Theory of Sound

 PART A.

What is sound?

A purely subjective definition of sound, as that perceived by the ear, it also possible, but it is not particularly illuminating and is overly restrictive, because it is useful to speak of sounds that cannot be heard by the human ear.

Game sound is important because it adds context, character, and depth to the game. Iconic video games are entirely compatible with their soundtracks and SFX, and it goes without saying that a strong sound palette is essential to the player’s entire experience of a game. Sound effects serve as important gameplay cues for players, trying to clarify or reinforcing player actions and offering guidance on the player’s choices. The emotion of  a game is also driven by video game sound. An original soundtrack, much like in film, is used to complement and augment the mood of the in-game world. An OST, when used as a narrative or worldbuilding tool, improves the mood of the game and underpins its genre, ultimately contributing to the game’s memorability.

How sound can be Measured?

Sound energy is measured in frequency and decibel as it travels in waves.

Frequency is measured in the number of sound vibrations in one second. A healthy ear can hear sounds of very low frequency, 20 Hertz (or 20 cycles per second), to a very high frequency of 20,000 Hertz. The lowest A key on the piano has a frequency of 27 Hertz. A 262 Hertz tone is produced by the middle C key on a piano. The piano's highest key is 4186 Hertz. Sound intensity (also known as sound power or sound pressure) is measured in decibels. Decibels (dB) are named after Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone as well as the audiometer. An audiometer is a device that assesses a person's ability to hear specific sounds.

The decibel (abbreviated dB) is a unit of measurement for sound intensity. The decibel scale is unusual because the human ear is extremely sensitive. Everything from a fingertip brushing lightly over your skin to a loud jet engine is audible to your ears. The sound of a jet engine is approximately 1,000,000,000,000 times more powerful than the smallest audible sound in terms of power.

Sound intensity (also known as sound power or sound pressure) is measured in decibels. Decibels (dB) are named after Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone as well as the audiometer. An audiometer is a device that assesses a person's ability to hear specific sounds.

Waveform

Sound waves are similar to light waves in many ways. They both come from a specific source and can be divided up or dispersed in various ways. Sound waves, unlike light, can only travel through a medium such as air, glass, or metal.

When working with electronic circuits, could encounter four basic types of waveforms. Waveforms are the distinctive patterns that oscilloscope traces typically exhibit. These patterns show how the voltage in the signal changes over time — whether it rises and falls slowly or quickly, whether the voltage change is steady or irregular, and so on. Most waveforms found in electronic circuits have much higher frequencies than household alternating current, typically in the thousands or millions of hertz (kilohertz, or kHz) (megahertz, or MHz).

4 Types of waveform:

1. Sine Wave

In a steady curve, the voltage rises and falls. However, sine waves can be found everywhere in nature. Sine waves can be found in sound waves, light waves, ocean waves, and even the bouncing of a slinky. Most importantly, from an electronics standpoint, the alternating current voltage provided by the public power grid is in the form of a sine wave. Voltage increases steadily in an alternating current sine wave until a peak voltage is reached. The voltage starts to fall until it reaches zero. The voltage then becomes negative, causing the current flow to reverse direction.

Once it's negative, the voltage goes up and down until it reaches its maximum negative voltage, at which point it begins to rise until it reaches zero again. The voltage then rises, the current reverses, and the sine wave cycle begins again.

The frequency of a sine wave (or any other wave) is the number of times it repeats itself. Frequency is measured in hertz units, abbreviated Hz. A standard electrical outlet's alternating current changes sixty times per second. As a result, the frequency of household AC is 60 hertz.

2. Square Wave

Represents a signal in which a voltage simply turns on, stays on for a short period of time, then turns off, stays off for a short period of time, and then repeats. A square wave has sharp, right-angle turns on its graph, which is why it is so designated.

In practice, most circuits that attempt to generate square waves fail miserably. As a result, the voltage occasionally comes on instantaneously and rarely shuts off immediately. As a result, in the real world, the vertical parts of the square wave are not vertical.

Furthermore, the initial voltage occasionally slightly overshoots the target voltage, causing the initial vertical uptake to go a little too high for a brief moment before settling down to the correct voltage. Many electronic circuits use square waves.

3. Triangle Wave

The odd harmonics of a triangle wave are the same as those of a square wave. In contrast to a square wave, they trim off as they move away from the core principle, giving it shape. It sounds clearer, perhaps even brighter, than a sine wave.

Voltage rises in a straight line until it reaches a peak, then falls in a straight line. The triangle wave is a type of direct current if the voltage reaches zero and then begins to rise again. The triangle wave is a type of alternating current if the voltage crosses zero and then goes negative before rising again.

4. Sawtooth Wave

It is the buzziest of them all, sounding even harsher than a square wave, because it contains the most harmonics. This means it can be an excellent choice when working with frequency modulation production, which is the process of creating a sound by filtering out frequencies instead of just adding them on.

This one is a cross between a triangle and a square wave. The voltage in most sawtooth waves increases in a straight line until it reaches its peak voltage, then drops instantly (or as close to instantly as possible) to zero and immediately repeats.

PART B.

1. Diegetic Sound

Any sound that emanates from the film's story world is referred to as diegetic sound. The term derives from the Greek term story, which means narration or narrative.

The source of diegetic sound does not necessarily need to be visible on screen, as long as the audience understands that it is coming from something within the film.

Examples of Diegetic Sounds:

-       Character Dialogue

In the image above shown that the character is talking to the NPC player. Which the player doesn’t control them. The NPC functions as the addition to the game environment and also can help the player (us) by gaining information and clues from them. The character’s dialogue can be seen on the screen for player to view and understand more what the NPC is talking about.

-       Objects Sound

In the image shown, a river or environment of a scenery water stream in a video game. So, rivers are mostly calm and quiet in real life, it also acts like that in a video game. Player sometimes can hear what river sounds like clearly from  the peaceful atmosphere the video game is giving. It’s also can be seen that it’s in a forest where players can hear birds chirping, frogs croaking, soft rustling of trees and bushes made by the wind.

-       Music Emanating from within in the film

In the image shown, it’s a village environment in a video game. So villages are usually crowded with people that makes the atmosphere of sound being loud and chaotic. In a video game players can clearly tell went they arrived at a certain village; they could hear many different types of sound there. As in, sellers shouting, kids playing or running, villagers talking and laughing and many more.

2. Non-Diegetic Sound

Non-diegetic sound, also known as commentary or nonliteral sound, is any sound that does not originate within the world of the film. The characters in the film are unable to hear non-diegetic sound. Sound editors in post-production add all non-diegetic sound.

Examples of Non-Diegetic Sounds:

-       The Film’s musical score

The image above shows that a musical band or group is in a big space area where they record and play the music for the Star Wars audio track. Here can be seen that there are multiple types of instruments held by each of the creators of sound in the Star Wars movie. It could be the sound of the opening and ending scene of Star Wars, suspense scene and many more that can be made by the musical instruments.

-       Sound Effects

In the image shown that where in a video game, the player is fighting or attacking the big monster. The sound could be heard here can be the grunting of the player, the roaring of the monster, the heavy breathing, knife hitting the monster, thumping of the monster, shouting of the player and many more.

-       Narration or Voiceovers

In the image shown, a person, mainly called as the person for sound narration of a video game character. The person acts and talks as how the character in the video game will act. If the character is laughing, the person should make a laughing sound in order to imitate the character in the video game. This is called narration or voiceover in between a real-life person and a video game character.