Who knew making imaginary weapons could drive you completely nuts?
I'm finding that I really enjoy creative sound design, but there's a special kind of insanity that goes with it.
First it's the kind of insanity where you spend literally hours listening to the same one second long clip over and over (and over and over) while tweaking effects to try and turn a box of cashews, some paper, and a synthesizer into a laser sniper rifle because your gut tells you it's possible, all before it actually really dawns on you that trying to make a laser sniper rifle out of a box of cashews, some paper, and a synthesizer is stupid and your gut is stupid and why did you just spend hours working on that?
But that's not where it ends.
*Then*, it becomes the kind of insanity where you decide that dammit your gut says it can be done, so by gum you're going to do it, and you spend another couple of hours listening to that one second long clip over and over (and over and over (and over and over))... until you actually manage to get a halfway decent laser sniper rifle out of the thing.
It's still barely a second long, and it's not the best effect ever (and, truth be told, I've already tweaked it twice since I started this post), but dang, if nothing else I'm coming to seriously appreciate all the work goes into those small but iconic sounds that give so much character to the shows, movies, and games we love.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6qGOy8XCN41MEUzZUNXbi1SeVU/view?usp=sharing
EDIT: Ugh, y'know what the worst part is? One skill I know I need that I haven't yet learned is identifying when your ear is not longer capable of objective judgement. Because I just went back and re-listened and now I'm like "oh wtf was I thinking?? back to the drawing board!". XP Then again, the re-listen was using crappier headphones, which can make a surprising amount of different. Siiiigh.
EDIT, PART DEAUX: A ha! I think I've got it now! (...or do I...)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6qGOy8XCN41aWotM1JIUDIwYWc/view?usp=sharing
First it's the kind of insanity where you spend literally hours listening to the same one second long clip over and over (and over and over) while tweaking effects to try and turn a box of cashews, some paper, and a synthesizer into a laser sniper rifle because your gut tells you it's possible, all before it actually really dawns on you that trying to make a laser sniper rifle out of a box of cashews, some paper, and a synthesizer is stupid and your gut is stupid and why did you just spend hours working on that?
But that's not where it ends.
*Then*, it becomes the kind of insanity where you decide that dammit your gut says it can be done, so by gum you're going to do it, and you spend another couple of hours listening to that one second long clip over and over (and over and over (and over and over))... until you actually manage to get a halfway decent laser sniper rifle out of the thing.
It's still barely a second long, and it's not the best effect ever (and, truth be told, I've already tweaked it twice since I started this post), but dang, if nothing else I'm coming to seriously appreciate all the work goes into those small but iconic sounds that give so much character to the shows, movies, and games we love.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6qGOy8XCN41MEUzZUNXbi1SeVU/view?usp=sharing
EDIT: Ugh, y'know what the worst part is? One skill I know I need that I haven't yet learned is identifying when your ear is not longer capable of objective judgement. Because I just went back and re-listened and now I'm like "oh wtf was I thinking?? back to the drawing board!". XP Then again, the re-listen was using crappier headphones, which can make a surprising amount of different. Siiiigh.
EDIT, PART DEAUX: A ha! I think I've got it now! (...or do I...)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6qGOy8XCN41aWotM1JIUDIwYWc/view?usp=sharing