Improve in game sounds - how to
Posted about this before, but thought I'd put an update here.
This first post is an amalgamation of a lot of the information in this thread. Please read the posts for more detailed info and other...
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Hi all,
First post here but i somehow felt i have to contribute in some ways.
Let me summarize my setup and all the tests i made so far :
- Platform : PS5 (actually, i play the PS4 version of the game so i can use the dualshock with back paddles)
- Headset : Arctis 7P (not the plus)
At the beginning of my Apex career (coming from CoD) i was connecting the wirless dongle of the headset directly on the PS5 and the sound was great right out of the box, compared to my teammates i was able to hear steps way further than them.
Since the other members of the team are on PC i dediced to change my setup in ordert to talk through Discord and then all the sound "issues" came out :
I'm processing the audio from PS5 with a Laptop in this way (the only one i found so far)
PS5 -> USB-C external sound interface* -> Headset out -> MIC in on the Laptop -> Audio loop in order to hear the MIC
* The card is simply providing the headphone out and the Mic In ports to the PS5. I'm not using the HDMI audio splitter since the 3D audio from PS5 is not provided over HDMI but only over USB.
This setup allowed me to try different eq settings and i made tons of tests. First of all, i found sonar very inconsistent, sometimes during the game i hear changes in the eq with no reasons and i have to close/open again sonar to restart it. I always preferred to use the eq provided by default by Steelseries GG (Engine) even if for the 7P it has few frequencies options.
The difference between the 7P connected directly to the PS5 and the current setup is embarassing. I tried to work also with sound compression on Windows for both the MIC input and the headset output to be sure i was not missing sound quality during the transfer but everything have always been to the max quality.
My next step is to do a frequency spectrum analysis from a live game and a recorded game as well to find the closest frequencies for footsteps and other game sounds.
The last thing to say here is that to do an appropriate eq setting, you always have to consider the frequency response of your headset, sometimes they are already amplyfing some frequencies and you risk to made them sound worse with any EQ setting. For example, the 7P have a lower response for frequencies between 300Hz and 1500Hz so you *potentially* have to increase those for hearing footsteps.
Apologies for eternity long post ☹️
@SenzaNome58 Awesome first post. Very informative and the part about headsets having different responses which then need different eq settings is spot on. I've seen people go from 7p to 7p+ and be frustrated their old settings do not work as well.
I still want to take some apex videos and actually analyze the sounds and then adjust my settings from there but I'm lazy and would rather play. lol
I still want to take some apex videos and actually analyze the sounds and then adjust my settings from there but I'm lazy and would rather play. lol
@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
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