Weapon Sounds Remastered: Part Two

[[DE]erichdigital]

Hi everyone,

Erich here again from the Warframe sound team. In my last Dev Workshop I talked about upcoming sound remastering to a select few weapons including the Braton, Lato and Paris.

With the recent weapon rebalancing pass, we felt that it would be a good time to look at sound remastering of all the weapons in Warframe. Warframe has been around since 2013 and has close to 300 weapons and naturally over time we have improved our design and technical process when creating sounds for weapons. Additionally, some weapons were either too quiet or too loud which might cause an otherwise good sounding weapon to be perceived as too weak or too overwhelming.

The main goal of this remastering pass is to ensure all weapons feel good to use, give improved gameplay feedback, maintain a consistent audio mix and keep as much of their original character as possible.

To enhance the feeling of firing weapons, we added a new layer, called a punch layer. The punch layer consists of extra impact and low frequency content to simulate the physical feeling of firing a weapon. Often times this extra audio content is hard to pack into to the same space as the weapon sound content, so adding it as an additional layer allows us to maintain a weapons character while adding extra punch and impact. In some cases this layer is very prominent and it others it is a subtle enhancement. There are many different sounding punch layers that were created and part of the remastering process was to pair the correct punch layer with each weapon sound.

The sound of weapons affecting their environment is also an important part of creating a sensation of power and realism. To achieve this, the exterior echo sound layer for each weapon was remastered and rebalanced to improve quality and complexity as well as to make them more audible. For interior areas, we turned up and enhanced the echoes created by our built in reverb system. Instead of adding additional echo samples like we do for exterior areas, using the built in reverb engine allows a wider variety of interior echoes that better match the space you are in.

To improve weapon feedback we added a new low clip mechanical layer to each weapon. Many of our newer weapon sounds have this layer and it proved to be quite beneficial, so we applied this technique to every weapon in Warframe. Once the low clip layer becomes audible, the pitch will rise according to how close you are to the end of your clip.

To maintain a more consistent mix, we contrasted and compared each weapon to a core set of sonically well balanced weapons. Some weapons were turned up in volume and others were turned down in volume to match, while some didn’t change in volume at all. Certain weapons have mechanical sound layers that were turned up slightly louder than they were originally to improve clarity and provide additional depth and complexity to the weapon sound. Simply turning up the volume of certain sounds and sound layers that were previously too quiet breathed new life and interest in to many older weapon sounds.   

It was our intention to enhance the weapon sounds of Warframe without affecting their original character too much. Some changes might be very obvious, while others might be very subtle. Below you can listen to some before / after comparisons to get a better idea of how weapons were affected by the remastering. Try listening at different volumes to pick up on different parts of the sound.

In addition to the most recent weapon sound remastering pass we are planning on doing a full weapon remastering pass for weapon sounds being wielded by other players and enemies. You may have noticed that some weapons don’t sound the same in other people's hands as they do in yours and we intend to improve consistency in this area.

We will also be exploring new ways to improve gameplay feedback through sound  when using weapons and are excited to bring these improvements to you in the future!

As always, we appreciate your feedback and constructive criticism  and will continue to examine and refine the weapon sound remastering changes.

Thank you for playing and we hope you enjoy the booms and bangs!

Sincerely,

Erich

[Tobiah]

Thanks!

[Exploderizer]

neat, excited to hear what y'all do with the Grinlok and snipers

[(PSN)purpleskullgamin]

Wasn't there some talk about when a weapon had a silencer mod on and you guys said looking through every weapon for that would take to long? Whilst your already doing that how about you gradually work in your way into stuff like that.

Also I appreciate all the work you and the sound team do for the game.

[xXDeadsinxX]

Awesome!

[jiminatorx]

I noticed the metallic reload sound which was pretty cool. I hope at some point you can add a "muffled" sound for silenced weapons, that is immersion breaking and confusing, perhaps similar to the way they sound when loki is invisible?

[(PSN)purpleskullgamin]

5 minutes ago, jiminatorx said:

I noticed the metallic reload sound which was pretty cool. I hope at some point you can add a "muffled" sound for silenced weapons, that is immersion breaking and confusing, perhaps similar to the way they sound when loki is invisible?

That's what I was talking about, like I said I think they turned that idea down because there was too many weapons to go through for it. But seeing as there already looking at most weapon sounds now kinda hoping they'll toss a little something extra in with silenced weapon sounds.

[Corial]

Making sound into something that truly describes the personality of a weapon is something I very much like to hear 

[o.0-]

Sweet, really like how this is going with how weapons are sounding!

