JF> Guess I must be good at this... by the way, have you noticed that
 JF> ever since the release of Doom, its sound effects have been used for
 JF> commercials and movies?
 LJ> It's more likely that some of the sounds you refer to came from a
 LJ> commercially produced CD sound effects collection.  We 
 LJ> have several that we
 LJ> use ourselves, for raw sounds and for sources to mix into other sounds.
  Maybe, and maybe not.  After all, I only heard these sounds a year or so 
AFTER Doom II came out.  And that cool "kawoosh" sound the megademon makes 
when it shoots out one of those weird cubes is definately NOT a stock sound 
effect.  I heard that Bobby Prince used various sounds, like an airlock sound 
plus a jet flight sound to make it the way it is.
  By the way, did you hear the story of how Prince came up with the sound for 
the Mancubus?  One day he was in the zoo, and he heard a panther make the 
strangest growl he ever heard.  He said, "I could swear it was trying to tell 
me something!"  Anyhow, he took that, slowed it down and cleaned it up, and 
now everytime one of those guys decides to toss flaming death your way, you 
hear that panther growl.
 JF> Don't think so.  I believe it's Soundelux (aka the Mechwarrior 2
 JF> sound people) that's doing the sound engine.  I think it's called the
 JF> "Sound Daemon."
 LJ> Soundelux?  Didn't know they did one, and I deal with one of their
 LJ> subsidiaries (The Hollywood Edge) quite often.  Maybe I should ask them.
 LJ> ;-)
  Good idea!  It would be great for Prey, and maybe give you an edge over 
your competitors.
  Speaking of which, why not get a rock band to do Prey's music?  Nine Inch 
Nails' background music for Quake is actually quite good.  Now imagine if you 
were to be playing with Bush X (or your favourite band) in the background.  
It would certainly be a nice touch!
 JF> What's special about the SOS engine?  I hope it's a little less
 JF> finicky than the previous HMI engine - just try and run an emulation
 JF> (as I did with my old GUS)!  Namely, you can't.
 LJ> What version did you use?  The newest one supports almost anything, 
either
 LJ> via emulation or directly.  I like its MIDI code, which is similar to 
what
 LJ> we did with the EMIDI system.
  Probably some fairly older versions, no later than 1995.  Not very 
cooperative.  Of course, that doesn't matter now.  I have an AWE32, probably 
one of the most compatible sound cards on the market.
 JF> I thought that may be the case.  By the way, to what degree are you
 JF> responsible for Shadow Warrior sound?  I hope you did most of it...
 JF> then I can harass you if a sound effect seems poorly done!  :-)
 LJ> Jim Norwood did a multitude of them before I got involved with the 
project
 LJ> late last year.  I've done almost every one since then. 
 LJ>  It's about a 50/50
 LJ> mix, maybe leaning a bit in my direction now.
  Any particularly cool sound effects that I should know about?  I hope the 
railgun (it IS in there, right?) is done well.
 JF> I'm pretty sure you didn't do the Lo Wang sounds.
 LJ> Wrong!...but thank you for playing!   Read on.
  Do I get a consolation prize?  How about a free copy of the full version of 
Shadow Warrior?  I could get started building levels right away, so that I'm 
nice & ready to take up that level designing job at 3D Realms a few years 
from now.  :-)
 JF> I know you guys went to a recording studio once again, so the sound
 JF> should be fairly well-mastered as it is.
 LJ> We do use a studio here in Dallas (Carrollton, actually).  The person 
ho
 LJ> runs it, Bill Reardon, also auditions and contracts talent, so it's
 LJ> one-stop shopping.  However, I write the final script based on what 
George
 LJ> gives me, what I get from the team, and a few things of my own (George 
has
 LJ> final say, since he picks what goes in).  I also direct 
 LJ> each session in the
 LJ> studio.
 LJ> When the session is over, I take the DAT we receive (a backup of it,
 LJ> anyway), dump the session to hard drive through SAW Plus, and cull out 
the
 LJ> useable material.  Finally, I process the sounds down 
 LJ> to VOCs through Sound
 LJ> Forge (with additional tweaks through the Waves Native 
 LJ> Power Pack plug-ins)
 LJ> and present the whole package to George for his final selections.
  By the way, how come you don't use the WAV format for sounds?  It would be 
much easier for the people who don't own Sound Blasters or have managed to 
find 3rd-party sound editors.
 LJ> Sometimes, as is the case with the interview with Lo Wang on our web 
site,
 LJ> I have to do a bit of reassembly to get things right.  The "I love the
 LJ> shuriken" response sounded quite different coming straight off the DAT.
 LJ> I had to edit regions, mix tracks, and pull sounds out of my hat (the
 LJ> "*clunk* AAAAHHHHGGGH!" sound, for example) to get it into its final 
form.
  Too bad I can't hear those sounds, yet.  Unless Shadow Warrior is out, and 
I'm blissfully unaware...
 LJ> To make a short story long, I am a bit more involved with Lo Wang's 
oice
 LJ> files than it might seem.  Our talent (don't know if I can mention who 
e
 LJ> is yet - nonetheless, he's very good) does the voice, 
 LJ> Bill Reardon does the
 LJ> recording, legal stuff, and provides excellent direction help, and I do
 LJ> everything else short of writing the checks to pay for the session.
  A lot of work it seems!  Good to see there's some real attention to detail 
here.  By the way, do you have an "I spent too much time underwater, I need 
air!" sound?  That was particularly interesting in Quake, and I would love to 
see it in Shadow Warrior.
 JF> I would if I could but I can't.  :-)  You see, there's no CD audio
 JF> support in Duke 3D, and I don't have audio-play controls on my 12X CD
 JF> drive.  Perhaps it's time for a 1.6 patch?
 LJ> Either that or a boom box with a CD built in. ;-)
  I suppose I could hook up my DiscMan (I LOVE that extra jack!) and play the 
Duke theme, but how would I get it to successfully loop?  As you know, the 
1st track of the CD is pure data, and I don't want my player to destroy my 
wonderful Pak CD.  By the way, how CAN I play it, when the episode 4 
cutscenes play off of the CD?  Unless it automatically stops...
--- Maximus 3.01
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