BI needs a dedicated sound engineer and designer team

@ DisasterMaster

I wonder if perhaps willfull simplicity regarding the game design is the cause of alot of issues that otherwise stand out.

There is an issue with reload sounds too now (as of version .60). I can have a teammate reload 100 meters away and it sounds like hes reloading right next to my head.

@Crierd agreed. Would be nice to have some more specific control over different volumes instead of just "FX volume"

I have noticed that the sound of yourself walking is dampened if not completely silenced when in 3rd person view.

What other disticntive differences are there with regard to the sound volume when in 1st and 3rd person view?

It looks like Dwarden used a night shift to add many related tickets, I am going to vote them all up.

It is getting in the right direction with the doppler effect added but it still needs tweaking. There are dramatic changes to the pitch when helicopter is passing above the head. Firing sounds one time believable and other too muffled, or too silent like it was dependent on distance rather than position of the player.

Also sound reflects/dynamic reverbation could be get into consideration because it could make everything easier, saving you time with recording tons of samples. I see it being used for various open terrains like fields, airfields but also urbanized areas, forest, indoors. It could be used along with other sound filters to affect ALL sounds in given environment. For example: when inside the building giving it "cold" feel - echo, short reverb that would affect footsteps, reloading, firing, talking or even when it is raining outside some random raindrops could be heard in that pass filter indoor etc. along with filtering the outside sounds like when we are in vehicle.

Looks like sound engine is getting the treatment it deserves, but certainly ArmA is big living-room to enhance it even more.
With latest tweaks it starts to feel less murdering to the ears :)

Edit:
Before update to beta - last alpha build had these gunshots changing much more excesivelly, somehow giving it nice immersion effect. Right now it is much less of this effect, but the sound balance is better. Will look forward to see how it is going to be resolved because ArmA always been lacking in dynamic sound environment.

look ill say again that BI needs someone experienced with, and dedicated to sound, because over 40% of life is sound, always, and this arma should simulate life

there is no occlusion effect for weapons firing - when standing on the other side of the building rounds sounds the same as next to it. There was obstruction of sound but right now it is rather too marginal. It could sound better with soundwaves being not only obstructed by nearby objects but also dynamicly reverbered. Any soundwaves which should actually reverb/reflect off nearby and more distant objects. This way you get much fuller, lifelike and more believable 3D soundscape in the environment. Mixing it with filters could give amazing result.

I included the following ticket with regards to sound
http://feedback.arma3.com/view.php?id=10499

Dwarden has taken the time to link some other tickets related to the 5.1 and 7.1 Problems to this one.
More information and discussion can be found here
http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?157247-Sourround-sound-problems-DEVs-take-notice

Don't worry guys, Lord Jarhead is already working on a sound mod... It's everything we want and more... Check it out:

http://jsrs-studios.com/index.php/jsrs-soundmod/jsrs2/development-reports.html

Well thank god, sounds about a billion times better than what the Devs made already.

Seriously moderators.... if people dupe it means they dont know about the original ones and its a big issue and needs to be FIXED ASAP. so stop changing the main topic to if this a dupe or not but focus on what your gamers want.

I just hope that occlusion effect for weapons and explosions will comeback. Combat isn't anything like it used to be with it :)

@Rickschaves
that link is gold. devs need to take note, i do think some of the things in it need tweaking still such as the sound of distant fire, however all other things were amazing like receiving rounds is amazing, the echo, and extra points for the reverb underneath the tin roof actually sounds like your there. this is how i want my Arma3 to sound!

@FlatkinG
Yes, and his is still wip, so we can expect improvements as the devs release new versions...

The Zafir sound is the worst now I think. And the echo of all rifles, doesn't sound good at all. The echo is too loud or close to the source. Explosions are not very impressive either.

Altough vanilla ArmA sounds way better then it ever has, in my opinion, I really hope they have time to improve the sounds significantly. And I hope for a realistic approach. Some weapons like the Blufor standars rifle sounds very distorted also.

I kind of like the sounds of supressed weapons, and I think the pistols sound decent.

Also, distant firefights is hard to hear.

