Do you get the Sound Mixing Nerd Spirit Orb?
July 19, 2019 6:15 PM   Subscribe

"Invisible" Sound Design in Breath of the Wild (slyt)

I definitely did not.
posted by Caduceus (10 comments total) 10 users marked this as a favorite
 
I wish we had a more structured tagging system. I'm never quite sure what's useful and what's a waste of time.
posted by Caduceus at 6:18 PM on July 19, 2019 [1 favorite]


This is the only post tagged "scruffy," so there is that.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 6:25 PM on July 19, 2019 [4 favorites]


I actually did get the sound mixing nerd spirit orb before he announced it, in that I thought it would be a lo- or hi-pass filter applied to background music as the weather changes. I thought it was going to get a lo-pass filter applied when it started raining or something, though. Amazing video though and makes me really want to play this game!
posted by Cpt. The Mango at 7:11 PM on July 19, 2019 [1 favorite]


Saw this a couple days ago - I've been replaying BotW and there's definitely some hinky business happening where youtube knows about my googling for special armor locations and whatnot and has started spitting out semi-relevant Zelda video recs among the dumb cat videos I usually get pushed at me. Nicely, this was a good one.

I too successfully predicted the filter at the end. It was nice to just sit and watch the sky clear with this guy regardless. He's got a great voice, perfect for the subject matter, and I love watching people be enthusiastic about the niche things they're into, even if I weren't already full into BotW mode. Ever since I watched the video, I've been listening to the difference in all the footsteps and weapon clinking when I'm wearing different armor sets. They must have done so much foley!! I knew they were different for the stealthy armor vs the louder stuff, but there's a lot more variety and now I'm noticing it.

Okay, I'm gonna go back to slogging through Eventide Island, because apparently I can't not even though I've played this game like four times now. Thank you for this moment of reminding me to appreciate the masterful subtlety at work, even when I get mad about orbs.
posted by Mizu at 7:50 PM on July 19, 2019 [1 favorite]


The music part is really interesting, I knew it sprinkled in percussion on hits sometimes but never really paid attention to it. I love the music and sound in this game so much.

For awhile I was hoping that *all* the background sounds were, if not generated by game objects, relating to real objects. Like: if you hear a cricket, there's a cricket nearby. But it wasn't true, I forget what disproved it; maybe birds.
posted by fleacircus at 10:15 PM on July 19, 2019


I’m pretty sure that all of the bird/bug noises are only generated when they are nearby. I have been using the audio cues to hunt.
posted by domo at 6:41 AM on July 20, 2019 [1 favorite]


I'm very late to the party and only just started playing this about a month ago. I'm completely obsessed (and I generally get bored of video games really quickly). I got this video served to me a few days ago via the same route as Mizu. The organic nature of the sounds is just so effective. The foley and real-actual-orchestral-instruments and all the subtle engineering mentioned in the video are so integral to how immersive the world is. You can tell it took them for freaking ever to make this thing and I want to encourage them to ignore my weeping and tending of clothing and take however long they need to make BOTW2.
posted by soren_lorensen at 7:40 AM on July 20, 2019 [6 favorites]


Wow

I've been playing this game on switch after defeating 3 beasts on wiiu. Tediously slogging through things I've already done is combined seamlessly with magically discovering amazing things I've missed.

I rather disliked the music and sound design because it is so repetitive and boring.

And now that I've learned to notice the invisible complexity - I think I will enjoy it more! Thanks for sharing.
posted by rebent at 4:08 PM on July 20, 2019 [2 favorites]


As lovely as these details are, the spare nature of the game's soundtrack always bothered me. If they had the same meticulous approach but a fuller soundtrack a la windwaker, then I'd be fully on board. Of course, there are lots of subtle details in the sound design of that game, too. One thing that botw does better is to make the music part of the environment, though, which definitely increases immersion.
posted by dbx at 7:42 PM on July 20, 2019


Pretty neat how he turned the game into a musical scavenger hunt. That opens up a lot of game space. What if there were a game whose purpose is specifically to collect a bunch of sounds or samples? And it gives you a simple audacity interface and to move forward you have to assemble the sounds somehow into songs? Like, you need to visit Dave Brubeck's studio but he'll only see you if you impress him with your Take Five remake? You want to go to Bjork Island? You must bring her a recording of a bird singing at midnight.
posted by M-x shell at 7:39 AM on July 21, 2019


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