Sounds and bass

Waelwulfan

Omega Founder
Ark Liege
Jan 31, 2019
4
14
3
#1
I realize it's still pretty early, but I want to start a conversation on sound effects with a topic near and dear to my heart: bass. I feel like a lot of dev teams these days just don't bother to put much in the low ranges because so many players wear headphones; play on laptops with their tinny, tiny speakers; or just don't want to invest several hundred dollars in a big, thumping set of speakers.

Well, some of us still take our sound systems seriously. Bring that bass. When my mech stomps, I want to feel that in my gut as much as hear it. I want sound effects with texture. Have some low-mid interest for the headphone wearers and laptop listeners - I don't want them to miss out. But I don't want you to skimp on the LFE because less than 10% of your players have a subwoofer. (Not from actual figures, totally made up number, plz don't nail me to the cross of statistics!)

My favorite example is actually from WoW: the druid's Moonfire spell effect. When I started playing, it was on a crappy pair of stereo speakers. Then a laptop. When I finally had a new desktop, I bought a THX-certified 5.1 system, and OMG... Blizzard's sound design was awesome. Moonfire had this undercurrent of bass that made that spell feel a ton more powerful than it was. Melee sounds had oomph. You could practically feel the impact.
That's what I'm after. Please don't let me down!
 

Mahdi

Firstclaimer
Jul 26, 2016
1,079
2,330
113
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South Carolina, US
#2
I feel ya totally! I used to game with a Creative Labs mega works 7.1, 455 watt surround system. In a mech/kaiju game this is a superb aspect to the world. I even think of artilary canisters firing for those low tones. Or EMP beams, base generators....oh my mind is racing with this now.
 

Pandagnome

Kaiju Slayer
Fart Siege
Welcome Wagon
Happy Kaiju
Jul 27, 2016
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Island of Tofu
#3
With keeping a good neighborly spirit got so used to wearing headphones!
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Those little things that make the game feel special nothing to do with games but remember my friend picked up his car sub-woofer and placed it on my upper back truly felt the bass and it was a good massage :p
 
Aug 14, 2016
978
1,553
93
#4
The thing with bass is that you don't just hear it you can feel it too. Even deaf people can still dance to music with a lot of bass in it because you can feel the bass with your whole body and not just your ears.

Also things like elephants use bass to talk to each other from miles aways and put up of the low bass sounds traveling through the ground with their feet. So the next time you see an elephant just stop walking for no reason and stand still, that is what they are doing. Feeling what other elephants are saying from really far away from them.
 
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EvilKitten

Well-Known Member
Ark Liege
Jul 26, 2016
777
1,557
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#6
You can still get good bass with a solid set of headphones. I jumped around a bit before settling on: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HVLUR86/

I can often feel the headphones vibrating to the low bass when I am playing games with good audio. Admittedly no you cannot get a full body feel from headphone but it can be the next best thing. So yes I agree, good quality full range audio is very important.
 

Pandagnome

Kaiju Slayer
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#7
You can still get good bass with a solid set of headphones. I jumped around a bit before settling on: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HVLUR86/

I can often feel the headphones vibrating to the low bass when I am playing games with good audio. Admittedly no you cannot get a full body feel from headphone but it can be the next best thing. So yes I agree, good quality full range audio is very important.
Are those headphones comfortable for long use and in heat?
My old sennheiser headphones were very nice though not bassy.
 

EvilKitten

Well-Known Member
Ark Liege
Jul 26, 2016
777
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#8
Are those headphones comfortable for long use and in heat?
My old sennheiser headphones were very nice though not bassy.
The only complaint I might make is that the headphones are built for a large head, so sometimes even with it set as small as possible they can slip off if I move my head quickly (so not really for walking around with. As for comfort they are good, I have used them for 4+ hours on several occasions without too much issue.

As for Bass, I will admit if you are running these on a PC with standard on board AC97 there is nothing even the best pair of headphones can do. For that I use https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XBZ38ZJ/ The audio from this is far superior and it is mobile so you can take it from PC to PC if needed.
 
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Waelwulfan

Omega Founder
Ark Liege
Jan 31, 2019
4
14
3
#9
I feel like this should be a toggleable thing. I don't really have a professional sound system to experience this with. But it's a good idea, especially for when the thmpr drills
You don't necessarily need a professional system (my Logitech 5.1 system certainly doesn't qualify as "pro audio"). You just need something with good low-frequency response, decent power, and decently accurate sound reproduction. And it doesn't need to be toggleable. This is the sound effect I was talking about earlier. You have to scroll down the page a bit to get the play button. The effect sounds good on mediocre speakers, and if you have good speakers it sounds even better. (Note: It sounds kinda crappy on the website, but you can download the file and play it in full quality. It saves without a file extension, but you can just slap .wav on the end and it works fine.)
 

Pandagnome

Kaiju Slayer
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#11
The only complaint I might make is that the headphones are built for a large head, so sometimes even with it set as small as possible they can slip off if I move my head quickly (so not really for walking around with. As for comfort they are good, I have used them for 4+ hours on several occasions without too much issue.

As for Bass, I will admit if you are running these on a PC with standard on board AC97 there is nothing even the best pair of headphones can do. For that I use https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XBZ38ZJ/ The audio from this is far superior and it is mobile so you can take it from PC to PC if needed.
I am going to look into a getting a new headphone mine looks like it has been chewed :O
The sound adapters looks interesting too thanks for the advice going to look into this too!