What to read about the sound in movies, videos and games

We have compiled for you two dozen “audioman” articles from our “ Hi-Fi World ” and from English-language sites. In the compilation there are texts about interesting solutions in sounding and dubbing films, about sound effects in video games, as well as about the history of the development of sound design as an industry.



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Games

• "Eight Beats": about the sounds in old games . The genre of 8-bit music starts from the first video games. It simulates or beats up the sound, which gave audiochips consoles Sega Master System, Game Boy, NES and others. In the article we understand why the Commodore 64 home computer got into the Guinness Book of Records, and we also pay tribute to the sound designers of the early 1980s and the first game on a sci-fi theme (spoiler: it was still “dumb”).

• The power of sound: what tasks it solves in games . Imagine that you are sitting behind a video game, where silence reigns, and your actions are not able to produce any sound. Would it be easy for you to identify yourself with her hero and not cool down to the plot? We decided to look at specific examples of how music and sounds in games affect the emotions and behavior of players.

• Home projects: how from the basement the game room was made . In England, a couple with the help of Majik House specialists turned the basement of their village house into a game room with a home cinema - for themselves and their three sons. We delve into the details: what kind of audio equipment was used to equip the room, what item was added to the interior for playing races, and what clever automation did the space undergo

• “Gosh, a giant bug flew above me”: the SDK release for surround sound . Google has opened the source code Resonance Audio - a set of software tools for creating surround sound. With it, game developers can simulate how sound waves interact with the virtual environment and how their listening perception will change. We briefly describe what possibilities for building sound landscapes are provided by the system.

• “Go to the sound” - about games that you want to play only for the sake of audio . When developing the game Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice , released in 2017, the company Ninja Theory used the methods of binaural recording . This was done so that the player is inspired by the thinking of a character who suffers from a mental disorder and hears several voices in his head. As a result, the adventure action has received more than one award for sound design. We invite you to learn about the features of the binaural effect and why, thanks to it, the sound may be more important than anything else in the game.

• How sounds and music make video games "alive . " Using the example of the adventure game Firewatch, we show how the soundtrack reflects the changes in the environment and the development of the plot and creates a realistic atmosphere. But at the same time we find out what is common between the music in games and the soundtracks for the films “Brotherhood of the Ring” and “Star Trek”.

• Sound design - “processing” of sounds with the help of a skull . Composer and sound designer Martin Stig Andersen created music for Inside , a game in the platformer genre. In working on the project, he used a real human skull to give the soundtrack an otherworldly hue. Andersen wrote a column in which he shared the details of his engineering finding. Also on the link are available two versions of the same audiopasazh - with the sound, skipped and not skipped through the skull. Decide for yourself how atmospheric.

Music and sounds in the movie

• What unusual musical instruments are used in the dub of horror movies . Soundtrack plays a huge role in horror movies. For example, in John Carpenter’s “Halloween”, the monotonous piano melody significantly adds to the horror of what is happening on the screen. To create sounds that will keep the viewer on their toes and when they need to increase their fear, the directors use not only well-known tools, but also non-trivial ones, including The Apprehension Engine - a design for extracting a whole host of horror sounds. About such inventions - in our review.

• “Oh, no, again”: music in movies and TV shows that we hear too often . The song I'll Be There for You of the American group Rembrandts, even among those who know about this team, does not know, recalls the TV series “Friends”. Well, the blues-rock Gimme Shelter, which the Rolling Stones issued back in 1969, is associated with the appearance of the Mafiosi in Martin Scorsese films. We arranged for you a mini-tour of the melodies and compositions that are often found in movies and TV shows, and figured out what function they perform and why not each of them is a hit in itself.

Photo of Vancouver Film School / CC

• Rain, clank armor and liquid metal: how to create sound for the movie . Sound design of the movie - the process is creative and time consuming. Filmmakers can take samples from libraries (“ Wilhelm ’s scream ”, thunderclap , phone call and others) or create unique sounds on their own using unusual instruments and objects. Where did the lightsaber buzz in Star Wars and squelch of liquid metal in Terminator come from? What is the "roar" of Balrog in "The Lord of the Rings" made of? Answers - in our article.

