Getting back into sound modding, need feedback on sounds

[megagoth1702 251]

MOD CURRENTLY OUTDATED AND ON ICE.

 

This mod most likely will not work at all so don't download it. 🙂

Sup folks.



I am about to get back into sound modding. I disagree with most of the people just making sound LOUD LOUD LOUD and that's it.

that now also seems to be popular to people in games. I believe in dynamic range.

In an ideal world I will re-cofigure all relevant sounds in game so that footsteps, vehicles and weapons are balanced in a way that makes sense from a gameplay perspective. There is no way to keep it realistic, because we cannot use the real life dynamic range of over 150dB. I would like to go kind of like this:

frop bottom to top:

environment
footsteps
ground vehicles
guns & usual weapons (rifles, pistols, mortars), air vehicles
cannons/small explosions
big explosions/and really huge shit

To experience my vision you should have your volume set high enough so that "guns & usual explosions" are really loud. Not ear-breaking, but decently loud. Not everything will be heard at the same time, footsteps and environment will drawn out when loud stuff is around. I will keep samples so that they ALWAYS have a nice punch to them, especially the guns are lacking in that department in many mods out there.

PROBLEMS: No 3rd person/1rst person differentiation. Also - distance. I would be happy with a simple "close" and "far" setting. If anyone knows a smart way that is easy on performance, tell me. An in-engine way would be perfect.

So far touched:

-MX
-Katiba
-Zafir
-Mk20
-Mk200
-TRG
-Sonic Cracks
-Impacts (Body)
-50cals
-RPG42
-Grenades
-Supressors (WIP big time, still not too happy with them)

Videos:

 

TURN UP YOUR VOLUME - this is supposed to be listened to at a comfortably LOUD volume, no "my mother is going to yell at me if it's too loud" volume. When in doubt - use headphones.
2015:

 

 

OLDER STUFF:

 

 

 

 

Okay guys, it is time.

RELEASING FIRST ALPHA VERSION of VolumeLevels Patch for MegaSound (ONLY WORKS WITH MegaSound MOD! Do NOT try to use with vanilla & other sound mods) - a completely re-balanced audio experience! But not compatible with A3 since Marksman DLC release.

Currently rebalanced volume levels for:
-Environmental sounds
-Character movements & actions
-Small Arms weapons & grenades
-M2A1 slammer engines & weapons (the explosions produced by the 120mm cannon are still vanilla & too loud)

Goal: Create a cleaner sound mix, reduce volume of most of the stuff so that guns and other agressive stuff stands out like a well mixed song where you can clearly hear the kick and snare drum. Currently you can only test out small firefights and The M2A1 Slammer and nothing is final.
PROBLEMS: If you only use "volumeLevels" in vanilla arma3, start a game and turn up your volume to hear environment & charater sounds nicely you WILL GO DEAF when everything around you starts happening. All the other sounds have their volume on the old, loud values and are not balanced. So this only works nicely with MegaSound mod. Kind of, it's still an Alpha. 🙂

If you care about audio at all, WATCH THIS VIDEO, even if it's 11min long! It will CLEARLY SHOW you that the vanilla game is mixed too loud and that setting proper volume levels for content make sense.

 

 

 

 

This would not have been possible without Defunkt! An amazing programmer who helped me effectively work with the configs and who saved me hours of time.

I would like some feedback.

 

[stephsen 79]

mh ...sounds interesting, could be a completely new approach. I 'm curious whats still happening.

[laxemann 1673]

Sound is always a very subjective thing, but huge props for taking a look at the dynamic range. :)

So here comes my (subjective) feedback:

• The Katiba sounds really nice and well balanced on my monitors. Got a punch that does a small-arms weapon justice. Nice.

• The MX sounds a bit dull, especially compared to the nicely balanced Katiba sounds.

• The 50cal sounds sound even duller. I know it's hard to bring in some treble while trying to maintain a punchy low-end, but the sample itself sounds as if the weapon was fired ~50m or even more away.

• Grenades: Nice sample, same "issue" like the 50cal for me; Sounds as if the grenade is impacting ~100m away.

• Suppressors: Sounds alright, at least not so "over-the-top-hollywood-ish"

• In general: I feel as if pretty much all samples except for the grenades could need a little boost around the upper lowend (90-200hz), I'm missing some frequencies there :D

• In general²: I'm no fan of the current reverbs that are very short and static. Also, it appears as if the whole sound's using most of the stereo spectrum already so that there's no "reverb getting wider" effect. Making the actual discharge part mono would solve this.

