Forgive me if you haven't seen the film, but I think it is safe to assume everyone here has seen it. I like a good many films, and several have certain sequences in them that I can watch over and over and over again. Back to the Future has a scene that most people refer to as the "Clock Tower scene."
Me too, I love watching the "Clock Tower" sequence over and over! It's one of the most perfectly executed sequences in cinema history, in my opinion. I don't think you're giving the visual side enough credit, though. The cinematography, editing, acting, and special FX were all top notch, and brought the movie to an extremely exciting conclusion! The only reason the sequence is working for you with just the sound is because you're seeing the movie in your mind as the sound is playing, I suspect. But, back to the main topic at hand.
Chris Kennedy wrote:
Still - One has to properly calibrate a home theater in order to make it enjoyable. I think it is a safe assumption to say you would need to do the same thing for a computer. You need to be enveloped in the sound.
I've been having problems properly calibrating sound on my computer. I recently installed "Mass Effect," and the sound mix is so screwed up that the music overpowers all other sound, particularly voices. I had subtitles turned off, so I was placed in situations where I had to respond to questions I couldn't hear! No matter what I did, the problem remained unless I turned the music off, which I didn't want to do, because, as we are discussing here, the music is part of the sound experience.
Chris Kennedy wrote:
Focusing more on Matt's topic, I think sounds can play a pivotal role in gaming. I also think that the ambient sounds are sometimes more important than the gameplay-specific sound effects. How many times do they repeat? How do they overlay? Too much? Too little? Too loud? Aside from the repetition, you still have to have a good mix.
Max Payne had very atmospheric sound effects, as did the similar "Bioshock." The GTA games always seemed to have great ambient sound effects that really made you feel like you were in a living city.
As for where we go from here, I don't really know. Algorithmic musical soundtracks? It almost seems to me that we've "topped out" what games can do in the audio department, short of synthesized voice acting.
Back to the Future -
Forgive me if you haven't seen the film, but I think it is safe to assume everyone here has seen it. I like a good many films, and several have certain sequences in them that I can watch over and over and over again. Back to the Future has a scene that most people refer to as the "Clock Tower scene."
Me too, I love watching the "Clock Tower" sequence over and over! It's one of the most perfectly executed sequences in cinema history, in my opinion. I don't think you're giving the visual side enough credit, though. The cinematography, editing, acting, and special FX were all top notch, and brought the movie to an extremely exciting conclusion! The only reason the sequence is working for you with just the sound is because you're seeing the movie in your mind as the sound is playing, I suspect. But, back to the main topic at hand.
Still - One has to properly calibrate a home theater in order to make it enjoyable. I think it is a safe assumption to say you would need to do the same thing for a computer. You need to be enveloped in the sound.
I've been having problems properly calibrating sound on my computer. I recently installed "Mass Effect," and the sound mix is so screwed up that the music overpowers all other sound, particularly voices. I had subtitles turned off, so I was placed in situations where I had to respond to questions I couldn't hear! No matter what I did, the problem remained unless I turned the music off, which I didn't want to do, because, as we are discussing here, the music is part of the sound experience.
Focusing more on Matt's topic, I think sounds can play a pivotal role in gaming. I also think that the ambient sounds are sometimes more important than the gameplay-specific sound effects. How many times do they repeat? How do they overlay? Too much? Too little? Too loud? Aside from the repetition, you still have to have a good mix.
Max Payne had very atmospheric sound effects, as did the similar "Bioshock." The GTA games always seemed to have great ambient sound effects that really made you feel like you were in a living city.
As for where we go from here, I don't really know. Algorithmic musical soundtracks? It almost seems to me that we've "topped out" what games can do in the audio department, short of synthesized voice acting.
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