{"id":125978,"date":"2022-06-09T14:00:02","date_gmt":"2022-06-09T14:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/developer.apple.com\/news\/?id=k8jj66ki"},"modified":"2022-06-09T14:00:02","modified_gmt":"2022-06-09T14:00:02","slug":"sound-advice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2022\/06\/09\/sound-advice\/","title":{"rendered":"Sound advice"},"content":{"rendered":"
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An immersive app doesn\u2019t only look and feel great \u2014 it has to sound incredible, too. During WWDC, we spoke with four Apple Design Award finalists about the sensational sounds of their apps and games. Come with us as we travel on a musical journey through cool jazz, Spatial Audio soundscapes, and even original album-length compositions from artists like Arcade Fire, St. Vincent, and Madlib.<\/p>\n

Please, Touch the Artwork: A jazz thing<\/h3>\n

Thomas Waterzooi’s elegant puzzle game Please, Touch the Artwork<\/em> is inspired by Dutch painter Piet Mondrian, who, with his iconic style of lines, squares, and primary colors, is considered a pioneer of 20th century abstract art. And that kind of guy? He needs the right kind of music.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tried to imagine what Mondrian would listen to while painting in his workshop,\u201d says Waterzooi, the game\u2019s Brussels-based developer. \u201cSome kind of jazz. And since the game is designed to be relaxing, it would have to be a calm, dynamic kind of jazz.\u201d<\/p>\n

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That mix of timeless art and cool soundtrack creates a classy vibe in Please, Touch the Artwork, whose puzzles are based on three of Mondrian’s most famous works: Composition with Red, Blue, and Yellow; Broadway Boogie Woogie; and New York City I.<\/p>\n

As the puzzles grow and change, so does the music, which was created by composer Lars Burgwal. The music for the New York City section begins with only bass \u2014 and as you progress through each puzzle, the piano, saxophone, and vibraphone all come to play. (Waterzooi also added a little drum flourish whenever you tap a painting.) \u201cWith puzzle games, the music has to be relaxing,” says Waterzooi. \u201cIt can’t annoy you at any point.\u201d<\/p>\n

So not so much Broadway boogie woogie for Broadway Boogie Woogie? \u201cIt would be too fast!\u201d laughs Waterzooi. \u201cWe couldn\u2019t swing nearly that much.\u201d He has, however, worked in a little nod to the style. <\/p>\n

“The goal of that game is to join characters named Boogie and Woogie,\u201d he says, \u201cand when you do, there\u2019s a little completion animation with a musical accent. It\u2019s not much \u2014 just three or four notes \u2014 but it\u2019s based on some boogie-woogie right-hand piano schemes.\u201d <\/p>\n

Download Please, Touch the Artwork on the App Store<\/a><\/p>\n

Odio: Absolutely Spatial<\/h3>\n

Audio apps don\u2019t get much more immersive than Odio. The Apple Design Award-winning 3D audio app employs a mesmerizing mix of Spatial Audio and head tracking to conjure up its AR soundscapes. <\/p>\n

While you might flow between a rushing waterfall, the deep sea, and even a world of calming digital ambience, you\u2019re no passive listener in these realistic realms: Each soundscape can be manipulated through a clever system of arcing sliders that reposition each sonic element \u2014 a rushing river, dreamy whalesong, or wash of digital static \u2014 around your head in 360 degrees.<\/p>\n

Max Frimout is the app’s audio engineer, and though his work is heavy on synthetic, otherworldly digital elements, his audio career started with something considerably more analog. \u201cI was originally a harpist,\u201d he says. “One day I opened the ES1 Synthesizer in Logic Pro, and now I\u2019m here!”<\/p>\n

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Odio originally focused on nature sounds, but after a few months of development, the Netherlands-based team at Volst wanted more. \u201c\u2018What if we have musicians compose their own environments?\u2019\u201d says Roger Kemp, co-founder and designer at Volst. \u201cThat\u2019s when it all clicked.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frimout is also one of the app\u2019s five composers. A musician and DJ by trade, he began creating his Odio soundscapes with lines of melody, then layered in effects and flourishes with names like \u201csynthetic water,\u201d \u201cmoving chords,\u201d and \u201cfiltered drone.\u201d Soundscapes are built in Logic Pro and tested with AirPods Max. \u201cThat\u2019s how I look around to hear how it feels,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Most of Frimout\u2019s compositions are the result of sonic experimentation, but the soundscape called \u201cWow!\u201d followed a more organic path. \u201cI started with a series of melodies that basically all came to me in the same evening,\u201d he says. \u201cI think that shows how you can have all this equipment and all these concepts but still be incredibly inspired by a single event.\u201d<\/p>\n

And yes, it contains harp: That\u2019s Frimout playing on the loop called Heartbreak \u2014 though you might not recognize the sound as strings. “It\u2019s just three chordal structures,\u201d he says with a laugh, \u201cbut they\u2019ve been processed and processed and processed.\u201d <\/p>\n

