Outdoor Reverb For Games

[Fortran]

Hi Guys,

Just wanted to ask if anybody thinks it is possible to mimic the wonderful reverb qualities found in the game Battlefield 3 by DICE. I have included an example from the game below. This is taken from an outside area with mountains in the distance.

BF3 REVERB by _Fortran_ on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free

The weapons in the game are not recorded with reverb as it is applied dynamically depending on what environment you are located in (inside/outside etc.) Due to the processing overhead of a convolution reverb it leads me to think that maybe this was done with standard reverb ? If so can anybody shed some light on which kind of settings/processor chain would mimic this kind of sound.

I have tried countless times over the past couple of days to get something close but I just can't quite seem to capture it in the same way that DICE have. Maybe I am wrong and this is convolution from their own pre-recorded IR responses.

Anyway huge thanks for any pointers or input.

[pethenis]

If this gun was recorded dry, there's more to it than reverb. It's a cool sound, if I had to recreate it, I'd start with the dry attack of the gunsound and layer the tail of a lightningstrike.

Originally Posted by Fortran

Hi Guys,

Just wanted to ask if anybody thinks it is possible to mimic the wonderful reverb qualities found in the game Battlefield 3 by DICE. I have included an example from the game below. This is taken from an outside area with mountains in the distance.

BF3 REVERB by _Fortran_ on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free

The weapons in the game are not recorded with reverb as it is applied dynamically depending on what environment you are located in (inside/outside etc.) Due to the processing overhead of a convolution reverb it leads me to think that maybe this was done with standard reverb ? If so can anybody shed some light on which kind of settings/processor chain would mimic this kind of sound.

I have tried countless times over the past couple of days to get something close but I just can't quite seem to capture it in the same way that DICE have. Maybe I am wrong and this is convolution from their own pre-recorded IR responses.

Anyway huge thanks for any pointers or input.

[bigsocks]

Originally Posted by Fortran

Hi Guys,

Just wanted to ask if anybody thinks it is possible to mimic the wonderful reverb qualities found in the game Battlefield 3 by DICE. I have included an example from the game below. This is taken from an outside area with mountains in the distance.

BF3 REVERB by _Fortran_ on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free

The weapons in the game are not recorded with reverb as it is applied dynamically depending on what environment you are located in (inside/outside etc.) Due to the processing overhead of a convolution reverb it leads me to think that maybe this was done with standard reverb ? If so can anybody shed some light on which kind of settings/processor chain would mimic this kind of sound.

I have tried countless times over the past couple of days to get something close but I just can't quite seem to capture it in the same way that DICE have. Maybe I am wrong and this is convolution from their own pre-recorded IR responses.

Anyway huge thanks for any pointers or input.

As far as I'm aware, the team spent a good chunk of time researching how loud transients react in different spaces, not just the tails.

The sounds themselves were recorded in the relevant spaces with the reverb, they aren't dry. They use a complex system of crossfade based on a distance parameter and are then able to specify for every space which gunshot sound should play.

The team at Mass Effect 3 are in talks with DICE to make their combat soundscape sound more realistic as well.

[Fortran]

Originally Posted by pethenis

If this gun was recorded dry, there's more to it than reverb. It's a cool sound, if I had to recreate it, I'd start with the dry attack of the gunsound and layer the tail of a lightningstrike.

Thanks for the idea! That might actually help quite considerably!

Originally Posted by bigsocks

As far as I'm aware, the team spent a good chunk of time researching how loud transients react in different spaces, not just the tails.

The sounds themselves were recorded in the relevant spaces with the reverb, they aren't dry. They use a complex system of crossfade based on a distance parameter and are then able to specify for every space which gunshot sound should play.

The team at Mass Effect 3 are in talks with DICE to make their combat soundscape sound more realistic as well.

Ah brilliant many thanks for the info. Not good news for me but not supprising either considering the quality of the reflections in the spaces. Very interesting to know they are switcing between various recordings. Thanks again.

[Brian B]

Originally Posted by Fortran

Ah brilliant many thanks for the info. Not good news for me but not supprising either considering the quality of the reflections in the spaces. Very interesting to know they are switcing between various recordings. Thanks again.

It does make sense, storage space isn't an issue now for audio, but CPU cycles do have to be conserved. Assuming you can spring for the recording budget, of course...

[charles maynes]

layers- they used (in my understanding) many recordings to get their sound, including actualities...

varisped thunder might be a good layer though.... Frank Bry has an outstanding thunder collection which is worth checking out.... The Recordist — Thunder HD

[kosmokrator]

this is a huge can of worms.

Recommended reading if you are really interested:

The Game Audio Tutorial


I don't know the specifics of the Frostbite Engine, but there are different ways to skin a cat. Cross-faded layers, environmental zones, distance attenuation etc.

The book mentioned above deals with all those things, it's based on the UDK, but the principles should apply to most engines.

[Rick Sanchez]

[Frank Bry has an outstanding thunder collection which is worth checking out.... The Recordist — Thunder HD[/QUOTE]


Charles, that is a great tip. Thanks much!

I don't know this library, but the clip I heard was great. I often need thunder for trailers and promos, so...sold!

[Dallas Taylor]

Shoot Ben an email. He was one of the sound designers.

His email is on this video:

EA DICE PKM Gun Recording Microphone Type, Position & Pre Amp Comparison - ben(dot)minto(at)dice(dot)se on Vimeo

I know they recorded all of the guns with a zillion mics at a zillion angles and at a zillion distances, so I'd put my money on that it is more of a mix of real recordings rather than in-engine processing.

Here at the Defacto, we're also working on about 30 guns for a FPS and haven't been able to achieve that in-engine only. As far as I know, some plugin manufacturers are starting to license their high end plug ins (like Waves) to games, but it's still in it's infancy.