Re: Improve in game sounds - how to

@hayhor  Thanks! I already spent a lot of time on audio and i thought i'd save that for others.

The frustrating part when collecting video and gameplays from PS5 is that i have to do the export from the console and the import into the laptop, nevertheless currently is my next step so soon or later i'm doing it.

I will share some screenshots in different scenarios and i will start with firing range i guess since the "extra" sounds are more manageble.

Stay tuned!

Hi everybody!

Short update here, i was able to do some detailed tests putting together the Apex frequencies suggested by "Steelseries Engine" and the frequency response from my Arctis 7P (for your reference, these guys are periodically testing headphones providing a graphic with frequency response https://www.soundguys.com/headphones/).

Basically, i overlapped this two images and i aligned the X-axis to have the most similar scale possible and based on that i decided which frequencies needs to be amplified or compressed.

The general rule i did apply is :

• if it is a relevant freq. (i.e. footsteps) and it is not already amplified by the freq. response, i raise those freq to -at least- 6dB (which correspond to a x 4)
• If it is a useless freq. (i.e. not labeled in Steelseries Engine) and it is amplified by the freq. response i compress it to have it around or less 0dB

All othere freqs, were not touched to avoid compromise of game immersion.

I'd say i that the beginning i was feeling a great improvement but of course a new update hit and now i'm not feeling the same "quality".

I know i promised a spectrum analysis but i didn't have time to extract a good gameplay and i've been busy in last weekends.

I'll come back later with further updates asap.

Hello, it's me ...

I made some discoveries in last weeks.

First of all let me describe with a grain of more detail my current setup so it's easier to understand what i'm doing.

In my first post i described how i'm -moving- the audio from my PS5 to my laptop and then to my Headset, i recently made a small upgrade and this are the different setups :

BEFORE :

PS5 -> Sabrent (USB to jack converter) Audio out -> Audio cable -> Sabrent (USB to jack converter) (MIC IN) -> Laptop (w/ audio loop in volume settings) -> Headset

AFTER :

PS5 -> Sabrent (USB to jack converter) -> Audio cable -> SoundBlaster G3 (LINE IN) -> Laptop (w/ audio loop in volume settings) -> Headset

With the original setup, even if i've been able to improve the overall sound quality, there was still something strange in the audio feedback. It was somehow "flat".

I'm not a sound expert so i made some research and i got confirmed something i was already thinking : the audio out port provides Left and Right channels while the MIC IN has the (+) and (-) channel. This is affecting the sound quality and it literally deletes the differences in directional sounds.

Then i purchased the SoundBlaster G3 which still has a MIC IN port as well as a LINE IN port. This one is normally used with toslink cables (fiber optic) but it can also be used with standard audio cable with 3,5mm connector.

Once i made this change everything changed. In my first game i was literally scared by every sound that i didn't hear before (i'm not jocking :D).

In next days i will re-enable Steelseries Sonar to finally try their eq. settings and maybe reach the goal line.

Side note : i really suggest to use the recording feature on the PS5 to save some games and then move the video on a PC to check if there are differences in the audio. This is what allowed me to hear the difference between the MIC IN filtered audio and the original one without compression.

Second Side note : something i already noticed is that footsteps sounds are completely overwritten by firing sounds. If you are shooting with your gun, most of the time the sound of both teammates and enemies steps is missing. Maybe with some eq adjustments this can be solved

At end of the day no external headset is going to change the sound priority in the game.

Close to mid range gunfire has sound priority in this game. That's why so easy to sneak up on someone when a fight takes place. A headset has 2 speakers. 7.1 etc advertised ones etc they just function to smooth out the movement of left to right within stereo, but still not real speakers internally and lowers raw sound quality. Not the same as a real living room with multiple speakers.

EQ only works to lower certain frequencies you want to avoid i.e. Low bass gunfire  vs high foosteps. But if the game chooses to not output certain sounds due to distance then no way to enhance it. So ends up same as earphones, high frequencies and no bass. i.e. How to make footsteps louder if the game hasn't output the sound for it or the gunfire audio is too great over it.

Left and right positioning is "ok" but the audio swings in between and hard to differentiate vertical by means of height. By swing I mean left to right not in gradual manner when someone moves across field of vision like is it missing few steps in between.

Then suddenly if there is zero gunfire the footsteps are actually very loud.

They won't turn off team mates footsteps. Wouldn't make sense how team mates feet become ninja to you only and no other party.

I can understand if close range gunfire drowns out footsteps sound, but even at quite distance it negates close footsteps much nearer. The footsteps volume range is too small based on distance. i.e. 30m - Volume 20%, 20m - Volume 40%, 10m - Volume 80%. It feels like it isn't set right in the mid distance.

There is definitely something off about the mid range sounds in this game in sense of distance scaling volume vs distance. But left to right positioning seems OK.

If on PC recommend turn off audio enhancements in sound properties. Just seems to make things worse trying to create spatial sound at the cost of basic quality.

@SenzaNome58 connecting the sound out of a console to a laptop and processing it with sonar was an initial idea I had, but didn't get around to trying it out. Thank you.

The concern I have about this is a time lag. I have some experience of this, but with music, where I was learning to play the decks trying to mix and record.

I made an initial mistake where I had the mixer out to the laptop to record, and the sound out from the laptop was going then to the stereo, so I could hear that first tune output in one ear from the stereo, with the incomming tune on the headphones direct from the mixer in the other ear.

Matching these 2 outputs, I soon discovered had a split second lag in the laptop recording, kinda important when mixing. And probably important with Apex sounds too. 

A further note about PC volumes. 

Make sure all game and software volumes are at 100%, so there is no sound loss internally. Decreasing volume should only be at the external headphone/Speaker stage.

Thank you @E9ine_AC 😉

Hi, I just saw on the internet that if we used fxsound (a virtual equalizer) we could get banned? Quelqu'un on sait plus ? Si oui vraiment c'est ban par esay anti cheat ? Car ça améliore grandement le son général