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Hi there

Can anyone give me some advise on how to make nice game fx sounds. I am speaking of very electronic sounds like the ones in various space games like Star Wars (I'm playing kotor 2 at the moment etc. Typical sounds are the buttons sounds and beebs and alien machinery and computers sounds and they are often very delicate.

Where do I start? Can I make these sounds with synthesizers only, like Absynth or analog synths? They sound like they are synthesized. I'm speaking of delicate and very good quality sounds not just some typical synth lfo stuff. Or is it more a question of effects? Can I make such sounds without having to make my own stuff in Max/Msp, Reaktor etc. which I'm not very good at?

You can listen to some of theese sounds on Richard Devines site: http://www.richard-devine.com/Richard_devine.htm

Where I can find more info?
I hope you can help me

I Think the key to this is imagination! Are you looking to recreate similar sounds or something a little different? If you're new to the whole sound malarky, maybe its best to try emulating something you've heard before, such as that richard devine background noise. Isolate all the different sounds and name them (possibly in a list? background whine / high pitch robot burble / . Then search through freesound for similar sounds. Try playing a few of the sounds together to see what results you get. A lot of the fun comes after, adding effects and really stamping your mark on them.

If you have access to some portable recording equipment you could go harvest your own sounds. Again, its knowing what you want that will help you. Laser??? find all the laser sounds that you think work and think how you might recreate that from everyday life. Escalator, motorways, factories.

Just a couple of pence worth, I'm sure some of the users on here can offer much better advice tha me! :lol:

harri

let's ask richard

richard, c'mon, we know you're hiding somewhere out there, give this guy a hand

- bram

Sounds great Bram i'll be waiting for his reply! I would like to make similar sounds, not necessarily the same as Richards. It's just the methods I want to get right. And also I really love the sounds for being very very Electronic sounding. I quite often record something with my minidisc but they sound too real/boring, if you know what I mean. So maybe harri is right, it's my imagination lacking :?

sounds to me like richards site has really high quality sounds on it. he probably did it with mini disk. and it sounds like a hell of a lot of reverb? and some serious stero effects going on to make it sound wider?
(also mad panning).

as for the sounds.

sounds that i can make out.

back ground loud hiss type airy noise sounds like trucks passing by? or just plain old machines...maybe a refig? something like that.

the other sounds are all basic stuff. i hear a jack hammer at one point in there...hmm...(im listening to it now) sounds like street noise to me...garbage being dumped then a jack hammer. as for the
spinning squeak sounds..probably a money counting machine? something like that. then i hear a noise like he's winding up a camara?

yeah man all these are for sure samples and not made ona synth.

my advice to you (and i've been making music on a comp for over 10 years now) would be to -if you could-go out and record noise you like..then chop it up in a audio editor(if u want that is) then take all your loops (or whatever u made out of them) and put them into a sequencer and have at it. arrange it like this guy RICHARD HAS. and THATS WHEN THE FUN STARTS...effects come into play. use lots of spacey type plugins. perhaps as lot of reverb AND STERO EFFECTS? GATE THAT SHIT HARD SO IT SOUNDS LIKE SPACEY BUT NOT PROLONGED...and u'll probably get this what you want.

myself i use either-SONAR-or the one that comes in fruity loops or the one that comes in reason (etc ya get the picture)

Hi LS I must admit you are right in saying that it sounds like recorded stuff. It sounds like machines and mechanical gadgets like a camera and so on.

But then what about electronic sounds like the buttons and alien technology/computers etc. in games/movies? they don't sound like any gadgets I've ever heard, so maybe they are synthesized? I have a sample from the menu of the Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy and there are some nice electronic sounds with some music, but I guess I'm not allowed to post that am I?(don't even know how to do that or if it's possible...)

oh btw thanks for the nice advise LS I am definitely going to try what you recommend

as for game sounds...i really don't play the games so i can't tell you for shezzy what's what...but i'll try from watching my nephews play.

i think those sounds aren't real and are probably made on a snyth (from what i found) many of the games us poor sound to begin with but like i said..they space the fuck out of it to give it that airy feeling and that in some repects makes the sound a bit less crappy (imo).

i'll post you a sound in a few hours (i have to find it first) that's a beep of a ticket machine here in san fran..its really a nice sound and a example of a LIVE SOUND that's probably what you are looking for.

but my guess is is that some of those sounds ARE MADE WITH A SNYTH (I AM SPEAKING OF THE GAMES)...but most of them are probably just quick snippets (i don't know if u are new to making beats?) but if u take a a sound and place it in a editor..and chop the hell out of it

you'll get some pretty freaking interesting noizes..things u didn't know were there..and you'll statr to RECOGNIZE A LOT OF THE SOUNDS THESE GUYS USE

if u get good at that then u'l be able to tell the effects how they were used...etc.

play with it.