• How dubbing actors work: a two-part review . "The Invisible Man", the film version of the novel by HG Wells, was the first feature film dubbed in the USSR. And so far - more than 80 years - in our country for the majority of foreign films and TV shows, dubbing and voice-over is being done. Often, the voice of a domestic actor is “assigned” to a foreign star: we recall a couple of Scarlett Johansson - Tatiana Shitova . In two parts of the article we tell about the difference between dubbing and dubbing, about the nuances in translating jokes and trying to answer the question whether dubbing can be better than the original.

• “I do not see, but I hear”: about the role of sound in horror films . Another material about horror sounds: the topic is inexhaustible. This time we turned to the rules for creating horror films and to the history of the development of the genre. We recall the sinister music to the silent film “Nosferatu. The symphony of horror ”, as well as find out what role the sounds of nature play in“ The Deserter ”and why even the most ordinary sounds in the horror can frighten us to death.

• “Sound workshop”: How to create sound design for the movie . Interview with filmmaker and sound engineer Evgeny Pereyaslavtsev. He spoke about what a sound shop is, how many people are involved in the dubbing of movies and TV shows and what each of them is responsible for. During the conversation, Evgeny recalled what nontrivial challenges he faced (how do you like to voice growing futuristic flowers growing out of the ground?), Shared the features of recording effects and explained when it would be more appropriate to use a buttonhole microphone and a “cannon” microphone.

• “Silent Place” sound design: how to create an atmosphere of fear with the help of silence . In April 2018, John Krasinski's horror "Silent Place" was released in wide release. He was warmly received by critics and praised by Stephen King. In the plot of the picture, the bloodthirsty blind creatures who communicate with the help of clicking sounds captured the world. To survive, the main characters are forced to use sign language. It would seem that in the film, where the characters try to make as little noise as possible, the work of the sound engineer should be minimized. However, according to the sound engineer Eric Aadal, it was one of the most difficult films of his career. About the features of sound effects in the "Quiet Location", read our article.

Historical rubric

• How to make a fortune from noise and become a legend . The American company Dolby Laboratories, which specializes in recording technology, was founded in the mid-1960s by Ray Dalby, an inventor and engineer. The popularity and success of the company brought its innovation - the sound in the Dolby Stereo format. One of the first films shot with its use was the 1977 blockbusters Star Wars and Close Degrees of the Third Degree. Forty-odd years later, without Dolby, no modern cinema can be imagined. We invite you to get acquainted with the rich biography of Ray Dolby and the history of the creation of technology.

• “How the screen became speaking”: the story of the shorinofon . This article is devoted to the development of the Soviet inventor Alexander Fedorovich Shorin, named in his honor. Shorinofon is the predecessor of the tape recorder and one of the first portable recording devices. They experimented with it and with its help created a scale for their films Dziga Vertov and Alexander Dovzhenko. What the first models of the device looked like, what were its technical characteristics, what role did it play in the creation of sound films, all this in our mini-retrospective.

• The revolution on television will not show: how George Lucas changed the sound in the films . George Lucas has long paid the sound component of his films no less attention than the visual. When filming the next part of his fantastic film saga, he sought to use new at that time development. Of course, we don’t have a saga, but quite a fascinating story about Dolby Laboratories’s inventions in the field of surround sound, the opening of Lukasov’s own audio studios Skywalker Studios and how the THX format has affected the equipment upgrade in cinemas and the industry in general.

Photo of JFHayeur / CC

• “Camera, motor, music!”: As directors use vinyl in movies . The movie and vinyl connection is old and interesting. With the help of a matte sparkling disc, you can talk about the hero's personal tastes, his love for music or emphasize his coolness, as is the case with Tony Stark and his classic player. Vinyl helps create emotionally charged moments, especially romantic and nostalgic ones. We remember scenes from films, where the disc enters the frame not by accident and conveys the director's intention.

• A couple of notes about Forrest Gampa . Winner of the Academy Award for Best Sound Tom Randy recalls how work was done on the soundtrack of the film Forrest Gump, and talks about the interaction of image and sound in the movie. It also concerns the technical side of creating sound effects in this drama. An interesting impressive fact: more than 50 songs were somehow woven into the sound of the film.

• As the sound helps to see . An in- depth article by sound designer and sound designer Walter Murch , who worked on the films The Godfather, The English Patient, Apocalypse Today (the latter brought him the Oscar for best sound). In it, Merch explores the history of sound and its relation to film narration. So, he gives examples of how the appearance of sound at a certain moment may or may not correspond to the visual range and how it changes our perception of what is happening on the screen.

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