Challenge's Challenge

[Animl-AW]

I'm posting this outside of Custom Sounds to get a better viewing audience to seek possible wider help. Don't shoot me.

I've read up on Chalenge and his incredible devotion, money spent, and time in his quest to create the best sound pack possible. He is a true viking in his approach. I wished I was around to have worked with him on it.

>I< think it would be a disastrous failure to not help him complete this mission, for him and the game.
I would love to get my hands on his files and do just that. I can derive other sounds from other sound packs and create a new one,.. but,.. I think what this guy did needs attention as plan A. Its so hard to find authentic digital recordings.

I have no idea the challenges it might take to acquire these, better yet finish processing them with fixes,.. IF his family would even still have them OR even want to hand them to someone else. There is a boat load of copyrights here, which would have to be, unless he stated different in public, he hasn't done that to my knowledge.

The fact I now know he used a Sennheiser mic tells me a lot of how they need to be EQed so it doesn't sound miced, no electronic sounds at all, just purity.  I know those mics well, I know what it adds, therefore I know what to remove. They add high-end (treble). Nothing should be colored. If he didn't use a thick fluffy windscreen wind, air noise ambient sounds would need to be minimized.

The problem is acquiring these files, they may not trust what will come of his work in whose hands.

If that is the case, let me sell myself here. I won't ever discuss this again, it's not meant to be a brag, it's a qualitification. Everyone does things in life they are proud of, heroism exist everywhere. I'm nothing "special". I'm just Opie from Mayberry who ended up in a odd job.

If his family needs convincing let me throw my hat into the ring.
I've been a professional live concert sound engineer for 43 yrs now, started in 1980. I've cracked a lot of walls. I've worked directly with 450 high profile artist in 4000 concerts. Everyone from Lynyrd Skynyrd, Molly Hatchet, to Rammstien, Alice Cooper, Megadeath, Willie Nelson, Styx.. to Aretha Franklin and everyone in between,.. including on the audio crews for speeches of 5 presidents (Ford, Bush Sr., Clinton, Obama, Biden). Jerry Eubanks (flute player from Marshall Tucker Band) and I flew AW together at times. My background is searchable. The files would be in good hands and treated in a professional respectful manner. His work would not be wasted. I'm just putting it out there ONCE. I don't seek any credit, he owns that.

That said, I would be willing to sign any agreement that sustains his and their ownership, possible copyrights, and any revenue that could ever be made would belong to them.

I'm coming out of my down-time time of year. I have a small window of time to get this setup so when I do have time off I have something ready to jump into. By July to Nov. I will be working non-stop in another record breaking year of shows/events. I retire in 2 yrs, I'm way burned out.

I'm hoping that if someone knows him well, and knows how to contact his family, they could make this approach to them.

I apologize in advance of not properly placing this post. It's a last ditch effort. Move it if you must.

[Lazerr]

I think this is awesome.  I loved Chalenge's sounds, but was a bit turned off by the lack of audio with flaps in some planes, and as previously mentioned the engine start sound when a plane flew into a certain range.  Both easy fixes by someone that knows what's going on.

Custom sounds add a lot of immersion to the game, and before AH3 I had always used Mitsu or Twinboom packs, I kind of mix and matched them.  I wish I had something to contribute to efforts to get this rolling, but I don't.  If money was a concern, maybe we could start a go fund me type  deal to get the ball rolling.

Sounds are right up there with skins in this game, and they mean ALOT.

[oboe]

I love it too, and thank you Animl for your willingness to undertake this.

[Animl-AW]

I think this is awesome.  I loved Chalenge's sounds, but was a bit turned off by the lack of audio with flaps in some planes, and as previously mentioned the engine start sound when a plane flew into a certain range.  Both easy fixes by someone that knows what's going on.

Custom sounds add a lot of immersion to the game, and before AH3 I had always used Mitsu or Twinboom packs, I kind of mix and matched them.  I wish I had something to contribute to efforts to get this rolling, but I don't.  If money was a concern, maybe we could start a go fund me type  deal to get the ball rolling.

Sounds are right up there with skins in this game, and they mean ALOT.

I also had the Go-Fund-Me thought. I think HT and him had an arrangement to donate to his account. He dumped a lot of money and time into this project, which prolly took it out of family mouths, it would be a great hearted thing to return that, not a lost cause.

I have a saying about audio vs visual in my industry, no one goes home hmming the light show. It's very important in immersion.

[Animl-AW]

I love it too, and thank you Animl for your willingness to undertake this.

Nothing inspires me more then a good "challenge", add in the horrible situation and multiple "good cause" and I've got both feet in, everyone wins. it enriches the spirit.

Maybe why I fly into hordes solo, it's great SA practice, builds character.

[Animl-AW]

I think this is awesome.  I loved Chalenge's sounds, but was a bit turned off by the lack of audio with flaps in some planes, and as previously mentioned the engine start sound when a plane flew into a certain range.  Both easy fixes by someone that knows what's going on.

Custom sounds add a lot of immersion to the game, and before AH3 I had always used Mitsu or Twinboom packs, I kind of mix and matched them.  I wish I had something to contribute to efforts to get this rolling, but I don't.  If money was a concern, maybe we could start a go fund me type  deal to get the ball rolling.

Sounds are right up there with skins in this game, and they mean ALOT.

About mixing,...I'm not even sure the default sounds are still my files, some sound familiar. I mixed them in a way that frequencies did not mask other frequencies, which just turns into racket. I may have mixed the flaps and wheels a little on the hot side. In reality, you didn't hear as much as I mixed, it was intentional. He was in the right authentic direction, he shot for 100% accuracy. Sometimes one needs some dynamics and theatrics, I'm not so sure I would go against his wishes in the mix-down, but find compromises. Mixing them up is not a big deal. Would I mix them up the same as I did in AW and AH packs? probably not. It's what you're used to, it's not realistic.

