Hello, I'm an anvid audiophile, and I had a few thoughts once I saw the newest video. I got a few questions: Will you offer the audio in the game to be completely uncompressed? I can't stand the stupid loudness war. I can turn my speakers up if I need to. Also, I keep hearing dubstep mentioned. I personally can't stand dubstep that much, but I was thinking of maybe some chillstep (What I call dubstep, but none the less times change) Thanks all.
Completely uncompressed? *PutsOnMyBestBritishAccent* ARE YOU MAD?!? Ha. But in all seriousness, completely uncompressed audio files in a game would be just ludicrous. Not only it would skyrocket the hard drive space required for install to something ridiculous, there wouldn't be any benefit to it, not from an efficiency stand-point anyways. However, if you're talking about the digital soundtrack for the game, that might be a different story. I wouldn't be all that surprised if they had some sort of uncompressed option. And as for the dubstep, I'm not sure they would put that into the game. Considering that almost every time it's been brought up, they've just tossed it around and joked about it. Plus, I don't think it would really fit with the rest of the game, with it being mostly orchestral - to me it would just sound off.
Im guessing hes talking about audio compression, as in maximization. Not compression as in wav to mp3. With an audio compressor you make the valleys louder and limit the peaks which raises the rms of that piece of audio. This reduces the overall dynamic of the sound. I would imagine that because of the type of score being made, there will only be a bit of mastering compression applied. As orchestral music is all about the dynamics. Compression isnt all bad though. It definitely has a use. Some of the best uses are with explosions and gun sounds. If it werent for compression you would get a wussy sounding pop. So we instead boost the volume of the area around the peak which lets you experience more of the sound and makes it seem bigger than it really is. (especially at low volume)
Ah, that would explain the "loudness war" comment then. I wouldn't be able to say anything regarding that, I know next nothing about maximization compression. XD For such an orchestral piece as what will be in the final game, why might you want it uncompressed flasim? Take note of my "I know nothing about it" comment, this is an honest question. Howard commented on that in the livestream, he said he'd want to, but folding 5.1 down to 2.1 can drastically change the audio. He didn't give a definite yes or no as to whether or not it's be in 5.1, but - if I remember correctly - he said he'd play around with it.
Here's a lovely chillstep track, I highly recommend it. Sadly it is quality-compressed a bit, although there is a high-bitrate version as part of this playlist. As for dubstep in PA? I'm entirely sure that was completely a joke.
That was my impression as well. Howard (the sound wizard) is aiming for music that you still can and want to listen to in 10 years or something. I doubt that dubstep would be a good choice.
With regards to audio compression, as plink said, it does have its uses, but the amount you use depends on its application. Music that has a low dynamic range tends to be less affected by larger compression ratios, while stuff like classical music is best done with minimal compression, in order to maximize the impact of crescendos, loud instruments, drums, etc. One can normalize the music to ensure that it uses the maximum dynamic range (although, if it was recorded properly, the amount of normalization should be fairly small), but without compression, the quiet parts become a lot harder to hear. Even with expensive equipment, the listener is forced to turn up the volume for the soft parts, which is to be avoided in properly produced audio. I suspect PA's soundtrack will be delivered in two ways. The ingame audio will have a slightly higher compression ratio so that all the music is audible above the sound effects and other background noises. The digital soundtrack will have a milder compression ratio in order to ensure that audibility is balanced with maximum dynamic range. As for 5.1/7.1 sound, I think the choice to focus on 2.1 is easily the best option. For music alone, in a live music environment the music sounds best when it's directly in front of you (and what you hear from other directions depends on the acoustics). If it had a surround effect, then it would sound unnatural, like you were in the middle of the orchestra itself, and that is not a desirable listening position. So focusing on the 2.1 experience will give you the best results for 2.1/5.1/7.1/headphones, etc. As for sound effects, those tend to work okay in a surround environment (though how effective they would be in an RTS, I wonder), but in all honesty, I find that since our area of focus is on a flat monitor/screen, the positional audio is very distracting (and not just in games, but movies/tv too). Perhaps with something like the Occulus Rift it would be more effective, but until then, I personally think 2.1 is the way to go. In fact, I once had a fairly nice 5.1 setup, but I recently switched it up to 2.1, and in all honesty, I find the quality is much better, especially if you get yourself a good pair of speakers. I primarily listen with headphones though, and find that I prefer that best, as the acoustics in this room aren't quite perfect enough for the speakers. One day, maybe . . .
Jesus that 'chillstep' track is dreadful. If you want some dubstep in the traditional sense before it got associated with drunk college kids try Mala or Burial. Not to declare myself tastemaker but a good rule of thumb is proper dubstep is all about the drum patterns not the drop.
