Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1546054
32 M PS E . O R G ame mixing is not trivial, and the needs of a mix can vary wildly from game to game. While mixing is its own beast, understanding the mechanics of a final mix is a useful perspective to have as sound editors. When we can anticipate how our assets will behave in the broader sonic landscape, we make more informed, deliberate editing choices. As such, there are no absolute answers, but there are ways of thinking that can help lead to contextually appropriate solutions. This article is simply a collection of some ideas I've had in this space, meant as a potential guide, and is by no means definitive. Should it inspire ideas, conversation, discourse, or debate, I'll consider it a win. Setting the Stage: The Mix Begins Before Mixing Begins Design for Cohesion Before games, I did music production and engineering where I found that the best mixes start with good arrangement. If the various music parts are crafted with respect to one another Thoughts on Game Mixing BY EARL SCIONEAUX, III G from the beginning, a lot of the heavy lifting is done and getting clarity at the mix stage is much simpler. The same general idea applies in games. Various categories of sounds might need to be heard at the same time, and the contour of the sound design itself can help achieve that. To that end, a good rule of thumb can sometimes go a long way. For one FPS I worked on, we decided to make the weapons and vehicles have a beefy midrange character. LFE/sub frequencies were generally reserved for explosions and other dramatic highlights. UI stuff leaned into extended high end. That's an easy guideline for sound designers to keep in mind—broad enough not to hinder their creative ideas, yet specific enough to help the team achieve an overall "arrangement" so these sonic elements each have space to be heard Loudness Targets Having loudness target ranges per class of sound can be extremely useful. It allows getting sounds into the game reasonably close to where you'll ultimately want them, right from the start. Define these and remember you'll probably adjust these definitions a few times before they all sit right for your game. Important note: These targets are best considered only guidelines. If your target range for ambient sounds is -36 LUFS to -30 LUFS, but the crickets make the cemetery scene feel spookier at -26, you should likely put them at -26. The numbers can be helpful up to a point, but player experience is paramount. Voice Limits Covering clever voice limiting schemes could easily be another entire article, so to keep focused, I'll just say that reducing the number of playing voices is important for more than just performance concerns. Limiting and culling voices is important to avoid a deluge of unwanted, unnecessary sound that reduces mix clarity. As such, voice limiting is an important part of a game's mix systems. It's easy to overdo voice limiting, so … don't. When done well, this should be unnoticeable. State-Based Mixes State-based mixing is often the foundation that drives the macro-view of the mix. I won't go into depth here