flynn-sounddesign-workbook

[flynn-sounddesign-workbook]

Reflections

I'm mostly happy with the things I've made, obviously I feel like I could've done more on them overall but what I have made is enough to make me happy I've learned a decent amount about how to use Premiere Pro and Audition which is good I found the recording process to be equal parts frustrating and enjoyable, frustrating because of trying to figure out what I might have to record to get a sound, enjoyable because banging on objects and recording it is pretty funny I struggled a lot putting all the bits of the project together because sometimes it felt like I wasn't making much progress although I feel like the fact it's the end of semester and I'm pretty worn out from all the first half of the years work might be a contributing factor

overall I enjoyed this elective, it was a fun time with interesting information and cool projects that were fun albeit a bit stressful (but that's to be expected) to work on

[flynn-sounddesign-workbook]

Final Project pt 4

The day before due date still had some things to record, most notably the voice over which has a pretty funny story. When I wanted to record the voiceover there were presentations being done in the hallway so, not wanting to sound like a crazy person, I decided to find somewhere else quiet to record (I'll mention, I decided to record on my phone because I thought the polished quality of a proper microphone wouldn't fit the vibe of Hell speaking as well as something a bit more scuffed would). my first idea was the marina area but once I got there I was greeted to the sound of numerous seagulls, I tried under a nearby bridge that I apparently forgot was an actually in use road with audibly running water nearby as well, I considered going up the bank down the road towards Logan Park but there was to much noise up in the quarry (also the mud), I thought the running track bit of the caledonian might work but for some reason there was a crane at Logan Park banging a shipping container around (just my luck) so bereft of all outdoor options I settled for the public bathroom in the caledonian which is almost entirely made of bricks and/or cinderblocks making it extremely echoy (although that wasn't to bad actually) as for the recording itself I went in with the plan, the idea was to do 2 takes just whispering the lines because often stacked tracks of whispers sound ominous and kinda evil, followed by 2 takes of me actually attempting to voice act the lines out loud which went ok I took all these audio tracks back and stacked them, to one of the whispering tracks I added a few delays after the regular audio and to the other I added some delays before the regular audio, I mostly only used 1 of the louder recordings but brought the other one in (often mid sentence) for lines I wanted to emphasize more because I think they're cool. abrupt cutting in of the 2nd version of the voice was inspired by a youtube video https://youtu.be/lOZZCiXXV7k?si=_xD3qFQMSxiEX0vt which is also V1 vs the Earthmover (albeit with considerable artistic liberty when compared to the actual gameplay), at the end of the video is a version of the voiceover I'm doing with 2 people who kinda interupt each other mid sentence half the time

anyway I was pretty happy with how my voiceover turned out but decided to add text to the video, mostly for extra understandability since a couple of lines are a bit muddy under the music and explosions

for making the pistol shots I stacked some wood plank claps, some metal bangs and the explosion sound effect I have although I've struggled a lot to make them loud enough I also found a machine gun sound for the nailguns and I found a use for the insinkerator. the green variant nailgun (the overheat nailgun) has a special attack thing where it fires much faster, I layered the insinkerator sound with the regular machine gun sound to make that sound more intense

[flynn-sounddesign-workbook]

Final Project pt 3

more recording, this time mostly in the garage I recorded the following things:

sound of the garage door opening slowing, creaking and booming. I intended to use this for the sounds of the Earthmover moving around

sound of me hitting a watering can against the concrete floor, followed by the sound of me hitting a gas canister againt the floor too. I inteded to use the latter sound for the Jackhammer hits, I did but it sounded a lot better in person vs on the recording

sound of me attacking various things in the garage, kicking a metal thing I couldn't identify, clapping some wooden planks together and banging on a metal cabinet. these sounds were intended to be used for gunshots

I went back inside and recorded the sound of our insinkerator (grinder/blender in our sink pipe to get rid of food scraps), I was considering using this for the nailguns but found the sound not ideal for the job, well, not completely

I recorded the beeps the microwave makes when you push buttons on it, these were intended to be used for the Sentries (an enemy that locks onto you for a time with a beeping sound before firing a high damage beam)

finally I recorded our bathroom fan, idk why

when I got back to work having done, admitetly, a lot less recording than I intended to do in the weekend I set about sticking this stuff into my project. the beeping worked pretty well for the sentries but I struggled a lot with the volume of things being louder or quieter than I thought it was

