"Sound design for mobile Apps: bebop, do-bop, do it, damn it..." by Karen Sawrey

Karen is a tech writer at Cossack Labs, freelance sound designer for various mobile developers and girl who'll bust the myth that sound is only about mobile games. Her talk will contain much fun, interaction and of course much of useful info. You will know about the things you can do by yourself, and what you should delegate to experts.

This talk was made for CocoaHeads Kyiv #12 which took place July 22 2017.

Transcript

1. Sound Design for Mobile Apps: bebop, do-bop, do it, damn it… KAREN SAWREY
2. WHY ME?
3. MUSICIAN
4. SOUND DESIGNER TECH WRITER
5. Why and where? SOUND IN APPS
6. Spoiler alert: No, we cannot. COULD WE MAKE DO WITHOUT SOUND?
7. + Sets the mood + Informs + Rewards WHAT DOES THE SOUND DO?
8. A BIT OF MIND-READING
9. ...thinking that you’re developing serious apps, not games. YOU’RE PROBABLY...
10. THE SOUND... + Sets the mood supporting a brand + Informs about the task status + Rewards for a job well done
11. SO HOW DO WE ADD SOUND TO AN APP WITHOUT A SOUND ENGINEER?
12. “So how do we add sound without a sound designer? - We don’t”. (c) Ressa Schwarzwald, sound designer @TinyBuild, Belarus
13. + Ethic reasons. + Legal reasons. DON`T STEAL
14. + Asset stores + Stocks + “Siri, find me some royalty-free audio/music…” BUY LEGAL
15. https://audiojungle.net/ https://www.audioblocks.com/ https://www.shutterstock.com/ru/music/ etc. STOCKS:
16. FREE STUFF:
17. MIND THE LICENSE
18. USING NON-FREE STUFF... + See license + Change >30% + Go all-in
19. + GarageBand (iOS, OS X) + Reaper (OS X) + Audacity (OS X) + Ardour (OS X) WITH FREE EDITORS:
20. + Alchemy Synth + Novation Launchkey + Tabletop + Syntorial + Synth BEST FREE iOS SYNTHS:
21. BEST FREE iOS SYNTHS:
22. ONLINE NOISE GENERATORS: Ambience: + https://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/whiteNoise Generator.php + https://noises.online/
23. ONLINE NOISE GENERATORS:
24. ONLINE NOISE GENERATORS 2.0: Sound effects (require flash!): + http://www.superflashbros.net/as3sfxr/ + http://www.bfxr.net/ + http://sfbgames.com/chiptone/
27. FRIENDS/COLLEAGUES AS VOICEOVER ACTORS ?
29. OK, YOU CAN SAMPLE YOUR CAT
30. + Cut the excess frequencies (<250Hz, >10/17kHz) THE FINAL COUNTDOWN:
32. THE FINAL COUNTDOWN: + Compression
33. + Choose the correct format: Lossless vs. Lossy Mono vs. Stereo - wav\mp3\ogg - aac\alac\ale THE FINAL COUNTDOWN:
34. Source: https://uvicaudio.wordpress.com/2015/01/24/lossy-formats-2/
35. + WAV and AIFF - uncompressed audio files (encapsulate the data on a CD in a way that the files can be read on a computer). + Apple Lossless - lossless format, which retains the full quality of the uncompressed audio, yet uses much less space (about 40-60 % less than WAV or AIFF files). + AAC and MP3 - lossy compressed formats (AAC is actually the MP4 standard, the successor to MP3).
36. + AAC music format: .mp4, .m4a, m4a, .m4b, .m4p, .m4r and .m4v BYE, MP3
37. + https://www.apple.com/au/itunes/mastered-for-itunes/ SOUNDS BETTER ON MY IPHONE
38. + Sane filename THE FINAL COUNTDOWN:
39. NAMING
40. DE-LE-GATE
41. STAY AWAY FROM: + Sound “for kids” + “Legacy” soundtracks (esp. historic) + Creation of sound effects when the soundtrack is ready + Working with middleware (WWISE, FMOD)
42. SOUND DESIGNERS...
43. AND WHERE TO FIND THEM: + Gamedev communities, forums + Gaming and IT events + Freelance sites (Upwork, Fiverr) + Blogs
44. REMEMBER! + Provide references + Really - references + Provide context + Communicate! + Don’t overlook technical requirements (i.e. target format)
45. REMEMBER! Everything is a matter of personal preference.
46. krnswry@gmail.com Karen Sawrey @krnswry THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!