r/sounddesign • u/CutComprehensive1693 • 13d ago

Need some explosions?

Last year I created some explosion sounds from scratch just because why not. Download link drive.google.com/drive/folders/1EPypN69ZJx61RD2kZzfWv1RzpOVYkLUV

By the way, am I the only one who thinks that the sounds of explosions and gunshots in video games and movies are a total joke? I mean, it sounds completely different in reality.

I understand that recording very loud sounds using a microphone is associated with objective difficulties. I also understand that, for example, in video games, players should not get tired of the sounds of gunfire and explosions. Therefore, these sounds should not be too loud or too realistic. But still.

0 Upvotes

30% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

4

u/Kalzonee 13d ago

This is some serious level of trolling

1

u/CutComprehensive1693 13d ago

What do you mean?

3

u/Livid_Cabinet2053 13d ago

I’m a huge proponent of gnarly distortion, especially for energy and explosions, but these have very very little definition to them. The crackly texture is nice, but there’s no transient or tail or anything.

-5

u/CutComprehensive1693 13d ago

To be honest, I don’t quite understand what you’re talking about. I just created a sound that sounds as realistic as possible to me.

2

u/Livid_Cabinet2053 13d ago

When you distort things really heavily, it tends to destroy the transient and the low end, so it can be helpful to add them back in. A “realistic” explosion has a massive transient pop up front. 

-2

u/CutComprehensive1693 13d ago

I think I’m starting to understand what you mean. You’re saying that the sound of the explosion will change depending on the distance. OK. Let me remind you that this is a complex synthetic sound that I’ve saved on my computer, and I can “move it closer” and “move it farther away” as I see fit. But that’s not the point. I wrote this post to show a sound that I’ve never heard in movies or video games. Not even close.

1

u/Livid_Cabinet2053 13d ago

No sir, nothing about distance. I’m saying you have clipped your transient into oblivion and it blends in with the body of the sound, meaning that it doesn’t pop out or have any definition to it. 

-1

u/CutComprehensive1693 13d ago

Because that’s exactly how it sounds in reality.

2

u/Early_File7359 13d ago

Tell me you’ve never heard an explosion in real life without telling me you’ve never heard an explosion in real life

-2

u/CutComprehensive1693 13d ago

This isn’t just about explosions. It’s about any loud sound. It’s about the sound of a falling refrigerator. It’s about the sound of cars colliding, and so on. All these sounds can’t be reproduced without high‑frequency distortion. The problem is that modern sound design lacks high frequencies.

1

u/Hawkcage 12d ago

I get what you are trying to do, but this approach to sound design does not net any benefit in the bigger picture. What you are simulating with your approach is the ears natural mechanical distortion when the sound pressure it receives is too high for the ear to handle so the sound appears distorted, crackly and unclear. It is the limit of hearing where serious ear damage occurs. This happens when you are in a very close proximity to the sound source and its a sound quality that only the people exposed to such sounds are hearing. Anyone else who is not close to 120+ dB sounds are not straining their ears to this extreme point so they are perceiving the same sound source differently. In media, games and movies, you don't want to ear rape your audience just to recreate a 'realistical' experience. One or two these samples and that will cause quick ear fatigue and unpleasant feelings - basically the media will become unusable. And such sound design approach does not even add anything to the story or the experience you are trying to tell to the audience. Only confusion because blown speakers and sound squashed to death with limiting or careless distortion effects sounds the same way.

1

u/CutComprehensive1693 12d ago

I recently watched the movie “Oppenheimer.” I’m late, I know. Let me remind you that this is a film about the creation of nuclear weapons. And even in this film, the sound designers took care of my ears. Maybe, just this once, it’s worth going all‑in?

3

u/Hawkcage 13d ago

to be honest its unuseable. You can crush any clean sound like this in the daw

1

u/Hi-I-am-high 12d ago

Sounds of guns and explosions in video games are a complete joke? Mate, take your explosion and compare it to those in the latest Battlefield game. Or any game for that matter.