AUDIO - ambient effects vs. action effects - General Discussion

#1 Posted by HH (274 posts) - 3 months, 15 days ago

I want to hear the birdsong, the waterfall, the door hydraulics, the echoes, the footsteps, the crickets - i LOVE all that stuff.

Last few years they seem to be getting lower in the mix while the action effects, the gunfire, the kaPOWs, the explosions, seem to be getting higher.

Sudden and repetitive bass thumps prevent me from keeping my volume turned up, a four hour session would just drive other people crazy, especially if it's late, (also headphones are uncomfortable for me, i can only wear them for max an hour), so, far too often, even with the bass on my amp turned to zero, I have to sacrifice the ambient effects altogether because the damn gunfire is just too loud.

I don't know anything about the mixing process, but I seem to remember some games having a separate audio control for ambient effects and for action in the past. Is there a reason this can't be done anymore?

Does anyone else give a shit about this?

#2 Posted by Pr1mus (2431 posts) - 3 months, 15 days ago

Yeah i give a shit about this. Poor sound mixing can be terrible. I don't like wearing headphones either and i too often run into situations where i can barely hear anything but when i fire this one gun, holy shit my house is going to explode! It sucks.

#3 Posted by Quipido (502 posts) - 3 months, 15 days ago

I am sorry you can not wear headphones, it's the way to go for me. Even when there is nobody home or anywhere near, I go for the headphones as they provide the highest fidelity. Maybe you could try more kinds of them? There are a lot of types, some speciffically designed for long-term use. Best of luck, sound is so important in games.

#4 Edited by HH (274 posts) - 3 months, 14 days ago

@Quipido: i have an awesome speaker set-up, would prefer it any day, but yeah i may have to look into getting some better fitting headphones.

Is there anyone on here who works in post sound? is there an industry reason for not having separate channels? or is it just a decision that was made in the name of streamlining?