SOUND : A few good things to know..

[zarexz]

I'm used to have sound and music off. Basicaly because I never liked how it sounded ever since TM-Sunrise.
While I'm at it with my project now, adding music scenes and sound effects, a couple of things are very noticable.

I use onboard realtec high definition audio on a two-way speaker stereo system conected to a normal amplifier. I have sliders and setting the same as Pedal. Being a hobby musician/dj for years, I like to think I have pretty good knowledge of what sounds good or not. Personal taste aside.

I normaly play Canyon only but to test a bit better I hit the Stadium dirt aswell. I don't play SM but I can understand this sound setup would work much better there.

What i feel, and this is especially when drifting/skidding, is that the sound is way to loud and also unrealistic. It just sounds bad. Also it goes on top of all other sounds that i feel are more important, like Engine sound (to hear if the car Changes gear) and/or other sounds that would inform me if i am pushing my line too far.

Quality wise it doesn't sound bad but more out of place if you ask me. The sound effects are too much on top indeed. It sounds unnerving and too pumped up. Even more so if you also play the music which fades out and in everytime a sound effect plays. I think the music should stay at a steady volume at all times. Not in the DJ-Talk-Over-Mode as it is now.

I agree that some kind of sound to indicate drifting/skidding is a good thing but for me, i Always force my drifts so i know when i am drifting and i can also see if the car is driving on dirt, grass or asphalt so i feel these sounds are not "important".

They are important because they definitly ad to the experience. If the mix is good.

For me, the issue is that the "road rumble" sounds first and upmost are too loud compared to the rest of the sounds.

They make me feel losing the connection with the car. Same goes for the tarmac drift sounds in Canyon.

I don't know if this issue is related to my system or my ears or neither but i find this, for me, a big issue in TM2.

I guess not because I fully understand what you write here and I use 2-way stereo instead of 5-way surround.

[TMarc]

To be exactly on the same page, when you're talking about custom music, you mean, ogg files that you put in your Docs\Maniaplanet\Media\Musics\ folder, to listen to them while racing ?

There isn't supposed to be any reason for that volume loss, if there's a bug causing those troubles, we might take a look at it indeed..

Yes, I mean ogg files added to the track as background music.

I was only playing the track intro to listen to the music. I've found out when you actually drive, the music is a lot louder.
It seems the wind sound you get with a camera flight causes the music to fade.
I also searched for better recorded music which also helped. I still have to ad atleast 0.6db gain to my recordings though.

Did you compare the average dynamics of the original music tracks to those you have added yourself?
You might want to use a compressor/limiter plugin to level your music

[zarexz]

Did you compare the average dynamics of the original music tracks to those you have added yourself?
You might want to use a compressor/limiter plugin to level your music

Yeah I did. And as I wrote, the first song I was using was just badly recorded and allready compressed to the max.
Using better recordings did solve-ish that problem.

[TMarc]

great

[GabrielM]

I've taken your issue about wheels on ground sound in account, it won't be dealt with within a few weeks, the coming days being dedicated to ShootMania's release.

Pedal a écrit:I don't know if this issue is related to my system or my ears or neither but i find this, for me, a big issue in TM2.

I guess not because I fully understand what you write here and I use 2-way stereo instead of 5-way surround.

It's not only related to the numbers of speakers, the road rumble is mostly low frequencies, so if you play with laptop speakers, you'll barely hear anything, but if you play with a 2.1 system with a loud subwoofer, you may hear it very loud.. So it can definetly be, partly, related to your audio set up.

I think the music should stay at a steady volume at all times. Not in the DJ-Talk-Over-Mode as it is now.

There is no such thing, except on start line where there's a very slight attenuation, 1.5dB...
Still, If there was, it won't be after the next update, because checking here, i don't have any music automation. If you feel like you're experiencing this, it could be due to overload. If all your volume sliders, even the windows one, are up to the maximum, that can be an explanation..

[zarexz]

It's not only related to the numbers of speakers, the road rumble is mostly low frequencies, so if you play with laptop speakers, you'll barely hear anything, but if you play with a 2.1 system with a loud subwoofer, you may hear it very loud.. So it can definetly be, partly, related to your audio set up.

I'm not using laptop speakers here. I'm using hi-fi 3-way bassreflex speakers on a normal amplifier.

There is no such thing, except on start line where there's a very slight attenuation, 1.5dB...
Still, If there was, it won't be after the next update, because checking here, i don't have any music automation.

The music volume also lowers when the track intro plays a camera flight.

If you feel like you're experiencing this, it could be due to overload. If all your volume sliders, even the windows one, are up to the maximum, that can be an explanation..

Neah, all my pc volume settings are fixed at arround 60% of max. I always raise and lower audio volume with my mixer or amplifier.

[GabrielM]

I'm not using laptop speakers here.

Well exactly, in my example, using laptop speakers you would not be experiencing your issue of road rumble being too loud.

The music volume also lowers when the track intro plays a camera flight.

Allright, i'll take a look at that tomorrow morning.

Neah, all my pc volume settings are fixed at arround 60% of max. I always raise and lower audio volume with my mixer or amplifier.

Yep, i was suggested that because i thought you were talking about when the car hits something, i mean, regarding your "talk-over" suggestion. In that case, that could have been an explanation.

[zarexz]

Allright, i'll take a look at that tomorrow morning.

Awesome!

Maybe you could also have a look at the Madiatracker track Music volume slider which isn't working?

Thanxz


EDIT: Main music also lowers in the replay mode after a race.

[Pedal]

Thanks for looking into this GabrielM

[GabrielM]

Maybe you could also have a look at the Madiatracker track Music volume slider which isn't working?

Well i'm not a developper so i can't fix bugs, and the coming days are fully dedicated to ShootMania's Launch.. So don't expect too much from TrackMania right now, you have to be a bit patient and i'm sorry about that.

But i keep track of this thread, i don't forget about it. In the mean time, may you have some fun racing dudes !