• Keep in mind that ArmA uses a limiter. I have a feeling that the limiter gives a different result than you'd like to have. I wanted to do a soundmod with a very high dynamic range back then, too, but I realized that it'dve been necessary to lower _every_ other single sample's volume in the game.

As for the scripts; I'm working on a "soundmod suite" completely with distance scripts and stuff like that, but I didn't touch that thing in ages and it will need some more love.

I'll keep you updated. :)

Edit:

Oh, and you should make more samples with varying reverbs, the sounds start to flange when firing in full auto :)

Edited December 2, 2014 by LAxemann

[megagoth1702 251]

Thanks for the feedback so far.

@dynamic range - yep, that's the plan. Lowering a SHIT ton in order to get the loud stuff loud. I am not raising volumes in configs. I am pissed off about having to push my sample's volumes to clipping just so it fits into the overkill-loud world. That's gonna change though when I start touching environment & gear/footsteps.

@dull sounds - You are right. Thanks.

@reverbs: oh yeah, absolutely gotta mix it up. :)

EDIT:

Small update.

Raised high frequencies a bit on MX and 50cal. Sounds way better & "closer" now, thanks to LAxeman for the tip. [;)] Reverb should be less repetative too.

Edited December 3, 2014 by megagoth1702

[megagoth1702 251]

Hey,

I am doing some testing with sonic cracks. Again - no CLIP IT TO THE LIMIT ear drum busting loudness. I am keeping a nice, punchy feel to all this.

Also I am testing out some reciever snap sound concepts. Check it here:

Any feedback?

Thanks.

[laxemann 1673]

Digging them. Definitely digging them, you hear that you're aware of technical stuff aswell. :D

The receiver snap might be a tad too loud (could just be the A3 limiter pushing the actual firing aside, though).

Keep it up!

[jcae2798 132]

Yea this is sounding great. Not sure how this would work with JRS sounds mods if possible, since i know most of the community will probably fall to this mod. But this is great! More options is always better.

[TugeX 1]

I have no technical knowledge about sounds but other than that, I find this to be already the best soundmod, with your current samples. Closest thing to reality and that is what I'm after.

It's almost sad that the vanilla sounds are the best there are currently, combined with Laxemanns reverbs (thank you for those LA).

I'm going to follow this with great interest.

[jcae2798 132]

I have no technical knowledge about sounds but other than that, I find this to be already the best soundmod, with your current samples. Closest thing to reality and that is what I'm after.

It's almost sad that the vanilla sounds are the best there are currently, combined with Laxemanns reverbs (thank you for those LA).

I'm going to follow this with great interest.

Couldn't agree more. One thing i hope for though that i don't see a lot of is MODS being a WIP but still being shared. I would love to see mods while WIP being shared for others to not only try and help improve it, but also to appreciate the little changes that happen along the way. I find it more rewarding….but of course its up the the owners to do so. IDK maybe its just me :P

[Nummi 12]

Sounding fantastic IMO. The mechanical "feel" to firing the gun combined with your ideal volume level in the "crack" is better than anything I've heard yet for arma 3. Keep up with the good work!

Also LA, please keep helping other modders like you already did, you're so awesome for doing that. :D

[St. Jimmy 272]

Youtube at 100% and headset at 80% and man those sounds are balanced nicely with the environment so far. The biggest problem for me with JSRS has been that I can't hear the environment (wind, birds, rain etc.) unless I turn up the volume and pray that I don't get deaf if someone shoots. But Lynx sounds lame (like it's shot further away) compared to the rifles.

This and JSRS sound both great for me :)

Edited December 16, 2014 by St. Jimmy

[eduzumaki 12]

The sounds are very cool but i didn't liked the snipers sounds they are a bit low need more atmosphere explosion

[laxemann 1673]

Also LA, please keep helping other modders like you already did, you're so awesome for doing that. :D

*giggles* Megagoth will say more on that :D

[taumargin 13]

Wow Megagoth this sounds great. We're becoming spoiled for choice in Arma from an audio perspective. Didn't think I'd ever say that. SoSP, JSRS DF around the corner, Vanilla, and + LES... now this!

Love that Katiba. I'd have to agree with most people about the 50 cal though. It doesn't have that raw power element associated such a large caliber weapon IMO, though it's consistent (at first listening) with sound level of the other weapons. The sonic cracks although mixed friendlier to the ear don't have that sense of urgency, that make you want to get your head down as fast.

But sound is subjective and I haven't read a thread yet where people agree on everything. Or anything for that matter. :p

Edited December 17, 2014 by taumargin

[megagoth1702 251]

Huh, haven't checked this thread in days.

Thanks for the feedback guys.

