adaptive mixing in frostbite
TRANSCRIPT
HDR Audio
Adaptive mixing in Frostbite
David Möllerstedt, Head of Audio Stefan Standberg, Audio director
Battlefield: Bad Company™EA – DICEaudio<@>dice.se
Agenda• Battlefield Heritage• HDR Audio Principle• Focused Sound Design• Frostbite™• Battlefield: Bad Company™ Runtime Demo• Summary• Questions
Battlefield heritage• Sandbox experience, gameplay driven design, open
ended, free roaming, multiplayer online• All out destruction in Battlefield: Bad Company™
increasing the challenge• Other alternatives; duckers, snapshot mixers, scene
defines, don’t solve the problem
HDR Audio Principle• Measure loudness at Listener position – Scale all sound
sources accordingly
• Handle the dynamic range from the quietest sound noticeable to the pain threshold, Some 130 dB
• Functions similar to HDR lighting
0db
140db
12db
30db
55db
120db
35 db
Time
Hdr off example
0db
140db
12db
30db
55db
120db
35 db
TimeMasked
Hdr on example
Focused Sound Design•Cinematic approach
Focused Sound Design
Focused Sound Design•Prioritize, instead of compete for dynamic range•Play the right sounds, not all sounds•Vital to the sandbox architecture of Battlefield
Frostbite™• DICE’s game engine Frostbite™
• Tight system integration, audio one of the core components
• Destruction integral part of the engine
• Developed for Battlefield: Bad Company™ and to be used by future projects at DICE
Frostbite™
Frostbite™
Battlefield: Bad Company™
Loudness• HDR Audio functions as a culling algorithm• This is a positive side effect• Priority is set according to loudness, loudness is a good
approximation for ‘importance’ especially in FPS game• We set loudness values to create any desired effect
Not Compression• HDR Audio does not have a specific “sound”
• HDR Audio is not compression, all sounds are played uncompressed
• The effect and thus the sound is sometimes similar
• HDR Audio works on logical loudness values and does not touch the actual audio waveform
Boundaries• Not the Silver Bullet
• Special situations still need attention
• First Person focus
Summary
“HDR Audio Make Loud sounds sound loud, and quieter sounds sound as loud as loud sounds”
Summary• Automatic mixing solution• Handle Infinitive dynamic range• Transparent sound
Sounds Interesting?• We are always looking for talented and devoted persons
to join our audio teams
• jobs.ea.com
Questions• Who has the first question?
Thank You
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