Sound Redesign
I’ve learned a lot since last year’s Sound Design Test, and wanted to make sure that my interpretation of Lux’s abilities had the fullness, dynamic range, and movement that they hadn’t had previously.
For my redesign of Elemental Lux’s abilities, I focused on three different parts of the ability sonically. First, maintaining both a brightness to the firing of the projectile and the character of the element shown in the skin. Second, following the path of the projectile and creating an increasing sense of danger sonically in a unique way for each elemental state. Third, creating a substantial impact from the projectile and informing the enemy to move from the AOE to avoid the detonation and slowing effect.
Lux’s Storm elemental state felt like a good way to implement the use of low frequencies that increase nervous system activity in the listener, creating a sense of unease, specifically through the use of thunder and other bass tones. Using EQ carefully on each audio track, I created space within the mix and made sure the listener was fully engaged.
Before each AOE detonates, there is both a pitch riser and a low-shelf filter that increases the range of frequencies as the AOE gets closer to detonation, creating anxiety.
For Azir’s kit, I wanted to make sure that I gave every part of his abilities character by breaking them into sections. I broke these two abilities into two sections each.
For the summoning of the soldiers, I knew I wanted both the sound of danger with the blade and a sense of activation with the movement upwards. There is an imminence to the attack and a sense of danger with this ability that I didn’t want to get lost in the sand particles. I also wanted to include a sound of activation alongside each soldier, embodying both the power given to the player and the danger for the enemy.
Then I worked on finding the right sound for the movement and attack towards the enemy when they were sent. These movements had to be worked on together because there is an amount of dramatic build necessary towards the attack.
Lastly, I focused on the sheathing of the blade and the sinking of the soldiers. I wanted to emphasize here that they could no longer attack with their blades or pose a threat.