I do not intend to work with JSRS at any time/make my stuff compatible or whatever. His stuff and my stuff will never mix nicely because of the completely different approches we both take. Each one deserves it's place and I am making one for myself.

LAxeman ahs already PM'd me with some awesome scripting stuff. There are some problems right now but if we can get it to work - awesome.

@50cal - yup, I agree that when compared to the rest of the rifles it does not have the special 50cal BOOM sensation. That is because all samples are at max volume right now to "fit in" into the already too loud arma3 environments. I even raised the volume in the configs but it does not help with the initial BANG, because arma3 limiter. It's okay though. The only way to mix stuff now is by making everything else QUIETER in the configs, which is what I intend to do in the long run.

@sharing WIP mods. Sure, I can do that. I will not keep the shared archive up to date all the time though, only when I add in stuff that I am happy with. While I am working on that "mechanical feel" for the rest of the guns - some more, older experiments.

shijERrsaWY

---------- Post added at 05:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:29 PM ----------

Katiba & MK20 mechanics.

mX6Uj1PojVM

TRG Mechanics

XtCSG5ATFyQ

---------- Post added at 06:08 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:52 PM ----------

Today's version of MegasSound:

Download

[jcae2798 132]

Huh, haven't checked this thread in days.

@sharing WIP mods. Sure, I can do that. I will not keep the shared archive up to date all the time though, only when I add in stuff that I am happy with. While I am working on that "mechanical feel" for the rest of the guns - some more, older experiments.

Awesome dude, love it. Will check this out when i get home and loss more sleep :)

[megagoth1702 251]

LOL If you downloaded, make sure to delete "wavTest" pbo from addons. I run tests with these, haha, forgot to delete it. :) Link is using up-to-date version now, heh.

---------- Post added at 03:14 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:29 AM ----------

Mk18 DMR

8aXeVPzGaAM

[jcae2798 132]

HAHAHA, yes last night i was playing around with it and noticed the Nintendo like sounds, i was like WTF? Pretty funny. But was able to figure it out.

[taumargin 13]

I'll try this out 2morrow thanks.

I've always had a problem with trying to match other peoples/mods volume levels when working in Arma, to the point of limiting the hell out of a well mixed sound effect ruining the qualities/dynamics I liked the most. At the moment I'm pretty limited to what resources I have when creating weapon sounds. So this is very frustrating. One of the problems I would foresee creating a mod like your own is introducing another amplitude level standard for mod makers to follow. Third party mods like the HLC packs, CUP, RHM4's, MK18, Massi, EricJ.....will sound very loud in comparison to your own mod (probably as loud as your intended explosions/artillery?). Be prepared for a torrent of messages saying 'you weapons are too quiet' compared to X. But I'm quite honestly looking forward to giving my ears a rest :D

I'm a great believer also of the dynamic range and hate the loudness war too. Why is it that realism has to be loud yet in reality you wear ear protection to reduce the SPL and top/mid sensitive end of the frequency range? I think we need to make the game louder if anything compress the shit out of everything and actually wear ear protection whilst playing Arma :p

[megagoth1702 251]

Thanks for the support.

[...]Be prepared for a torrent of messages saying 'you weapons are too quiet' compared to X.[...]

Don't

give

a

fuck

'bout

that.

:) I'll never clip my shit to distructive levels. Rather I'll turn down every single config entry in the game.

They can always turn up their speakers and enjoy some punch in weapons.

Seriously, this video man.

3Gmex_4hreQ

[taumargin 13]

Haha great stuff man ;). When I was doing my degree my dissertation was closely linked to the sound wars and new emerging HD audio platforms etc. Hopefully your mod will be so good it may become the new standard (no pressure). :cool:

Look forward to seeing this progress and l'll give your wip a go give you some feedback etc.

[megagoth1702 251]

Yeah I'm still figuring out how to make sounds the BEST way, but I'm getting there. ;) The Mk18 DMR I really like the most out of all my stuff.

[jcae2798 132]

Hey Mega just wanted to stop by and say how much i've been enjoying the sounds. For the time being i've mixed and match your sounds with SOS's environment sounds and its been killer. Keep it up.

[megagoth1702 251]

Thank you. I will. :) But at the moment - christmas/new years time.

What do you mean mix & match? Just used my PBOs and his PBOs?

Edited December 30, 2014 by megagoth1702

[jcae2798 132]

Meaning until further sound mods are released, i've used some of the PBOs from SOS for rockets and environments and stuff, and use your PBOS for the weapons you've done so far. Its been great. Sounds arent overly loud like you been aiming for, however they still have the right thump a weapon should have. I'm no gun expert but the sounds work for me.