[flynn-sounddesign-workbook]

Final Project pt 2

The first thing I did was fix the music, I pulled the files for the song (War Without Reason) from the game files to hopefully get the highest quality I could get them, I exported a version of the video with the fixed music

I would have attached the exported video but is refused to attach so whatever I intended to use it to time my recording of the voicelines to (although I didn't end up doing that but I'll get to it)

at this point I recorded a bunch of miscellaneous sounds and picked out what sounds I didn't think I'd be able to record that I'd have to find - the sounds I recorded on the first day were: for the coin flicks I would drop 1 coin and hit it up into the air with another which made a very loud and detectable coin flipping sound - for the electric effects of the electric railcannon and the Earthmovers lightning cannon I recorded the noises my speakers make where I partially unplug them and mess around with the plug - I recorded the sound of me hitting a rug and my fireplace with a carpet beater and a very large spring I have, these were intended to be sounds for V1 moving around although I only used some of it - I recorded the little bell inside our kettle to be the sound of bullets ricocheting off coins

The sounds I figured I couldn't record was the howling wind and rain ambience, any explosion sound effects or the chainsaw

[flynn-sounddesign-workbook]

Final Project pt 1

My first objective was to actually make the video I will be giving sound I downloaded OBS on my computer to see if it would give me better quality recording than regular screen recording (which it did, except for the audio). I recorded about 8 or 9 takes of the full level and then went through and picked all the best versions of the levels many sections that I edited together

this was the video I got (I compressed it quite a bit to upload it thanks to file size limits) I had the sound effects turned off in the game audio but I left the music on, I quickly discovered that not only did OBS make the music sound really weird but it also got all messed up by me splicing all the clips together so I ended up having to fix it anyway but that's fine

[flynn-sounddesign-workbook]

Final Project Proposal

Now we have to come up with an idea for a final project, my idea is to do something involving that game I mentioned called "Ultrakill" where I'd pick a room or level and replace the sound effects and maybe do a voice over (I soon learned the voice over was highly recommended)

first, some context on what Ultrakill actually is. Ultrakill is a fast-paced, first-person, boomer-shooter type game with an old school style that's reminiscent of games like the old Doom games, albeit much smoother and newer (so new that it's still in early acess because the game isn't fully finished). The game almost entirely takes place in Hell where the opening words of the game explain the situation very well

Mankind is dead Blood is fuel Hell is full

To eaborate, you play as a war robot called V1 that could be described as vampiric thanks to being fueled and healed by blood. The game takes place some time in the future after the mysterious and sudden extinction of humanity sometime after an event called "The Final War" (which was basically WW1 if it lasted 200 years instead of 4). The game almost entirely takes place in Hell, loosely based on Dante's Inferno you must travel deeper and deeper through the layers of Hell in a fight for survival. through Limbo, Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Wrath, Heresy and Violence (with Fraud and Treachery still to be added). each layer has really cool unique takes on Hell and it's themeing but I won't get into that because I will literally be here all day

As for my project, initially I had 2 options in mind, the infamous "Stalker Room" from the similarly infamous level "P-2 - Wait Of The World" which is a special secret level that's hard to unlock orrrr the level "7-4 - ...Like Antennas To Heaven" which is the final level in the Violence layer and current last main level in the game I opted for the latter thanks to reasons concerning voiceover

My plan is probably not to do audio for the entire level since it's like 5 minutes if I speed through it but I'll try focus on interesting snipets The level starts off with you walking out of the building to be confronted by a gigantic machine called a "1000-THR Earthmover" which were the last machines built before the end of The Final War and are implied to be what you, V1, was specifically designed to take down. the Earthmover sees you and tries to shoot you but is hit by another Earthmover somewhere in the distance which it starts to fight instead. you climb up its legs, along the front and around the side (dealing with some small enemy encounters) before you reach the back where a door into the Earthmover becomes blocked by a secondary boss fight against the Defense System which is a collection of missile turrets and lasers and homing energy orb shooting things that activate to stop you getting inside. in a secret alleyway near this Defense System however is the main reason I'm doing this level over the other room, a book can be found that reads as follows

THIS IS THE ONLY WAY IT COULD HAVE ENDED.

