Figured out a problem with the soundscape, and how to fix

[Wankey]

So I've been messing with the soundscape and it occured to me that the main reason why the sounds are so bad is mainly because of the ambience. Just messing around with the MPQ files, I noticed a lot of the ambience sounds were generic rain / thunder / wind howling sounds that are really terrible and poor quality. For example, space ambience noise is literally just a low bass tone, really eerie and monotone like noise that doesn't really serve anything other than that low hum you hear.

To me, this indicates some seriously poor sound design but that's besides the point.

The point is, if you change your sound settings to

Ambient: 3%
Sound effects: 80%
Interface: 100%

You'll notice a much clearer sound scape and the effects sound far superior. In fact, if you just want to hear clear sound effects (for competitive reasons) go a head and remove ambient all together. Marine machine guns now sound far better (you can now hear their bullets hit the ground) there's a low more full tone to each unit rather than the low or high levels being masked by the boring ambient noise.

Anyways, at least it helps save some of the sound work in SC2. I do hope they do something about the ambient noises in HotS although I'm not holding my breath. They're basically cheap generic noises you buy from some online sound store.

Also I've noticed they put the ambient noise EVERYWHERE, even in the main menu. Ridiculously annoying, it's literally just noise, hum. Similar to that low hum you hear in the starships in Star Trek. It doesn't serve any purpose in a computer game since you're not going for atmosphere, you're just presenting an interface for gameplay. Save ambient noises for FPS or the cutscenes for crying out loud.

<rant>
I really find it annoying that they decided to turn Zerg into a creepy slimy insectoid race. Nobody relates to insects, and nobody really likes insects, insects don't really make any noise. In SC1, Zerg were an animal race, akin to tigers, lions and such. Even in Chinese, the Zergling is often called Dog. The sounds that most of the units in SC1 made sounded like large animals, Hydralisks like Lions, Ultralisks like hippos, Overlords like elephants (they even have the snout), mutalisks sounded very much like pigs. These are all personifications of real life animals that people can relate to and instantly remember. how you get the roach, which might as well be michael jackson sped up. You have the infestor which might as well be michael jackson played backwards and sped up. You have mutas and zerglings at a pitch that's pretty annoying. And then you have the boring splashing sounds of acid that really sound like pouring water on each other - real excitement inducing.

Insects on the other hand have no real character, they just make weird noises that nobody really understands. Like the roach, zerglings and such, are just high pitched whines that nobody can relate to or replicate.

Too bad their talented sound department abandoned ship when WoW came along. I mean even the frigging INTERFACE sounded better in Starcraft 1 and even in Diablo 2. The incredibly strong and iconic sounds, play them now and you won't be able to mistake them from any game.
</rant>

[Hav0x]

Same thread different day.

You're still going on and on about this?

[TheEconomist]

I had to check to see if this was a necrobump

[TheRabidDeer]

So I've been messing with the soundscape and it occured to me that the main reason why the sounds are so bad is mainly because of the ambience. Just messing around with the MPQ files, I noticed a lot of the ambience sounds were generic rain / thunder / wind howling sounds that are really terrible and poor quality. For example, space ambience noise is literally just a low bass tone, really eerie and monotone like noise that doesn't really serve anything other than that low hum you hear.

To me, this indicates some seriously poor sound design but that's besides the point.

The point is, if you change your sound settings to

Ambient: 3%
Sound effects: 80%
Interface: 100%

You'll notice a much clearer sound scape and the effects sound far superior. In fact, if you just want to hear clear sound effects (for competitive reasons) go a head and remove ambient all together. Marine machine guns now sound far better (you can now hear their bullets hit the ground) there's a low more full tone to each unit rather than the low or high levels being masked by the boring ambient noise.

Anyways, at least it helps save some of the sound work in SC2. I do hope they do something about the ambient noises in HotS although I'm not holding my breath. They're basically cheap generic noises you buy from some online sound store.

Also I've noticed they put the ambient noise EVERYWHERE, even in the main menu. Ridiculously annoying, it's literally just noise, hum. Similar to that low hum you hear in the starships in Star Trek. It doesn't serve any purpose in a computer game since you're not going for atmosphere, you're just presenting an interface for gameplay. Save ambient noises for FPS or the cutscenes for crying out loud.

<rant>
I really find it annoying that they decided to turn Zerg into a creepy slimy insectoid race. Nobody relates to insects, and nobody really likes insects, insects don't really make any noise. In SC1, Zerg were an animal race, akin to tigers, lions and such. Even in Chinese, the Zergling is often called Dog. The sounds that most of the units in SC1 made sounded like large animals, Hydralisks like Lions, Ultralisks like hippos, Overlords like elephants (they even have the snout), mutalisks sounded very much like pigs. These are all personifications of real life animals that people can relate to and instantly remember. how you get the roach, which might as well be michael jackson sped up. You have the infestor which might as well be michael jackson played backwards and sped up. You have mutas and zerglings at a pitch that's pretty annoying. And then you have the boring splashing sounds of acid that really sound like pouring water on each other - real excitement inducing.

Insects on the other hand have no real character, they just make weird noises that nobody really understands. Like the roach, zerglings and such, are just high pitched whines that nobody can relate to or replicate.

Too bad their talented sound department abandoned ship when WoW came along. I mean even the frigging INTERFACE sounded better in Starcraft 1 and even in Diablo 2. The incredibly strong and iconic sounds, play them now and you won't be able to mistake them from any game.
</rant>

They changed zerg in SC2? Last I saw/heard zerg was still very zerglike. I never related animal sounds to how they were in BW, and still dont. The imitations that are made are not based on animal noises, but zerg noises from the game. You seriously think the overlord sounds like an elephant?
This: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssoqy_9G5yk
Sounds like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpfEVRCXEq0
?

Anyway, they adjusted sounds to what they deemed to be a better representation of what they felt they should sound like. They didnt adjust sounds to what you personally like. Partly because they dont know what you like and what you like can be very different than what everybody else likes.

[Wankey]

Same thread different day.

You're still going on and on about this?

Same idiot post, different day. Didn't even read my thread did you?

[coreankim]

The sound is fine. Live with it.

[Eligor]

The Zerg sounds in the original StarCraft definitely had a visceral, organic and distinct quality. Unlike SC II, where some of them don't sound like living things at all (the Roach and Hydralisk are especially notorious here) and when they do it's often quite underwhelming (difficult to take seriously Zerglings that sound like a bad case of diarrhea with distinct farts in between). Another thing to note is that even in the case of a single Zerg unit such as a Mutalisk or Zergling EACH and EVERY one of its sounds in the first StarCraft is a distinct and expressive phrase, with its own cadence and inflection, while in SC 2 those individual sounds are much more homogenous and difficult to differentiate (which also makes them much less memorable).

[Gradius]

Thanks for the tip Wankey. I'll try it out b/c this is something I've suspected also. The sounds were always awesome when I just played them by themselves in the editor.

[guru]

I turned off music and ambient sounds from day1...not cuz i am playing that great and sounds distratcts me nor because it is bad...it is just like you said: a background voooooom.

[SinsWage]

I was never bothered by the sound the way you've been but illl check it out to see the difference.