Author Topic: engines sound and audio editor program  (Read 1021 times)

Offline Bizman

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Re: engines sound and audio editor program
« Reply #15 on: February 05, 2012, 03:39:54 AM »
Chalenge, using multiple editors is just like my picture editing. Good analogy! Sometimes a basic thing like Paint or Windows Sound Recorder (sndrec32.exe) is the best tool, sometimes you need all kind of filters and faders.

Lulu, if you're just trying your wings in sound processing, just wanting to create an engine sound of your own, use the freebies. As stated above, they have lots of functions that aren't evident at first glance.

Another thing is what expectations to set for an engine sound clip to be used in a WW2 flying simulator game. True purists try to find the exact plane type and record its engine sound with highest quality equipment and sample rate. Sadly many planes don't exist any more, or at least their engines can't be started up. In those cases substitutes must be used and modified, the result being more or less imaginary. In the case of a live recording there are multiple aspects to consider: Outside or inside the cockpit, in flight (with real airflow effect) or revving up on the field, plain or damped by a WW2 leather helmet with hearing protection and earphones... Not to mention how to record and reproduce subsonic vibrations.

IMHO the AH cockpit sounds don't have to be of too high quality, because we are wearing our virtual leather helmets with earmuffs and bakelite phones which cut off certain frequencies more than others. The raw cockpit sound was deafening, but I have neither met nor heard about hearing impaired WW2 pilots. After all, they had to be able to hear their radio!

Offline lulu

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Re: engines sound and audio editor program
« Reply #16 on: February 05, 2012, 05:24:26 AM »
Bizmann, I have same sample rate but different lenghts. That's the problem. I used these sounds to tray:

http://simviation.com/1/search?submit=1&keywords=p51&x=0&y=0

My first solution was to open 4 'audacity' windows to play them together also if
their lenghts are different,  do the corresponding changes and record all with xp 'audio recorder'
or with 'free audio editor'.

'Fre audio editor' seems to have a better resampling function.


 :salute




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Offline Bizman

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Re: engines sound and audio editor program
« Reply #17 on: February 05, 2012, 07:35:13 AM »
All right... The first thing is to get all your sound elements into a single Audacity window. Start by File->Open for the first element. Then use File->Import->Audio to add more. If they are in stereo, split them to mono by clicking the triangle at the start of each track. Since they most probably come from a single source, you can then delete the other channel. I couldn't find any sound files through your link, so my instructions are more general.

So, let's say you want to make a mix of several P51 sounds to be used in AH. Import, split and delete until you have a bunch of mono tracks at hand. You can listen to them all at the same time or mute one or more of them even while listening. If you want tracks start at different times, use Tracks->Align Tracks->Align with Cursor to change the starting point of each track. Don't bother about different lengths because 10 seconds is all you'd need.

When you have your selection ready, the Effect menu is what you'd mostly need. Use Amplify to boost or diminish desired channels. Ctrl-z (undo) is your best friend! When you're happy with the result, choose all tracks and use Amplify again with a negative value to reduce the overall sound level. The tracks add up when mixed and we don't want any distortion or clipping, do we... Then go to File->Export and save it as a wav file which will be the raw material for your sound clip. You can import the clip you just created to see if the curve fits nicely into the track window. Then save and close your project.

Now open the wav file you've just created. Listen through it and look at the time line to find the best sounding part. Select that part with your mouse, adding some extra at both ends and copy it (Edit->Copy or Ctrl-C). In the Tracks menu choose Add New->Audio Track and paste your clip there. Select that clip. Use the Zoom button to magnify the sound curve until you clearly can see the ups and downs, preferably as a continuing pattern. Select about 10 seconds starting and ending at a point where the curve passes the zero line, then Edit->Find Zero Crossings (keyboard z). Now your selection should start and end at a zero crossing. Take a closer look (zoom in): Would the curve make a perfect loop? If the curve starts rising from the start, it should end by rising from the negative bottom to zero. You can move the endpoints of your selection with your mouse and redo the zero crossing search until you've found a loopable pattern. When you've found it, copy-paste it to a new audio track.  Transport->Loop Play will tell you how it would sound in AH. If you can't hear where the loop restarts, you've succeeded.

Now is the time to fine tune your clip. If you want to boost lower frequencies or add echoes or other gimmicks, do it now. Notice that many effects add volume, so keep an eye on the sound curve. Reduce the volume if necessary. After you've finished, use  Effect->Normalize to amplify your sound right below clipping/distortion. File->Export your work as a Wav file with the correct plane name and place it into your Hitech Creations\Aces High\Sounds folder.