WAR NO LONGER NEEDED ITS ULTIMATE PRACTICIONER. IT HAD BECOME A SELF-SUSTAINING SYSTEM. MAN WAS CRUSHED UNDER THE WHEELS OF A MACHINE CREATED TO CREATE THE MACHINE CREATED TO CRUSH THE MACHINE. SAMSARA OF CUT SINEW AND CRUSHED BONE. DEATH WITHOUT LIFE. NULL OUROBOROS. ALL THAT REMAINED IS WAR WITHOUT REASON. A MAGNUM OPUS. A COLD TOWER OF STEEL. A MACHINE BUILT TO END WAR IS ALWAYS A MACHINE BUILT TO CONTINUE WAR. YOU WERE BEAUTIFUL, OUTSTRETCHED LIKE ANTENNAS TO HEAVEN. YOU WERE BEYOND YOUR CREATORS. YOU REACHED FOR GOD, AND YOU FELL. NONE WERE LEFT TO SPEAK YOUR EULOGY. NO FINAL WORDS, NO CONCLUDING STATEMENT. NO POINT. PERFECT CLOSURE. T H I S   I S   T H E   O N L Y   W A Y   I T   S H O U L D   H A V E   E N D E D . The pages of the book are blank.

This book is what I'll read for the voiceover element, as the final words imply there's nothing actually written in the book, the text is instead the consciousness of Hell itself (since Hell in Ultrakill is a living, conscious, being) speaking directly to V1 and taking initially about how V1 was never able to serve it's purpose as a war machine then going off about how the Earthmovers are the most amazing and perfect things ever created and how it sees the fact the Earthmovers didn't cause humanities extinction as a personal offence (and offence it decided to take into it's own hands, hence the sudden extinction of humanity after the war. Hell took everyone by force).

After the Defense System fight you go inside the weirdly fleshy interior of the Earthmover where it has a shield you need to break bloking the way up, while you break the shield it starts filling the interior with acid to kill the intruder. after that you climb up the inside of its neck into it's "brain" which is a big computer in a jar with lasers spinning around it. once you destroy the brain the Earthmover begins a 70 second (varying depending on difficulty) self destruct countdown timer in which time you need to leave the way you came through a large horde of enemies that block your way until you get to a bounce pad that launches you far away from the Earthmover and you get to look back and watch as it explodes and the blood powering it rains from the sky

[flynn-sounddesign-workbook]

Pixar practice project

for the 2nd week we spent most of the time working on a practice project involving recording and giving new audio to a Pixar short

we started with the intro lamp by recording audio of stuff like a ball bouncing in various places and a chair with some very squeaky wheels

after that we were split into little teams to handle different parts, I was in the team that made the UFO and alien noises, the other team made the noises of the house and person. then we were to pool our audio resources to make our own mixes of the sound

day 1 proper was mostly focused on the ambient sounds and some sound effects like thuds and creaking. I pretty quickly found a giant fan that worked pretty well with the UFO, I also shock the mic around and tapped repetitively on a strange sounding bit of wood but yea. it was fun day 2 was mostly focused on dialogue (or, in our case, weird alien noises) with a couple extra sound effects, I was the recorder for the alien noises, I also dragged my recorder through multiple bushes to get a tree rustling sound which was an interesting plan we also had to try find some music which was hard

this was the end result, Im decently happy with it but there's definately a few things I could've done better

there definately could've been more music for example, I just couldn't find much in time. I also wanted to add a sound to the hologram thing flashing red whenever the alien messes up but I didn't manage to do that in time I was really happy with my sound syncing though, all the bangs and squeaks although I do wish I had a bit more little sounds like for the chair or helmet

[flynn-sounddesign-workbook]

Starting stuff

I don't feel like I have a lot to say for the first couple of days so I'll just combine things together

the first thing we did was focus a lot on basic stuff like what sound is (waves and all that) and how sound recording stuff actually works we were given a whole bunch of recording equipment and were sent out to record noises with it we visited the cool fancy sound rooms in that building across the road from the Hub, I didn't know that was in there so it was pretty cool to see we also checked out the recording booth in the Hub on 3rd floor to do some test voiceover work we learned some stuff about copyright and music recording, mostly for film stuff but he mentioned for games how games will often have location or action specific music, a good example of this I can personally think of is "War Without Reason" from the OST for a game called Ultrakill which features 10 different sections that play in different parts of the level and loop until you move on to the next section

the main project of the week was to recreate a portion of the interrogation scene from The Matrix which went pretty well

[flynn-sounddesign-workbook]

Start of sound design elective

sound design