The importance of music and sound effects (SFX)

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There is no doubt that music and sound effects are indispensable tools in your game. . Sound effects add empathetic and psychological depth to your game by accompanying actions, storyline highlights, atmosphere, and characters.

Music and sound effects can play a crucial role in highlighting specific aspects of your gameplay (and video games).. Firstly, game developers must plan how their sound effects and music emphasize a scene. We can emphasize the interaction between characters or object, a reaction, or the introduction of a protagonist, while filmmakers plan for the sound aspect at the outset.

Sound effects can make a scene funny, frightening, or moving by adding an element of immersion and believability. It’s all about tone, mood, and cohesion!

 

When adding sounds, it is essential to consider their singular purpose: what am I trying to emphasize with this sound? Would all the sounds compliment each other well?

Here are some elements that your music and sound effects should support:

    • Atmosphere and tonality
    • Suspense and anticipation (if applicable)
    • Transitions
    • Intensify the impact of the scene/phrase
    • Soften a moment
    • Emphasize a specific emotion

There is an intimate relationship between the atmosphere, tone, and the subtlety (or non-subtlety) of sounds used to create an atmosphere beyond music in the game and the videos. It sets the scene’s mood and adds to the immersion into the game world.

You want your audience to be on the edge of their seats, waiting for the next chapter of your game/trailer/cinematic to unfold. The tension of a moment can be made almost palpable by adding sound effects that create suspense.

 

Smooth transitions between moods

There is widespread use of sound effects as transitions. In this case, the sounds transport viewers into a scene, from one moment to another. Often, transitions such as fade to black, fade to white, etc., accompany this example.

Sound elements add impact to the video. They can be designed to accompany vital textual elements, traffic scenes, button presses, and other sudden and definitive movements. After all, sound effects are used to elicit a reaction and stimulate viewers’ attention. This also applies to video editing, transitions, and more.

Hits,” “booms,” and impacts can be used to enhance any element in a video. A low-pitched sound often characterizes opening scenes to create a specific atmosphere and create suspense. .

Don’t forget to increase the volume of existing sounds in your game! It is crucial not to let the sound accents overpower the diegetic sounds of your game. Especially if you’ve been working hard on your game’s sound design! Sound editing in-game trailers directly relate to how a player perceives your game. It’s important to pay close attention to how sound editing is done!

To conclude, check out (and listen to) some of the game trailers we’ve worked on:

Rainbow Six Extraction post-launch trailer

Game of Thrones: Beyond the Wall Trailer

R6 Share bundles Trailer

We hope this article has got you thinking about the importance of using sound effects in your video content!

 


As a video production company, we’d be delighted to help you create creative content to promote your game! We love to put our marketing services and content creation expertise at the use of video game creators. Whether you’re a Triple-A studio or an indie studio, we’d be happy to chat with you about how we can put our creative skillset to your service: click here to access our contact form!