Edit: Just heard LordJarheads work on the Alpha sounds, it's shaping up to be terrific. Hope ArmA dev's are aware of him and maybe get some inspiration. Love the game otherwise so far. Well done.

Vehicles are also VERY quiet (my audio settings are all maxed, I can hear footsteps and bugs far more clearly than the vehicle) , by comparison to this video for example, when the hunter idles I can barely hear the engine thrumming http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5DEyJNiIS4 And it sort of hurts the overall experience, takes away the feeling of this big hulking powerful truck.

These videos demonstrate quite nicely the vast difference sounds can give to a vehicle.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s35sio_L39c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJMQGeOOTx0

It is currently as loud as the Offroad which isn't right, military vehicles doesn't use mufflers like civilian vehicles do, the luxury of silence isn't much of a concern.

The Namer APC should be so loud from the outside when standing right beside it that it should show reason for needing helmets with ear muffs, whereas right now its a bit louder than everything else but it doesn't sound like a beast
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AI-1WoOa9bU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J67oj92maC0 - explosion effects from this thread.
http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?160281-The-sound-thread/page2

Directional sounds guys!
It's impossible to determine angle of enemy even in VERY short distances.

Locating sounds (gunshots, talking, footsteps, squeaky tank tracks in the distance etc) in Armed Assault were really good... A2 got worse... A3 horrible.

The sound of moving boats in the water are way to loud if you stand on land. I was 200 meter inland and a rescueboat came by at 300 to 400 meter distance and it sounded like it was 50 meters. Please in crease the falloff.

Well, the tank sounds are horrendous. The impact sounds of the tank rounds are copy/pasted from mortar impact rounds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3KHFbMtykE

+1! Sound is the weakest part of this game. This is what a 7.62 minigun (as on the AH-6) should sound like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOnvgQloDoQ

There are numerous other examples in the comments above of what realistic sounds should be.

Cummon guys! Put an intern on this and find some sound snippets to bundle with the game!

One solution. JSRS 2.0, and @Real Sound.

I have recently been playing with the JSRS2.0 and honestly, it is beautiful, the sounds engine seems to be good, but the vanilla sounds samples seem rather horriblecompared to JSRS, so i sincerely do hope that the current sound in vanilla ARMA are just place holders. Seriously though, BI would invest well to hire jarhead.

resolved.... download JSRS when its out Jesus Christ...

they should have hired him in the first place we wouldn't have this issue.

same with blastcore

Yeah, right now tank/arty shell explosions sounds like me tipping over my china cabinet... just a big crash/shatter sound, not the thump you'd expect.

Yes, you can download JSRS,but it affects performance, which is poor already..

Not anything is terrible. Menu theme song is frickin awesome :)

In particular, the sound effect used for *bullet hit nearby* is almost always the same undefined distance away, and sounds fairly "machinegunned" when played several times in a row during a firefight.

Hey, I wrote this on the bisforum, I thought I also had to write it here as it is already assigned to the devs:
"I only came here to say something I noticed today: I installed the JSRS 2.0 mod for a better sound.
And... And... WOW! I mean, you guys (BIS) would do the greatest mistake if you don't understand that it does SO MUCH difference, I mean it's totally incredible! I think the rifle sound are great in default version, but for explosion and gunfire that come from the enemies, and also for the teammates firing from behind, it's incredibly better!! I was not anymore moving under fire (because not anymore 'pic' 'pic' 'pic' when someone shooting at me), but instead hidding as much as possible. And only because of the sound! I will probably never be able to play without it, unless BIS try to do something with the default sound engine! I repeat: I think you're doing a mistake if you think it is not important. Sound immersion is very important."

@Lapsa - not bad but I prefer classic OFP version of this song. Have much more soul to it ya dig? ;) IMO music should fit to the war game - which is dirty. Another great example - Ghost Recon 1 soundtrack. But that A3 theme would be great for some futuristic Flashpoint race game theme mod - and that's not pun intended, as it sounds good but for me - too sweet.

A3 devs should really let this sound engine breath fully without cutting it's abilities like occlusion.

the OPFOR-DMR is actually pretty nice.