[Raspberry]

I will always remember the old Lanka's quiet and subtle pew doing 6- and 7-digit critical hits on headshots. Now that there's more of a punch to its sound, it almost feels like a whole new weapon.

[(PSN)LocoCrazy_]

Can you guys remaster all of lifes sounds? Please?

[ENGINEEEEER]

Hey, you're not listed under last staff replies. Had to hear about this on Twitter of all places!

[MirageKnight]

Would be nice to hear the Magnus / AkMagnus with a bit more "bang" to them.

Also, Magistar's impact sounds could do with some love: It sounds more like a tin can being kicked or a really lightweight aluminium bat, not a hefty flanged mace. It needs a nice, heavy crunch to it.

 

That said, thanks for all your hard work Erich! The redone sounds for some of the weapons are really nice!

[Perekta]

Will this also include melee sounds? Some of the prime melees could definitely use more distinction from their regular counterparts. I know there's some subtle sound differences on things like galatine prime but they're pretty hard to pick out in combat.

[[DE]erichdigital]

10 minutes ago, Perekta said:

Will this also include melee sounds? Some of the prime melees could definitely use more distinction from their regular counterparts. I know there's some subtle sound differences on things like galatine prime but they're pretty hard to pick out in combat.

This remastering pass does not include melee, but a melee remastering pass is something we are considering for the future.

[Ragingwasabi]

the guns sound really awesome now, seriously nice work with them. especially love how much of a monster the tigris prime sounds now!

seeing as you guys actually went through all the weapons now, how about a silenced version of the weapons for when we use silencer mods?

[kyori]

The Magnus and Akmagnus series... although the firing sound doesn't have the punch but it is still ok, though the reloading sound sounds like you are inserting some plastic into plastic.

The Vasto and AKvasto series... the reloading sound are ok but why the shooting sound is so  "girl-like"? It doesn't give the power punch sound of a revolver.

Some other guns also have toy-gun shooting sound like Pandero etc, Poissble to give them a more "manly" punch sound?

[LuckyCharm]

I really like the changes so far, I'm hanging out for the beam weapon update to hopefully find you've made the amprex and synapse some awesome lightning sounds rather than well..what it is now. 

[Noobly]

I feel like the Tigris Prime feels very 'weak' now. Before it had such a strong sound but now ? ...

[Agnaaiu]

I'm really happy that you guys do not ignore the sounds and keep on improving it. I know that many people play with sound muted because they listen to music or whatever, but for players like me sound is just as important as the visual effects in general and how the play character looks like.

If i have one wish, then it's to give the Sicarus Prime a proper sound that actually lives up to the power this gun can unleash. It's currently probably the strongest secondary weapon in the game but it sounds absolutely pathetic and weak, especially this weird whistle-like sound at the end. It deserves a Corinth-like roar when you pull the trigger! :)

Edited February 19, 2018 by Agnaaiu

[Autongnosis]

Just a quick thumbs up for what you did to the Sicarus Prime sounds, it's much more satisfying now. 

Are there any plans for muffling sounds for silenced/innately silent weapons in the future? 

[VexExodus]

On 17/02/2018 at 2:20 AM, [DE]erichdigital said:

This remastering pass does not include melee, but a melee remastering pass is something we are considering for the future.

Plz remaster heavy swords like galantine prime and war, that would be so awesome, also greatjob on weapons i love the new sounds.

[AcceptYourDeath]

Am 15.2.2018 um 23:04 schrieb [DE]erichdigital:

The main goal of this remastering pass is to ensure all weapons feel good to use, give improved gameplay feedback, maintain a consistent audio mix and keep as much of their original character as possible.

You guys did a great job! My jaw actually dropped when I realized I can hear AKVasto droping shell cases on the floor, I think I looked very close to this ->  

I think this is new?

 

[[DE]erichdigital]

On 2/19/2018 at 4:58 AM, Autongnosis said:

Just a quick thumbs up for what you did to the Sicarus Prime sounds, it's much more satisfying now.

Are there any plans for muffling sounds for silenced/innately silent weapons in the future?

Thanks for the feedback!

There are currently no plans to muffle gun sounds for silenced / innately silent weapons. We do like this idea though and it has been discussed by the sound design team, so don't count it out as a possibility for the future.

[devildevil21]

4 minutes ago, [DE]erichdigital said:

Thanks for the feedback!

There are currently no plans to muffle gun sounds for silenced / innately silent weapons. We do like this idea though and it has been discussed by the sound design team, so don't count it out as a possibility for the future.

What about redesigning sounds of innately silent weapons who still have a sound effect, like bows. I mean, they sure don't sound bad, but a few of them fire sounds could use a few touch ups.