Research: Sound design effects ‐ EQ, Reverb & Delay - Jelmerrr/DeepDive-SFX-Manipulation GitHub Wiki
Which effects can be added to a sound file and what is the result of those.
In the world of sound design there are various effects and tricks people use to enhance any given sound. Through the use of these effects different feelings or thoughts can be attached to a sound. Effects can also help make sounds feel more realisitc, add more nuance to a soundscape or give better feedback based on any given game state. This deep dive focuses on three of the most commonly used effects in sound design: Equalizing, Reverb and Delay.
What is EQ?
An equalizer or EQ for short is a module that can modulate the amplitude (volume) of different frequencies. Through the use of highpass and lowpass filters a sound designer can choose to make certain frequency ranges sound louder and others sound more softer. This can be used for various effects but is mostly used to increase the harmonics of a soundscape and make everything more balanced. EQ can also be used to filter out unwanted frequencies present in a given recording. However do keep in mind EQ can not magically fix everything.
How to implement EQ in FMOD?
Implementing EQ in FMOD is straightforward if you understand what EQ is. Under the audio track right click to add the "Multiband EQ" effect.
When selected it will give a graph with at the bottom a few points you can select ranging from A to E. These points are filters, upon creation FMOD will ad a basic lowpass filter that filters out the higher frequencies. You can dynamically adjust these filters and mess around with them to create the effect you desire.
What is reverb?
Reverb attempts to immitate sound reflecting off of different surfaces and back into our ears. Reverb is integral when it comes to creating an immersive and realistic soundscape. In most use cases, reverb is used to create a sense of depth through this immitation of reflection. Reverb has both a dry and a wet component. The dry sound of reverb is the original sound without reverb. The wet sound is the sound with the reverb attached to it. You can carefully adjust how dry or wet the reverb should be to immitate the room your sound is played in.
How to implement reverb in FMOD?
Similar to EQ reverb is added as an effect on the audio track. However reverb has a lot more knobs to play around with as a sound designer.
When the reverb effect is added you can adjust various parameters. As mentioned before the wetness or dryness can be adjusted but additionally things such as decay or gain are also available to be tinkered with.
What is delay?
Last but not least there is delay. Delay is an effect based around time. It attempts to recreate echo-ey effects through duplicating the played sound. These duplication then gradually get less noticeable over time creating this fade out echo effect. Delay in music is often synced according to a given musical notation but for SFX the delay is often used to create a bit more of a chaotic soundscape.
How to implement delay in FMOD?
As with all the other effects delay is another effect module in FMOD. Simply add it to a given audio track and the delay preset is added.
Upon adding the delay module you can once agian see the dryness and wetness levels. Similarly to reverb they manage how much of the sound gets changed based on how much wetness you desire. Additionally you can adjust the delay time in ms. This means you can get very specific with how much echo you wish to create. Lastly you can adjust the level of feedback each time the sound is repeated. More feedback means the sound is repeated more and less feedback means the sound fades out faster.
Conclusion
In conclusion these effects can all be used as a standalone to create interesting effects. However their real strength is revealed when you use these effects together to create much more realistic sounding SFX. For each project and sound there are different parameters needed to be set. It is the job of the sound designer to carefully adjust each parameter untill the desired result is obtained.
Sources:
EQ explained - the basics. Armada Music. (n.d.). https://www.armadamusic.com/university/music-production-articles/eq-explained-the-basics
Coen, O. (2018, September 24). EQ as a Sound Design Tool. Designing Sound. https://designingsound.org/2018/09/24/eq-as-a-sound-design-tool/
Shimazu, H. (2023, July 20). What are harmonics?. Splice. https://splice.com/blog/what-are-harmonics/
Yocum, M. (2022, June 13). How to use reverb in your sound design. Pro Sound Effects Blog - Sound Design Stories & Resources. https://blog.prosoundeffects.com/how-to-use-reverb-in-your-sound-design
Audio Mixing. (2023, March 30). How do you balance the wet and dry signals of reverb and delay to achieve clarity and cohesion?. Reverb and Delay Basics for Beginners: How to Balance Wet and Dry Signals. https://www.linkedin.com/advice/0/how-do-you-balance-wet-dry-signals-reverb-delay-achieve#:~:text=The%20wet%20signal%20is%20the,the%20vocal%20sound%20without%20reverb.
Sones, Z. (2022, July 8). What is delay?. The Beat: A Blog by PremiumBeat. https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/what-is-delay/