Lesson 5

Table of Contents

Submixing with Additional Audio Busses

Just as you can nest objects within objects in the Actor-Mixer Hierarchy, you can nest audio busses within audio busses, including the Master Audio Bus. Using additional busses is useful when you want to quickly manipulate something about a particular category of sounds. For example, many games allow the player to set the volume of the music separately from the other sounds in the game. By routing all music to a music bus, it’s possible to map user input to the Music Bus Volume property. Another reason you might nest audio busses is to allow you to quickly apply Effects, such as delays or reverbs, to an entire category of sounds. Typically, these would be sounds heard within the game's virtual environment, such as sound effects or dialogue. You’ll use this approach in your implementation of Cube. You’ll begin by creating an environmental bus that you’ll later assign the bulk of your sound effects to.

  1. Return to the Designer layout, select the Master Audio Bus and click Create new 'Audio Bus'.

  2. Name the new Audio Bus Environmental.

    Now you’ll create a bus for the music used in the game.

  3. Create another new Audio Bus within the Master Audio Bus and call it Music.

    Now you have discrete music and environmental busses. This way, ambient Effects that you may later apply to the Environmental bus won’t affect the music.

    However, what if you wanted to provide the player of the game with the option of turning down sound effects, without turning down the critical dialogue, which might also be assigned to the Environmental bus? To do this, you simply add another bus specifically for sound effects within the Environmental bus you already created.

  4. Select the Environmental Bus and click Create new 'Audio Bus'.

  5. Name the newly created bus SFX.

    Now your game’s Audio Bus structure is ready.


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