Audio Tweaking (dev branch)

[Imperator[TFD] 444]

One would expect to not only fix the body kit of a car, and keep the old engine, wheels, and parts. If they plan on improving a set of sounds, than they must do about all of them, in order to prevent certain sounds from being utterly out of place.

Well hopefully BIS do a lot better than some of the car 'enthusiasts' I see around my parts.

Zafir changed again? I hope that it still retains that unique sound to it...you know the sound that made you brown your trowsers and sprint for the nearest hard cover. AI are pretty lethal with that LMG.

[CaptainAzimuth 714]

I've been thinking... After hearing the TRG sample in game, and the MK-20, they sound amazing. But why? When turning my volume up loud to where I would imagine how loud a gunshot should be IRL, it didn't sound cheap anymore. I could hear the high end, mid, low end and the closure of the shot, and it doesn't carry fake reverb that much. So what does this have to do with anything? Here is my actual opinion plus observation on the matter, now that it's 1:20 AM and I have the time.

The shot is dynamic, and it doesn't kill the ears. It has character, and spontaneous punch, as a gun should. When you think about a gunshot, that's what it should be, spontaneous, loud, carrying high through to low end dynamic sound. This should be the case for explosives to. When you think about it, explosions are instantaneous. Bang! Pow! Not quite like a "Curchunk" like the frag grenades cerebrally are, it doesn't sound as If someone exploded. Gun shots the same, as they are pretty much, small, directed explosions.

I also observed a few videos posted on the forums in regards to Audio recording of fire arms. I thought of the idea where since every mic picks up a different wave length a certain way, guns could be recorded with 3 mics, that pick up high, mid, and low end, and mixed into one dynamic sample. Someone's probably come up with this long before I thought about it but, what ever, it's just something i thought about the other day.

[bigpickle 0]

I've been thinking... After hearing the TRG sample in game, and the MK-20, they sound amazing. But why? When turning my volume up loud to where I would imagine how loud a gunshot should be IRL, it didn't sound cheap anymore. I could hear the high end, mid, low end and the closure of the shot, and it doesn't carry fake reverb that much. So what does this have to do with anything? Here is my actual opinion plus observation on the matter, now that it's 1:20 AM and I have the time.

The shot is dynamic, and it doesn't kill the ears. It has character, and spontaneous punch, as a gun should. When you think about a gunshot, that's what it should be, spontaneous, loud, carrying high through to low end dynamic sound. This should be the case for explosives to. When you think about it, explosions are instantaneous. Bang! Pow! Not quite like a "Curchunk" like the frag grenades cerebrally are, it doesn't sound as If someone exploded. Gun shots the same, as they are pretty much, small, directed explosions.

I also observed a few videos posted on the forums in regards to Audio recording of fire arms. I thought of the idea where since every mic picks up a different wave length a certain way, guns could be recorded with 3 mics, that pick up high, mid, and low end, and mixed into one dynamic sample. Someone's probably come up with this long before I thought about it but, what ever, it's just something i thought about the other day.

Absolutely right mate, YouTube videos have convinced people that gunfire has a ton of deafening echo all the time but in actuality it is dependent on the distant environmental area, this is normally subtle and the most echo naturally hard surfaced environments such as mountains, woodland etc

The louder part to the "shot" is the reverb which can be very loud but normally is short lived and again dependent on environment but this time close proximity environment and hard surfaces again reflect the most.

[Brisse 78]

guns could be recorded with 3 mics, that pick up high, mid, and low end, and mixed into one dynamic sample. Someone's probably come up with this long before I thought about it but, what ever, it's just something i thought about the other day.

Most professionals are already using this method, and I'm pretty sure BI does as well.

[CaptainAzimuth 714]

Most professionals are already using this method, and I'm pretty sure BI does as well.

I knew it. Heh. And here I am judging thinking about that now. But if all of the new sounds are as good as the ones they showed us first, than all they would need is a soundscape. The last time I used the sounds, alone, it's great, but plain. It's a major improvement over stable sounds a it is. But when I used Laxemann's sound scape, the improvement to sound was 10 fold. If BIS made such a soundscape, with reverb actually designed for the new gun sounds, it would be a big step in the right direction. The only issue than, is figuring out how to do soundscape without FPS hit, and MP performance issues.

[Maxzy 12]

Are these recent sound changes (at least some of them) gonna make it into next stable update?

[Brisse 78]

I am 99% sure they will. I see no reason why they would not put it in next stable.

