up trying some pretty ridiculous shit just to "see what this will sound like!"...

but this!!!... is something I need to try, or something like it