Sound Design: Audacity

Our design module has now changed from arts and modelling to covering sound design for a few weeks, which is something I personally think makes or breaks a game. Having the correct sounds in a scene can turn it into a piece of art if used correctly, for example a sad moment in a game will have a much more profound affect on the user if sad music and sound is played. Equally, a strong intense moment of game play will profit from fast paced/heavy music to empower the player.

For our introductory session we were taught about Audacity which can generate it's own sounds, or let you record some, then go on to add effects and edit them. To practice the software I created a selection of spot sounds and loops that could be used for a variety of situations. I had a few ideas of what to do for certain sounds so tried my best to create them first, other spot sounds simply occurred from recording a noise and fiddling around with effects, with the result actually being quite pleasing.


The first of my spot sounds took an auto generated, constant beep, which I broke down into segments to give a phone dial up tone. It isn't hugely impressive but it was the first thing I tried and it could be used for a phone call if ever needed.



The second sound was the result of me hitting my desk and playing around with a few settings. I found one called 'Paulstretch' which stretches out and echoes sounds to an almost eerie standard. The result of this made the slam on the table sound very distant, almost like a rock or object being kicked or dropped in a cave or dungeon.



Using the same 'Paulstretch' effect I recorded myself moaning and applied the effect to make a creepy distant groan. This reminded me of RPG games in dungeons with ambient creature noises and so I entitled the sound 'Ghosts'.


I attempted one more spot sound with 'Paulstretch' as the effect really intrigued me but I needed to have some variety in what I was making. I flicked a glass to make a high pitched ringing sound, then applied the affect and listened to the result. To me the sound is like a discovery noise for something dark or sinister such as a cave entrance or a dangerous scene.



Moving on to different sounds, I wanted to make a very simple light pick-up noise. I auto generated two pings of different pitches and attached them to roll from one into the other. The result sounded like an 80's style coin collection noise.



My final 2 spot sounds were very spacey/futuristic to me in the way that they sound like laser/teleportation noises.While different to each other I believe they could be used for teleport noises or at the very least, lasers.



For the loops, I had to create something that could replay nicely without people knowing when it had restarted. Unfortunately I can't make them loop from the links, but listening to them on SoundCloud allows you to loop it on there. I chose more generic sounds that would be played continuously in game or during a scene, as these are where loops come into play the most.

My first loop was a crackling fire which was actually just light rustling of a plastic bag. I didn't want the crackling to be too loud otherwise the affect would be unrealistic, so didn't normalise the track unlike with others where I needed the sounds louder.



Following on from fire I wanted to do another ambient sound, so decided to attempt a soft rustling wind. I simply blew past my mic for this one and then normalised it so it was easily audible and I think in a scene where the noise is just in the background it could be quite effective.



My final sound was an attempt at crunching leaves underfoot, which involved crumpling a piece of paper. In a loop the clip sounds quite good, however on it's own it isn't so effective, therefore it would sound much nicer in game than here on it's own.