Game Audio Implementation Critical Evaluation and Reflection
For my game audio project for this module we were tasked with creating an accompaniment piece to implement into the game environment using FMOD middleware and Unreal 4 game engine. For this I used Logic Pro to create the audio files I would need, the sounds which I produced for the backing ambience I found were focused primarily to create the overall atmosphere to the piece.
This section I needed to design in such a way that when played within the game environment the sounds themselves would appear to come from the edges of the room, appearing from the walls, and for this I used spread and width stereo imaging to achieve this. If I was to complete this project again, I would have implemented these sounds instead as a 3D timeline in FMOD so that I could localize the sound sources in the game so that they would be more responsive to the movement of the character as this was an effective quality with the rocket boosters and console sounds which I did incorporate in this way, and featuring more of these types of audio signals would’ve further emphasized the immersion in the 3D environment which I was aiming for.
The musical elements to this piece were similarly ambience focused so that they would appear to emanate out subtly from the existing ambience to enrich it with tonal qualities and add to the mystique of the piece and create the eerie and tense aesthetic to the piece which we were directed towards in the ADD. Once I had the initial bed of music tracks complete I did find however that the soundscape was still lacking a key audio track to stand out more from the heavy ambience, and after referring again to the ADD I decided on implementing some acoustic strings to counter the accompanying synthesized string I had already created. This was a good edition as it gave the composition a leading line which also helped to bring together the subtle musical elements in the mix.
When it came to the mix itself, I focused the levels around the backing ambiences, with the locational footsteps having spacial reverb applied to solidify them in the 3D game environment sitting present in the mix while the morphing accompaniment would fill the bed of the piece. I think the final mix is a somewhat busy mix however with the tension aesthetic which was stated in the AD I believe this to help accomplish that with that timbre, If I was to attempt the mix again I would go through and add more EQ peaks to cut out some frequency ranges within each of the audio tracks to help add more space and declutter the mix somewhat to emphasize the space more, which the sounds fill.
