HOW TO SOUND DESIGN LITERALLY EVERYTHING EVER
1. record any noise you can think of in a quiet area
(you dont need a fancy dedicated mic, a smartphone with a voice memos app works perfectly fine for this!)
pressing buttons/sticks, flipping through a book, slamming desk, clapping hands, the clangs from an unplugged toaster, running sink
2. take recordings and plop into a DAW (digital audio workstation)
Reaper (what i use)
FL Studio (easy to use)
Ableton (what studios use)
3. add these two effects in this order:
Reverb (not to be confused with *Delay*)
ideally you want something that leaves a few-seconds-long "trail" after the initial "hit" of the sound, but your mileage may vary depending on the input sound used
->
[screenshot of Fullbucket Frequency Shifter and KiloHearts Frequency Shifter]
Frequency Shifter (not to be confused with *Pitch Shifter*)
a frequency shifter *adds* some set value to the sound rather than a pitch shifter which *multiplies* the sound by a value
this is used all the time particularly in "anime" SFX
4. use your DAW to "automate" the frequency shifter
mess around with specific values and "animations" of the frequency shifter and see what results you get
you can really get a LOT out of just slightly altering the how and when the freqshift changes!
also layer sounds on top of each other! you can even add synths into the mix for extra flavor (i use Surge, Synth1, Vital, and Helm for this)
5. optional extra tips!
some other useful effects worth using on top of reverb + frequency shifting include:
- Lowpass and Highpass Filter
- Flanger
also remember: synths can ALSO be used as a sample!
i've found that very rapidly repeating a note or a chord can result in some very funky sounds when fast enough, which can also be sent through this effect chain or even just used as-is :)
and of course you'll want to add some kind of Compressor or Limiter to the master output, to ensure your sounds don't end up being too loud or too quiet when rendered out (i aim or -0db SFX, -2.4db Music)
wanted to explain to someone my process for doing sound foley/audio design stuff for my godot project, so here's a little visual guide! enjoy :)
#gamedev #audiodesign