Everyone literally hears differently, one person may like one thing, another hate it,.. the object is to find that honey spot where most like it. If you're going to mix sound for large audiences that you pour your heat into, you better have seriously thick skin. It could be your best mix ever, someone will find it unappealing, like the guy who works in a steal mill hearing clanging all day,.. his ears are wiped. I'm hoping the few bugs and errors didn't hurt his pride and discourage him. This is a hard group to please. Sometimes you're trying to please the un-pleaseable.

 Here's a clue, I started my 51 last night, first thing I heard was the wheels, then engine start, and I was not using his files. Only happened once, but it happened.

[fuzeman]

Way off topic but I saw +Sax (sic) mentioned and always wonder how he’s doing when listening to SevenMoore.
On topic , sound packs good even though my abacus has issues with them.

[LCADolby]

Revo, a squadmate of mine, had a copyright shenanigan with Chalenge. Somewhere in part on a BBS thread.
He checked out alot of the sounds in the soundpack and found that many were taken from youtube vids of the same aircraft.
I don't think you have much to worry about on the copyright issues here.

Personally my opinion, I'd question everything posted by Chalenge about his soundpack about cost and efforts. On the basis that not only were his sound from youtube vids but some believe he used to go by the nefarious name Voss many moons ago.

I say go for it, you do you, and make them great. 

[whiteman]

would love for this to happen, the old sound packs made the game feel more alive. I'd also love for the F4U-1A, 1D, 1C and -4 to get some love. The -1 he did sounds amazing.

[Animl-AW]

Revo, a squadmate of mine, had a copyright shenanigan with Chalenge. Somewhere in part on a BBS thread.
He checked out alot of the sounds in the soundpack and found that many were taken from youtube vids of the same aircraft.
I don't think you have much to worry about on the copyright issues here.

Personally my opinion, I'd question everything posted by Chalenge about his soundpack about cost and efforts. On the basis that not only were his sound from youtube vids but some believe he used to go by the nefarious name Voss many moons ago.

I say go for it, you do you, and make them great. 

Alrighty then!!
I had/have my suspicions on numbers I saw. I'll leave it at that, he's not here to defend himself. Somehow, "Voss" rings a memory bell.
It's always good to cover all bases when confronting someone about their own work. HT did the same with me.

Regardless,
1) They have to be authentic, however obtained.
2) They have to be high quality, at least within the realm able to be cleaned up. I lost hair trying to get MP3 files cleaned up enough for my AH pack, many were replaced several times. As bad as some people think some files are, the alternative was much worse. it was the best you'd get at that time.

I had to do some file lifting myself just to fill the slots. Back then videos used low grade grainy MP3 files, today they are MP4 and hi-res. I'm good with that.

I'm not holding my breath on getting his files, but I would like to see what he has, lets see where the dust settles on that. I don't feel much movement.

Plan B
I think it would be best, and time saving, if the community threw the best files they have found at me, mix and match from other sets to achieve the best of the best. Like "I never heard any other file sound this realistic and authentic."

Plan C
Time consuming,..>IF< his files are that great and we can't get them, I/we could literally re-record them in game, as long as a sound card can do direct recording on "what you hear". One way or another I can duplicate his files at the quality his end product ended up at and then shine them up. Originals would always be best. Using .ogg was a mistake, I know his thinking the game would run better, but that's not so much the case. .wavs run just fine because they are small files that load quick, and you'll get the full frequency spectrum in high-res. You're running .wav now, for years.

[lyric1]

I'd question everything posted by Chalenge about his soundpack about cost and efforts. On the basis that not only were his sound from youtube vids but some believe he used to go by the nefarious name Voss many moons ago.

OK personally knowing him and seeing his equipment and showing me videos and photos of overseas trips to specifically record sounds at air shows and tanks he recorded.
The Voss thing also was BS.

He spent thousands on sound equipment & he had the means to do so.
It was his hobby he enjoyed with no expense spared on it.

He was very careful on not infringing on peoples copyrights so ripping off Youtube videos would also be BS.

He also showed me all the sound packs that were in game that were all rip offs and could trace all of them back to original owners & he would notify them of infringements he found.

He knew what he was doing and did it well.

[DmonSlyr]

Man, challenges death was quite sudden, really a shame. Hope the you know what didn't have any involvement with a died suddenly, but you never get any details on how they passed. Really too bad for the community.

Personally Animl, I think this is a great idea. Hopefully you can find and recover them. I know a lot of work went into it so would be awesome if you could salvage them and keep the sounds updates going. I'm all for it! 

[lyric1]

Sadly he had a stroke and his health just never recovered from it.

[Animl-AW]

I don’t think I’m going to have much luck without HT’s help at some point. I haven’t bothered him yet, I don’t bother people until I have my ducks in a row.

To his family, I’m just some unknown dude in an internet game, I’m just a cold call.

No matter how we bake it, I’ll need help making it happen. So far, there doesn’t seem to be anyone willing to be that person/hero.

Two things need to happen
1) obtain files
2) fmod license

Until then I’m dead in the water.
I don’t mind doing it, but its going to take help.

[1stpar3]

Sadly he had a stroke and his health just never recovered from it.

MWK's death,sure didnt help out!   My first impression....as per Mrs. Challenge's description...left a 'Self Harm/ F it I am done fighting' sort of vibe?  Heck, I still tear up 3 or 4 times a week over MWK's Passing. Same with Grimies death.    SicPups-Purple Hearts...hard to define which one hurts the most...fly with the Remnant, on the daily