[megagoth1702 251]

I've been thinking... After hearing the TRG sample in game, and the MK-20, they sound amazing. But why? When turning my volume up loud to where I would imagine how loud a gunshot should be IRL, it didn't sound cheap anymore. I could hear the high end, mid, low end and the closure of the shot, and it doesn't carry fake reverb that much. So what does this have to do with anything? Here is my actual opinion plus observation on the matter, now that it's 1:20 AM and I have the time.

The shot is dynamic, and it doesn't kill the ears. It has character, and spontaneous punch, as a gun should. When you think about a gunshot, that's what it should be, spontaneous, loud, carrying high through to low end dynamic sound. This should be the case for explosives to. When you think about it, explosions are instantaneous. Bang! Pow! Not quite like a "Curchunk" like the frag grenades cerebrally are, it doesn't sound as If someone exploded. Gun shots the same, as they are pretty much, small, directed explosions.

I also observed a few videos posted on the forums in regards to Audio recording of fire arms. I thought of the idea where since every mic picks up a different wave length a certain way, guns could be recorded with 3 mics, that pick up high, mid, and low end, and mixed into one dynamic sample. Someone's probably come up with this long before I thought about it but, what ever, it's just something i thought about the other day.

Sorry for being all negative again but:

The only thing sounding decent is the TRG. And it's far from good, lacks low end punch. The other gun you mentioned has no clean distinctive punch to it so in full auto instead of going "BaBaBaBaBaBaBa"" it goes "WAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWA"

Obviously you have never heard a real rifle shot or shot a rifle yourself, if you write "think about a gun shot". I mean no offense, I am just tired of all this "think about this" and "think about that". No people, just go to a shooting range (outdoor), use some ear protection that won't muffle high end too much and fire a few shots with rifles. It will sound nothing like the stuff you currently hear in the dev version. Why? Because real life sounds nothing like games. It's not possible. Now go listen to BF3, home cinema setting. It's as close as it gets to realistic sound while being comfortable to listen to. Notice how all the guns sound pretty much the same there? It's because guns do sound the same. The only really really important factor is the environment and distance. The rest is down to barrel lenght, weight, materials etc. But a BANG stays a BANG. You guys need to think and phantasize less and rely on raw, high quality material more, such as the videos I linked. Here, download this and read it on your PC to listen to the built-in samples. Since DICE took it down from their publications site I re-uploaded to dropbox.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jgq65gz31l232rz/GDC11_FourGunsWest_AudioPanel.pptx?dl=1

Also, just on a side note:

@recording guns: Yeah use different mics, no shit. But 3 mics won't be enough. The videos I linked show following problems:

-What mic will you use?

-What position?

-In front or behind the shooter?

-What distance?

-What height from ground?

-What DIRECTION will it be facing? (veery important!)

-What's the surrounding location (echo will be recorded)

-Is the gun I use going to work with the mic I use?

-Hot or cold recording? (compression/other effects at recording phase, usually no big deal but for guns it's not clean)

Most professionals are already using this method, and I'm pretty sure BI does as well.

Apparently not, otherwise more guns would sound KIND OF DECENT, like the TRG or Katiba.

Sorry for all the negativity. It's a very hot topic for me.

[CaptainAzimuth 714]

Sorry for being all negative again but:

The only thing sounding decent is the TRG. And it's far from good, lacks low end punch. The other gun you mentioned has no clean distinctive punch to it so in full auto instead of going "BaBaBaBaBaBaBa"" it goes "WAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWA"

Obviously you have never heard a real rifle shot or shot a rifle yourself, if you write "think about a gun shot". I mean no offense, I am just tired of all this "think about this" and "think about that". No people, just go to a shooting range (outdoor), use some ear protection that won't muffle high end too much and fire a few shots with rifles. It will sound nothing like the stuff you currently hear in the dev version. Why? Because real life sounds nothing like games. It's not possible. Now go listen to BF3, home cinema setting. It's as close as it gets to realistic sound while being comfortable to listen to. Notice how all the guns sound pretty much the same there? It's because guns do sound the same. The only really really important factor is the environment and distance. The rest is down to barrel lenght, weight, materials etc. But a BANG stays a BANG. You guys need to think and phantasize less and rely on raw, high quality material more, such as the videos I linked. Here, download this and read it on your PC to listen to the built-in samples. Since DICE took it down from their publications site I re-uploaded to dropbox.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jgq65gz31l232rz/GDC11_FourGunsWest_AudioPanel.pptx?dl=1

Also, just on a side note:

@recording guns: Yeah use different mics, no shit. But 3 mics won't be enough. The videos I linked show following problems:

-What mic will you use?