At Richards site try and turn off the sound by clicking on the speaker icon. Then press the news, music and discography text a couple of times and also let the mouse hover over the tracks and other text. It makes some of the sounds I speak of.

yeah man i dig what you are saying. those to me aren't snyth made sounds. those are for sheezzzzzy just chopped up sample bits.

that's what i am saying...CHOOOOOOOOP IT UP .

another thing i forgot to mention and its probably an effect tool for you is

PITCH THE ONE SHOT SAMPLE U MAKE..PITCH THAT SHIT WAY UP (or to your liking.)

some of those sounds are just pieces form say...bass that was tweaked hard (example is if u hit that remix and compilations link..that sounds to me like a 404 sound probably with some kinda wave changer over it.. tweaked it to give it that "hallow" sound it gives.

like i said that's where plugins come into play. don't be afraid...make a beat..and pitch that shit way up..then chop it up ..perhaps use some distortion...then maybe a filter to take it down a notch? often on many sequencers and drum machines there is a "random" effect..what is often fun to do..say in fruity loops..is to make a small beat then select all the sounds in the beat and hit random-in that random page there are often pitch setting...so u can change all that shit...and man sometimes u get something really freaking tight (again i'll try to put something up in a few hours..but my 3 month old isn't letting me)

let me tell u right here right now

no matter what the "pros" say...it doesn't take a genius to make these sounds...THERE ARE MANY WAYS TO MAKE THESE SOUNDS NOT ANYONE WAY IS THE RIGHT WAY (EVEN THO HOUSE AND TRANCE DJ'S WOULD TELL U OTHER WISE...TRANCE...LOL...I CAN'T STOP LAUGHING AS I SAY TRANCE...LOL)

what you seriously need is a few days of sitting in front of the comp getting your sounds together..then a another few days to arrange it and add effects.

but for sure those sounds on his site are just chopped up bits less than a second. like i said with the garbage sound and the jack hammer...he used it so fast and short together that most can't tell what it is. then to top it off he panned it hard right and made the sounds "soft"..probably with a slight ambiant plugin of some sort. but point is the samples are used sooooooooo fast that most can't tell the sounds.

simply listen and don't let the sounds fool you.

good luck and if u have any more advice feel free to ask.

Grab a minidisc and mic and giver....lol. Seriously tho if you need any help let me know. I do audio for games all day.

giver? You mean do field recordings right?

It´s the way of making sounds SMOOTH and ELECTRONIC sounding that I'm interested in. I am cuting up different sounds(field recordings +synth) at this time and try to combine and layer them.

I think maybe I'll have to use some spectral manipulation to make the sounds that way, -haven't tried yet. What do you think? How do you do it?

Not sure what you mean by spectral manipulation...I think you may be putting way too much into it...if you're at that stage.

I'm an old dude so you gotta talk clear with me here...lol. What exactly are you trying to do?What do you have for audio and what are you wanting to do with it? As you know there's no one quick fix for anything and most of the time you have to do some very odd things to a file to get the sound you want...sometimes you have to do very little.

Soarer
But then what about electronic sounds like the buttons sounds and alien technology/computers etc. in games/movies? they don't sound like any gadgets I've ever heard, so maybe they are synthesized?

I.e I want to make smooth ELECTRONIC sounds... Not just recording a switch being turned on and off which still sounds too real or worldly to me but... you know a bit like the ones on richards site.

Ah, ya I don't use synths and stuff so I guess I'm totally useless for ya. Sorry dude.

No problem, thanks for trying!

Soarer,

My background is in soundFX and synth sounds. I'm actually more on the manufacturers side of the fence these days ( I supply the samples and 'voicing' for synths) - and I'm gonna walk around here with a hood and cape on. hock: However, I'll pass onto you (and anybody else wanting to listen) a bit of help:

Firstly, don't think you need the latest technology to do a sound. Some of my stuff comes from the simplest of sources - many of which do not cost anything. Lets look at your beeps and bloops. Go and download a program called ORANGATOR (not the visual one), its an early softsynth that is very flexible. It comes with lots of presets for you to play with and learn from. It allows you to save your sounds in WAV format....... I do this then put the samples into things like Kurzweil K2600's to trigger. Another good one to download is the synth package BUZZ. Again, its another freebie - an excellent one to - and you can use it as your playback for samples, and as a sampler.

Most people think that high end equipment produces these sounds. It is not - its the source that is the key, and a source can be anything. Processing may happen "high end", but you can get a lot of source material cheaply. Okay.... I've done those NASA "space mission" beeps (called 'Quindar-Tones'), with simple stuff like ORANGATOR.

Okay - for "alien" drones - go for long samples from outside, pitched down a bit (as somebody else has mentioned) and play it back with a delay - try different types of delays eg..multi tap, echo etc in a light reverb. Your mono sample will come to life (as well as your Stereo ones). Keep the volume low - thats a key secret.....don't try and fill an audio spectrum with volume. Also have other samples ready to trigger at various stages to help create a realistic soundscape. Try and have samples from the real world (pitched down and faded out quicker) as part of these sounds to trigger - will help keep it organic sounding.

Monster sounds - you want bird samples. There are thousands of different birds, and they ALL make different sounds. Pitch shift the bird sound down and listen to the results - combine it with samples of the same bird reversed (played lower in volume) and your gonna hear some un-earthly things come to life.

Anywho, I hope that helps.

hi did you mean old skool games?,the a max msp appz http://www.dontcrack.com/freeware/downloads.php/id/3628/software/Cbasicore64/ can help you for first steps and examples, if it isn't sorry for the info :roll: