I need some advice: I want to create some sounds for a shooter-type game and I wanna know how do the professionals create sounds. Like, how did the people behind DOOM 3's (or any game's) audio, create all the growls, shots, fireballs? So: a) Is FLStudio good for this ? b) I'm interested in sounds, not music. c) Any _pertinent_ list of software, list of advices or list of tutorial sites for this problem... is welcome. d) I'm really new at this... Thanks.

a) No.

b) Fair enough.

c) Generally the idea is to find something that makes the noise that you want to hear, or a close approximation of it, and record it. Then, apply various effects to it to improve the sound. Many game developers will probably just buy in their sound effects in the form of a sample library, and may just edit them to taste.

d) FLStudio is essentially a music program. Although it does have some interesting effects, it's not designed for sample manipulation. You really need something that is more suited to recording and processing individual sounds. Audacity is such a program that is available for free. There are some better ones if you pay for them though. You'll also probably need some sort of microphone: a cheap headset microphone may work for simple effects, but you tend to get what you pay for.

Read this, it might give you a few ideas.

If you're more interested in being a game programmer than you are in being an audio technician, there are a wealth of sound effects libraries designed for games available, which are likely to be more cost-effective and produce better results than DIY stuff. More info

If you're doing it yourself from scratch, you'll need to get a microphone and little recorder to go out and record samples of the effects you want. You then load them up into the computer to clean them up, EQ them, and possibly add effects to them to create the final sound that you want. That's a simplistic view of it all, but kinda covers the major parts in a nutshell. Specifically, you'll want to think about the sounds you're trying to create, then go out and record things that share the same sonic characteristics and not necessarily the thing that actually makes the sound. Reasons are multifold, but mainly because you can possibly get a cleaner recording, it may be infeasible to get an adequete recording if you record the actual thing, or in some cases it may just simply be impossible (ie., if you're trying to make a sound effect for a space age particle cannon). Reading up on the techniques that Foley artists employ may give you ideas of how you can go about making your own sounds.

Alternatively as was said you can buy a sample/sound effects library and just post process from there. Load the samples into some program like Audacity, Gold Wave, Sound Forge, Wavelab, etc. (pick your poision, some are free, some cost a pretty penny), then just use similar EQing and effects techniques to morph them into the sounds you want.

Also remember that, if you are thinking of field recording, be sure to have some "professional" sound sources!
What I mean is, if you wanna record the sound effect of a metal door breaking or being torn apart, you will need to go to a source that has the capability of giving you that sort of sound - ideally, like a studio, for example, where you would ram down a large piece of metal. It's hard to explain, but what I mean is, the most exotic the sound you want, the biggest the work you will have to be able to record a nice version of it.
People that work professionally with sound effects have connections to people that work on factories, for example, so they would be able to go there pay a visit and record some nice machine sounds; or maybe go to an airport and record planes - but you need to have some kind of connections to get to specific places where it's the only place you'd be able to get that kind of sound. How did the sound designer for Star Wars get all those different kinds of sounds for animals (to use for aliens, by altering the sound in an application), or how did the guys for Lord of the Rings record the arrow pass-by effect? they used an Air-rifle, to shoot flechettes passing by the microphone - they had to have some kind of connection to get those sources.
So remember, if you think you want to get into sound design, it's a great commitment to be able to get nice sounds - you will have to work hard to find those specific sources. If not, you'll just be able to record amateur type sounds: small metal bangs and crashes, car pass-bys, ambience sounds, a small variety of foley effects, but that's it. Just like some people said, equipment, anybody can buy - it's the technique that you need to acquire.


Firstly, I hope i'm not talking you down on Sound Design, it is a really interesting field in Game development; I just wanted to expose my opinion about it, that I think a lot of people get tricked into it.
And secondly, sorry for my english, it's not my first language :D

Good luck with your projects,
Rafael -Kryzon-

you raise an interesting point. Commuication is a very important skill when working with audio as you'll be working with the devs, publishers, actors, outsourcers and, like you say, people who have access to things you want to record. One of the great things about sound design is that it's one of the few disciplines that works on practicaly every aspect of development. Concepts, anims, level design, fmvs/cutscenes, AI, phsyics, user interfaces, PR, websites, presentations and the main gameplay itself. So you'll be dealing with LOTS of people... at least if you end up being in-house.

But don't think you need to have contacts for sound design everywhere, you never know what your next project will be featuring and you can't know people EVERYWHERE, it's impossible. But you need to feel confident hassling strangers to use their stuff for sound recordings, and be able to do it in a friendly manner. I've just moved to a new country to work as a sound designer and don't know anyone here, but I know that it wont be a problem getting access to sounds. It's all part of the fun :)