-What position?

-In front or behind the shooter?

-What distance?

-What height from ground?

-What DIRECTION will it be facing? (veery important!)

-What's the surrounding location (echo will be recorded)

-Is the gun I use going to work with the mic I use?

-Hot or cold recording? (compression/other effects at recording phase, usually no big deal but for guns it's not clean)

Apparently not, otherwise more guns would sound KIND OF DECENT, like the TRG or Katiba.

Sorry for all the negativity. It's a very hot topic for me.

I've shot a .22 before, problem is i was wearing ear protection. Hah, so, you could guess i didn't quite get to hear the actual shot in itself.

[2nd ranger 282]

lacks low end punch

This is my problem with the MX. It doesn't seem to have any at all. It's like a high-pitched scraping sound. Everything should be more along the lines of the TRG, but I have a feeling it's probably too late at this point.

[megagoth1702 251]

I've shot a .22 before, problem is i was wearing ear protection. Hah, so, you could guess i didn't quite get to hear the actual shot in itself.

Okay, but you can't compare the noises & recoil/kick to the shoulder .22 makes to assault rifles. And still a .22 has a better punch to it than most of the new sounds. :D

[Maxzy 12]

I am 99% sure they will. I see no reason why they would not put it in next stable.

I see plenty of reasons, general of which would be that not once we already saw things being for quite some time on dev branch, were not included in stable because they were WIP.

[KeyCat 131]

Anyone else missing the ladder step sounds in yesterdays dev build?

/KC

[Fushko 60]

Anyone else missing the ladder step sounds in yesterdays dev build?

/KC

They're missing in the live build too. At least on the solar building ladders.

[CaptainAzimuth 714]

I can tell you that it'd be a good idea not to include new sounds in stable until the rest of the audio database has been updated to par with the rest of the really good sounds. Else you'll have people wondering why new and really good content is mixed in with bad, un-updated sound content. It'll take awhile.

[KeyCat 131]

They're missing in the live build too. At least on the solar building ladders.

I haven't noticed, will try. I know I've heard them before in the red/white communication towers (same I tried yesterday).

/KC

[enex 11]

Sounds for under-barrel grenade launcher is great.Good work.

[Maxzy 12]

I can tell you that it'd be a good idea not to include new sounds in stable until the rest of the audio database has been updated to par with the rest of the really good sounds. Else you'll have people wondering why new and really good content is mixed in with bad, un-updated sound content. It'll take awhile.

That is one of the reasons I see plenty of :). But since I don't use dev branch I would still like to see at least that small part which is already complete.

[Shagulon 1]

Yea I'm really loving these new sounds :D

I'm no expert like half the people here it seems, but to my untrained ear the new sounds are great. They portray a feeling of firepower to me.

Excellent work guys and keep up the improvements.

Thank you :)

[bigpickle 0]

Added: Supersonic crack in 3D & flying bullets sound

Sounds interesting. Is there anymore information available about this from the devs? Is this deep engine level stuff and sound sample config is the same?

[megagoth1702 251]

I did not look into the configs but quick testing of the bullet cracks show:

-either crack is muted or severly lowered in volume

-bullet fly by sound is now played when bullet passes by (very quietly too)

Maybe they are trying to combine them or something.

[Brisse 78]

I asked about bullet cracks yesterday and got an answer from a dev saying it was work in progress and was not fully working at the moment. Todays update seems to have changed nothing so I guess the same answer still applies. We should just ignore this problem at the moment. Devs are working on it.

[Maxzy 12]

I've noticed that at least on some of the weapons every third shot sounds slightly different than first two. Is there a way to make this effect random?

[megagoth1702 251]

It has been like this since arma3 came out.

In the config it says this:

When weapon is fired play one of thee sounds with 33% chance.

Unfortunately it is not random at all. Most of the time it just fires the 3 samples in one specific order. It may be not "1, 2, 3" but "2, 3, 1" but the order stays pretty much the same it seems to me. Annoying to say the least.

[Maxzy 12]

So there are 3 samples, not two? Because I could swear that at least when firing Katiba and MX I hear only two. Only weapon where I heard 3 samples is Rahim, but then again, I wouldn't bet my money on it =). May it be that it is why there's this constant order of samples - there should be three but there is only two, which is why randomizing doesn't work?

Edited February 19, 2015 by MAXZY