Sound

The main part of this project I will be working on the sound and music. Last night I was working in the studio on the sound effects for our team's video game project. These sound effects where recorded and edit in one day. This is my favor thing to do (since I am a sound engineer). What was need in this half of the project was enemy characters sounds (which by the way was not easy), main menu sounds, a couple of main character sounds (jumping, getting hit, etc.), pick up items, etc.

I did all of these recording, mixes, and editing at a recording studio that I freelance at, call Vnote studios. To help me to get some of the sounds (voices) was one of the studio owner's was Mike V. To record these sounds effects I use a AKG 414 microphone. The reason I used this mic for the session was the AKG 414 is one of the best known reference condenser microphones for recording use.The AKG 414 has five pattern choices: cardioid, hypercardioid, figure-8, omni and the new wide cardioid position, all switchable electronically from the front of the mic. It also has pad and roll off switches making it a great, all round, well made studio condenser microphone suitable for just about any job. To know more about this mic check this web page: http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/C414XLII/.  I just used cardioid pattern for the majority of the recordings and hypercardioid position for two sound effects (mainly why I did this was I liked how the sound being produced with mic pattern into the recording). For the most part a cardioid mic is best used for direct sound. It will pick up one object that you want to record instead of the whole room, which what you want when recording a sound effect.  
Here is a condenser polar patter looks like:
 
And here is a hypercardioid pattern:
Can find more about mics and their patterns at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microphone#Speakers_as_microphones

The two sound effects I used this pattern for was the "book drop" sound effect and "walking on metal (character walking in a vent)".  Why this worked so well for these effects was when the large book was dropped it echoed in the room, which the direct sound was picked up as well as the room but....only a little. This great effect for the recording, because when this was put into Pro Tools and mixed it gave a little bit of a low end bonce sound when the book drop. For our team's game it has cartoon look and feel to the game, with this sound it would fit right in because the book will drop and have more of a cartoon sound to it. For the vent sound, I took a pick of  ventilation (a part of the vent to the air conditioner) and tapped on it with my fingers. This worked well to give a fuller sound, because the tapping on the vent vibrated which mic picked up the direct sound and the vibration after the tap. When mixed gave a nice echo feel to it (when the sound effect is in the game) for when our main character is walking or running in the vent, it will sound realistic.

A screen shot of the software Pro Tools from Digi Designs

I recorded in to a recording engineer software program call Pro Tool, from Digi Designs. This program is a must in recording and Post Production in films, and sounds for games. This program can record tracks, works with MIDI, has an audio suite to change or correct your sound tracks, and sync up with video and work with sound inside the film. As you can tell, I'm a big fan. Though I really miss analog.. a lot. To get more info on Pro Tools: http://www.avid.com/US/resources/digi-orientation

Had to be really creative this time in the studio to come up with sound effects for attacks and movements for bed bugs, cockroach, rat, ants, and toy tank sound. These was hard, because what kinda sound do they make? We can not hear them. Once again it was a more cartoonie sounds to fit the feel of the game and guessing sounds that they could make. For the "Rat" sound attacking, I used Mike voice to make a chopping sound and was mixed once again in Pro Tools (using a Pitch shifter effect, Recti-Fi effect, and EQ). The Recti-Fi effect effect is a harmonic processor, changing the harmonics of the sound. The Pitch shifter is a processor that can change the human voice or sound, and moving the pitch higher or lower. The "Ant" sound was a pinching sound (pinchers). Once a again I used Mike voice and a pair of scissors and over lap the tracks (so they where in sync with each other) and gave a pinching sound. I also used EQ on the mix of the track. For the "Bed Bug" sound to be scuttling, I tap a shifted my fingers around a head of lettuce. I wanted this to sound different then the other bugs movement, I used a melon and tap on that to make the movement sounds for the bugs. I just EQ these sounds in Pro Tools. For the "Cockroach" I need a clicking noise. At first I used a pen, but it sound too much like a pen and nothing else. So instead I used a bag of marbles and bounces and move them in my hand to give a clicking sound. This to was just EQ into Pro Tools.

Working hard in the recording studio (Vnote), using the Pro Tools System

The last sound effect of the night was the "Toy Tank" sound. The game need a sound of toy tank running across the floor and having the tank hit a wall sound. I was unsure at first on how to make the sound. Then Mike was like "Hey let's go over to the grocery store and let's see what kinda of toys they might have.". At the store we end up finding a battery operated toy dozer. It worked perfectly for the moving of the tank sound.

Intern setting up the toy dozer to record toy tank moving arcoss the ground sound.

For the tank hitting the wall sound this proved to be a problem. Since this was a toy, it didn't make any real noise that was recordable. What it came down to make this sound possible was this toy hitting a cover of a rack case, to make a vibration that would be heard. This worked great.

Setting up for the toy tank hitting the wall sound.

Find out that the sound we where looking for worked out (Mike and Intern)

By the end of the night I finished all the sound effects that where need for the game (unless someone comes up with more ideas). Everything was recorded, edit, mixed, and put into  .wav file, since Unreal like .wav file for the audio.

 Myself at the console getting levels for the last sound effect for the night (This picture was taken at 11:48pm at night). It was a long day, but a fun day.

What is now left for this week is putting the new sounds into a package for Unreal. As for the music since it did not work out this week for music (musician got into car accident and one of the songs for one of the levels did not work out), I will be working on the music this weekend. That is it for now.