Offline lulu

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Re: engines sound and audio editor program
« Reply #18 on: February 05, 2012, 12:16:57 PM »
The 'complete guide to the galaxy' !   TY

But look at this


1st sound (prop)      ----------             length 10   sec    22 kHz

2sd sound (rpm)      ---------------      lenght 15   sec    22 kHz

If I mix they then I have a 'hole' of 5 sec in prop sound.
This is why I need a program that is able  to play they together but indpendently from their lenghts.


 :salute
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Offline Bizman

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Re: engines sound and audio editor program
« Reply #19 on: February 05, 2012, 01:29:38 PM »
You're talking about a program that could loop the two files independently, but actually you don't need such. There's two alternative methods to do the mix:

1)
  • Position the prop and rpm sounds on separate tracks in a way their mix appeals you the most.
  • Delete the rest of the rpm sound.
  • Set their volumes to your likes as I described earlier
  • Export the mix
  • Find zero crossings and make a loopable clip
.

2)
  • If you are using ready-made game sound clips, they probably are loopable and you can duplicate them as many times as you want to. If not, continue...
  • Look for zero crossings and wave pattern in the prop track.
  • Copy a selection you have found
  • Paste the selection right after the end of the selection mentioned
  • Repeat if necessary
  • Adjust the volumes, export and make loopable as above

Again, you'd only need a few seconds of loopable sound. The minimum would be the time in which every cylinder has done its cycle. How long does it take for a V12 to do it at 3000 rpm? Calculate yourself! In-flight sound clips are really that easy.

Starting and stopping sounds are a bit trickier, because a) starting takes a certain amount of time as does stopping and b) you certainly would like the engine cough in sync with the smoke puffs.

In my Brewster starting sound I used a few seconds of wartime footage to get the hand driven inertia wheel whine of a 109 and an even shorter fraction of the startup coughing of a Trojan. Both of the videos were several minutes long, so I just took the parts that fitted best. The first 5 seconds are pure Messerschmitt, the rest of total 9 seconds is a mixture of Me and Trojan. I used Total Recorder to capture the sound of the videos, the demo version allows to record 30 seconds at a time, which is plenty for this kind of use.

« Last Edit: February 05, 2012, 01:35:41 PM by Bizman »

Offline lulu

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Re: engines sound and audio editor program
« Reply #20 on: February 05, 2012, 11:54:51 PM »
"Again, you'd only need a few seconds of loopable sound. The minimum would be the time in which every cylinder has done its cycle. How long does it take for a V12 to do it at 3000 rpm? Calculate yourself! In-flight sound clips are really that easy."

I supposed that the file was just so because the file lenght are not too big - about 100 kB.

Do You know how AH changes engine sound when we use WEP?

Does It change the speed of the sound a bit?

 :salute

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Offline Bizman

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Re: engines sound and audio editor program
« Reply #21 on: February 06, 2012, 10:14:27 AM »
Huge sound files will only cause trouble. A big single engine sound will work until there are more sounds around. Just think: You have a 1000 kb engine sound and you dive into a CV fight, your guns blazing 4x500 kb gunshot sounds + 2x300 kb for machine guns, a 500 kb stress sound, 400 kb wind and the CV shooting back with gazillion cannons of different sizes. All of the sudden your system has to deal with a severalfold amount of data, possibly over its limits. The smaller sound files you have the more different sounds you can use simultaneously. Same goes for bit depth. Put in a nutshell, your goal is to maximize the sound quality while minimizing file size. Look at the specs of popular AH sound packs in each file for reference. BTW my first Brew eng sound was about 10 seconds long and 500 kb, the final version 3.5 sec and 150 kb. Just experimented with a 16 kb/0.37 sec fraction of the original 10 sec clip. It was loopable but lacked depth. A longer clip may also include variations caused by turbulence and such.

I don't know the code but it looks like AH changes the speed of the sound according to throttle movements, from idle to WEP. Both the tempo and pitch are affected. The actual sound clip seems to work both idle and WEPped if it's recorded at full/travel speed.

« Last Edit: February 06, 2012, 10:50:45 AM by Bizman »

Offline lulu

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Re: engines sound and audio editor program
« Reply #22 on: February 06, 2012, 11:29:13 AM »
I did not look for the code lol

Just this:

"AH changes the speed of the sound according to throttle movements"

I agree with sound file size etc.

I did one of about 50k. It seems to work well but I will try something more short.

TY
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Offline Bizman

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Re: engines sound and audio editor program
« Reply #23 on: February 06, 2012, 12:43:22 PM »
Nice you got that working.  :) :salute