Download Odio on the App Store<\/a><\/p>\n

A Musical Story: That \u201870s game<\/h3>\n

A Musical Story is inspired by a very groovy time: \u201cIt\u2019s all about the freedom of \u201870s music,\u201d says Charles Bardin, the French composer\/developer who created the game with art director Alexandre Rey, composer Valentin Ducloux, and developer Maxime Constantinian. \u201cMostly, we were inspired by the sense that, back then, anything could happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Conceived in 2017 and launched in March 2022, A Musical Story is a harmonious mix of song, narrative, and art. The story follows an up-and-coming band trying to break into the business, replete with vintage guitars, outfits, and hairstyles. To move the narrative along, you tap your screen to the beat, creating some great soul- and R&B-inflected music in the process. <\/p>\n

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But the game is mostly wordless, driven by the primal, powerful connection between music and memory. It\u2019s an ideal playground for Bardin, who studied at the Conservatoire de Musique de Lyon and who\u2019s been creating and covering game music for more than a decade. <\/p>\n

As it happens, the development process didn\u2019t begin with the music \u2014 Bardin and Rey started by establishing the circular tap-along play mechanic. \u201cIn most games, the notes come down on the screen and you play them when they arrive,\u201d says Bardin. \u201cI love that, but it\u2019s also something you can play without any sound. I wanted a game that really relies on listening.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once the team landed on the mechanic, it was time to tune into the songs themselves. “We knew we wanted short sequences of music to unlock the story,\u201d says Bardin, \u201cbut a lot of musical games rely on electronic or techno music, where the beat is very clear. We wanted to prove that we could make more organic music \u2014 something that wasn\u2019t quite so thump-thump-thump-thump.\u201d <\/p>\n

He also made sure the music drove the story along. \u201cI wrote a song called Her for a scene in which the character goes to a pub, sees a girl playing music, and instantly falls in love with her,\u201d says Bardin. \u201cIt begins with just a Rhodes piano and some bass and drums, but as you move closer to the stage, you hear more and more of the music. When you get close enough, you discover her face and her voice.\u201d It\u2019s the only time vocals appear in the game itself aside from the credits. \u201cWe wanted this moment to be powerful,\u201d Bardin says. \u201cThis is the voice of the most important character in the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Download A Musical Story on the App Store<\/a><\/p>\n

Headspace: The music of mindfulness<\/h3>\n

Over the past few years, the meditation and mindfulness app Headspace has partnered with A-list musical artists to help people concentrate, relax, lock in, or nod off. With Focus Music (found, appropriately, in the Focus tab), the app has amassed an array of original music and playlists from artists like Arcade Fire, St. Vincent, Erykah Badu, Madlib, and even film composer Hans Zimmer. <\/p>\n

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Focus Music was designed in part by John Legend, the app\u2019s chief music officer. \u201cThere\u2019s so much possibility right here on our phones,\u201d says Legend. \u201cIt can be a scary thing for some artists; it\u2019s not what we\u2019re used to. But if we take advantage of the possibilities, there are all these different ways to reach people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The singer-songwriter Aluna trained in reflexology, transcendental meditation, and tai chi \u2014 all skills she wove into her hour-long Headspace composition. To create it, she designed six-minute blocks of sound, grounded in specific spaces like a crackling campfire, bustling park in late afternoon, or dripping cave.<\/p>\n

Strictly speaking, it was not her usual approach. \u201cNormally when you write a song, you\u2019re doing wordplay and you want dynamics,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s completely different from music that for an hour has no start and no finish.\u201d (It\u2019s also more complicated than it sounds \u2014 there\u2019s a lot of difference between the sound of water dripping from a cave and dripping from your faucet.)<\/p>\n

The science at the intersection of music and mindfulness is clear, says UC Berkeley cognitive neuroscience professor Sahar Yousef, who partnered with Headspace on Focus Music. \u201cWe know that when we play music in rehab facilities, people improve quicker,\u201d Yousef says. <\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the (extremely abridged) explanation of what\u2019s going on when you listen: Your brain forges connections via neural networks, the little zaps of electricity that constitute all your thoughts. The good news is that these networks can be manipulated, and you\u2019re probably doing it right now. You can train yourself to think that the aroma of coffee means it\u2019s time to wake up, and you can train your brain to recognize the music designed to chill you out.<\/p>\n

In other words, these soundscapes serve as little life hacks. \u201cMichael Phelps listened to Eminem before every race,\u201d says Yousef. \u201cThis is the same thing.\u201d <\/p>\n

Download Headspace on the App Store<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An immersive app doesn\u2019t only look and feel great \u2014 it has to sound incredible, too. During WWDC, we spoke with four Apple Design Award finalists about the sensational sounds of their apps and games. Come with us as we travel on a musical journey through cool jazz, Spatial Audio soundscapes, and even original album-length compositions […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":125979,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-125978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-apple-developer-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125978\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}