Astrojammies Progress #5 – Film Day, Fun Day! Astrojammies Progress #7 – Theme Song

Astrojammies Progress #6 – From the Sound Engineering Booth

By Rafiq On October 27, 2010 · 6 Comments

Sound engineering for a Demibooks book app can be fun and a challenge at the same time. For Astrojammies, we’ve worked on a voiceover, an original music score and individual sounds for many of the story elements and user interactions. Stacey Williams-Ng will have more to say on the process of getting a perfect voiceover created, as well as on working with the talented Steve Dixon on the Astrojammies theme.

Individual sounds as part of the storyline can enrich the reading experience when implemented in moderation and with an eye to advancing the story. The last thing we want to do is have a dischordant set of noises! The process involves selecting sounds from commercially available sound libraries, or creating new ones if needed. We had a blast working with Stacey to pick these sounds out, and her daughter pitched in as well..be ready for unexpected planetary events and exotic animal shrieks!

Sound does help set the mood of the story. At one point in Astrojammies, Jimmy is in outer space and needs to navigate a number of intriguing moons. Each moon needs to have its own sound. Listen to both sets below and help us choose between them. Leave a reply on which you prefer and why!

Set A:
Moon_1_Set_A
Moon_2_Set_A
Moon_3_Set_A

Set B:
Moon_1_Set_B
Moon_2_Set_B
Moon_3_Set_B

6 Responses to Astrojammies Progress #6 – From the Sound Engineering Booth

Gail Spake says:

October 28, 2010 at 5:51 am

I like Set B because it’s musical, and because Moon 3 sound sounds mysterious. Set B makes a more inviting sound for a mysterious moon.

Set A is tinny and piercing and doesn’t seem inviting. It sounds like a sound you’d hear in a movie for a big city street scene or an off-key trumpet on a bad day–not like something lovely like a moon.

Reply
- Rafiq Ahmed says:
  
  October 29, 2010 at 4:24 pm
  
  Thanks for the great feedback, Gail! We’ll have to wait and see what happens with these moons!
  
  Reply
Ted Poineau says:

November 20, 2010 at 11:31 pm

I like Set A. It has a more modern sound. Between the two, Set A makes me think of outer space, space travel, etc, while set B makes me think of the past, more in the line of classical music. And the 3rd sound in set B sounds offkey to me. Maybe a sound you would hear to relate to something negative, or an impending bad experience.

Reply
- Ted Poineau says:
  
  November 20, 2010 at 11:35 pm
  
  I just re-read Gail’s comment. Interesting that we both are
  “intrigued” by the 3rd sound in Set B.
  
  Reply
  - Rafiq Ahmed says:
    
    December 8, 2010 at 3:32 am
    
    Thanks for checking them out, Ted! The book is hopefully out very soon on the App
    Store so you will be able to check out the final moon sounds (hint: we had to combine
    outer space and impending scary stuff about to happen!)
    
    Reply
Mia Charro says:

May 23, 2011 at 10:20 pm

Hi!
I prefer the Set A because is more like being in the space. It has a “galactic” touch. I´m agree with Ted, the Set B sounds more classical, I don´t think it´s appropiate for an outer space scene.

Reply