Game Audio: Unity, FMOD and Reaper (WIP)

Written By Ottavio Sostero

Hello!

I’m writing this post in order to consolidate my knowledge on the usage of these software.
The objective is to write down the main steps needed in order to set up a smooth workflow between Unity and FMOD Studio, as well as FMOD studio and Reaper. I will also try to write down a few small cheat sheets.

FMOD and Reaper Integration TODO

(Just a quick note on integration)

FMOD overview

Useful Shortcuts

A list of these can also be found in the app itself, under FMOD -> Preferences
About some Basic Shortcuts for Mac

Transport/View
spacebar: Play/Stop
enter: Restart Playhead
⌘ + C/V: Copy and Paste
⌘+ S: Save
⌘ + ⇧ + S: Save As
opt⌥: Zoom in/out the waveform selection
⇧: Scroll left and right (up and down scroll), both on waveforms and FX panel

Banks
F7: Build Bank
⌘ + 7: Build all Banks

Looping
right-click -> New Loop Region (The loop region will stick to the grid, if you want it to slide, keep opt⌥ pressed)

Misc
opt⌥: Randomise parameter value within a certain range (gets highlighted in cyan)
⌘ + 2: Open the mixer
-Fade in and fade outs - TODO

Assets, Banks and Events overview:

Assets: all the audio at a glance! From this tab, all audio files can be easily accessed
Banks: these are the folder that Unity can access, and where our Events are stored and organised
Events: we can work with 2D and 3D events, the former being non diegetic (e.g. background music) and the latter being diegetic events (coming from a specific source)

And remember: like in any other DAW, you usually would process your signal PRE fader!

Timeline vs event?

Viking Village: Music and Sound Design planning

Regarding the background music, I prepared a short composition in Live 11, have a listen!

<- A Live setup for a mix of VSTs and recorded instruments, plus bus processing etcetera.


For all the rest of the sound design, here is a list of ideas about the main elements I could work on:

  • the sea

  • torches

  • animal noises

  • human voices

  • woodwork and blacksmith workshops

  • and others..

For this task, I am going to use a variety of sources, from my own recordings to sounds I found online.

<- Have a look at the Viking Village example provided by Unity.

Looping in Reaper (v7.09)

To prepare all the audio elements to be looped in FMOD, some steps are needed. Here I will list the steps necessary to prepare a torch sound, from a fire crackle sound found on freesound.

  1. Changing the automatic fades settings in Reaper:
    Reaper -> Settings -> Project -> Item Fade Defaults -> Imported Media Items: de-Select the Fade-in/Fade-out checkbox

  2. Import the audio file and trim the edges, to keep a steady sound without any initial attack and final release>
    Item -> Trim items to selected area

  3. Using an insertion point, cut the audio sample:
    Item -> Split items at cursor

  4. Now switch the order of the two resulting clips (enabling Snap with opt⌥ + S), select both clips and verify the sounding result.

  5. If there is an audible click in the middle (because of a sudden sample jump) create a crossfade between the two clips (you can simply intersect/overlap and a crossfade will be automatically applied)

  6. When the desired result is achieved, solidify the clips with:
    Items -> Glue items

  7. Now render the file:
    File -> Render
    Depending on your needs, select the source (e.g. Selected media items for this case)
    Turn of the Tail checkbox and render the file.

  8. Remember to name all the rendered files accordingly. You can have a single Reaper project with all the sounds you are working for, render each one one by one for FMOD to automatically import all the sounds from the directoyr Reaper Media -> Rendered.
    I am sure there are better workflows and I’m not sure this is the cleanest approach, I guess I will learning on the job, by making mistakes.

  9. REVERB TAILS TODO

Soundscaping

Create a 2D event, right click to assign the event to the main bank you are using for the project right click -> assign to bank -> browse -> Bank.

I will start by adding a base layer consisting of bird sounds, farm animals on the background, and a very light steady wind.
The second element will be a multi instrument consisting of some other elements


Mixing in FMOD TODO


Bibliography

Ottavio Sostero
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