Everyone That Works With Audio Should Know This Stuff! (Timbre & Harmonics)

You should be able to explain to anyone, in common sense terms, why a piano sounds different from a flute even though they are playing the same exact pitch. Once you understand the concepts of timbre and the fundamentals of harmonic series mathematics (not as scary as it sounds), I promise you that your sound [...]

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What We Can Learn From The “Singularity” Sound Design Team

Another great sound designer interview is up courtesy of my friend Miguel at Designing Sound.  This time around, he interviews the sound design geniuses behind the game “Singularity,” a moody FPS that I’ve had the pleasure of putting some time into over the last week or so. I’m floored at how much game sound design [...]

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Going the Extra Mile for Unique Timbres: Part 2

Continuing from the last post, let’s take a look at some more sound-shaping tools that will aid us in our quest to develop unique timbres.  As usual, I’ll be using Ableton Live to illustrate when needed.   Gate Combined with Effects Automation Although generally used as a corrective device to remove excess noise between sounds [...]

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Going the Extra Mile for Unique Timbres: Part 1

I thought it would be fun to put together a small list of useful timbral-shaping tools. They are presented in no particular order along with a few words on how I like to use them. I tend to refer to a similar list in my head whenever I’m trying to come up with a creative [...]

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Listening to Your Environment and the 3 Building Blocks of Sound

I’d like to touch on the importance of the artist’s experience of the surrounding world and how that experience informs their work.  In short:  Regardless of whether you compose pop music or generative ambient, having a grasp on how the world creates sound is useful knowledge when it comes to creating your own sounds. So [...]

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