Yes, the Rahim has a good sound, but it's the sound of a pistol, not a 7.62 rifle. Handguns should sound more like the Rahim. Currently all pistols except the Zubr and maybe the Four-Five are pathetically weak.

Although the sound samples themselves have improved since A2, there is no consistency in the sounds of the different weapon types or calibres. The Zubr, Four-Five and ACPC2 are all .45 calibre but each has a drastically different sound. Yes, they're different guns and shouldn't sound identical, but the Zubr sounds like a cannon while the ACPC2 sounds like a baby coughing.

Where is the sound design? I don't think this even exists as a concept in this game's development, considering the drastic variation in the quality of some sounds over others. One of the worst sounds in the game is the Anti-Aircraft cannons, which sounds weaker than a handgun.

It ruins immersion for me, not just because many sounds are lacking, but because the sound in general just seems broken. Gunshots or 30mm cannons simply drop off after a few hundred metres, while other sounds, like reloading and placing explosives or healing at a medic (the latter two inexplicably having the same sound), can be heard as if they are happening right next to you.

I don't mean to rant, but I feel that sound design is an extremely important consideration, not just for a realistic war game, but for ANY game, and I am constantly disappointed and underwhelmed by the soundscape of Arma 3.

Just implement JSRS 2.0 already. Apparently they didn't learn from arma 2 JSRS :P

It's now a year since they released the alpha, the sound should have been correct back then on release.
If it wasn't for sound modders I wouldn't be playing this at all because half of the sim is missing.

If you test in the editor with the environment sounds disabled (enableEnvironment false) you can hear just how little understanding of sound recording & editing BIS have.
Looks amazing but sounds awful unfortunately.

Even if they attempt to fix it without help from an external source, their best attempts will still show poor results, otherwise it would be realistic now.

The best I've heard yet is ACSE which has distance effect, occlusions from terrain & structures & indoor effect on weapon sounds.
The only thing that I haven't heard yet is indoor blocking out environment sounds like this simple test that I made...
http://youtu.be/ptBm0YDKne8

@FeralCircus
That's very impressive. It makes me realize that the current acoustic stage is uncanny. Speed of sound is incomplete, no sound occlusion, no reverberation and still many sound bugs. SFX do not allow for artistic freedom.

Here's another simple experiment that I made to simulate sound over distance...
I used only one gun sample (the ARMA 3 stock sound) and removed high frequency & volume to simulate distance.
I've only made 4 diferent incriments but It gives a reaonable idea of how air blocks short wavelengths (high frequencies) with range.

Notice how the father away the gunshot is, it becomes a mid frequency 'POP!' sound, due to high frequencies not traveling as far as low.
http://youtu.be/FNqFMCa6KQM

Please do something about the bugged sounds quickly.
We are getting discouraged on PvP when the enemy can hear us from hundreds of
meters as we "Changing Fire mode/Reloading/Placing explosives/First aid etc etc... "
This should have been fixed LOTS of months back already

Please FIX THE DAMN THING...

Personally, I find that sound is by far the biggest issue with arma 3. I have been using JSRS from the start and am eagerly awaiting ACSE.

My comments copied from another thread seeing as they fit better here:

Since playing a lot more PvP in A3 recently I have noticed how many of the cues I rely on for SA are faulty /misleading.

Mag changes used to be detectable hundreds of metres away. They are better now, though not perfect and the new fire select sound has added a new problem. Choppers hundreds of metres overhead would be louder then the same chopper 50m away to your right. Buildings don't channel or occlude sound properly, and of course direction finding is very vague.

I also find that the crack of a bullet going by is much louder then the report of a weapon, heard just fractionally later, even when the shooter is firing an unsuppressed weapon from a relatively short range.

I completely agree with this feedback.

I was playing few times some MP missions with a friend,urban fights were horrible.
Because even, if the bad guys were on the other side of the city, I was hearing the sound of their shot, as if they were right next to me.

It's the same with the satchel charge. I was hearing the bip bip of a man putting a charge, as if it was less than 1 meter from me, but it was, 300 meters from me.

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?149636-Development-Branch-Changelog&p=2720416&viewfull=1#post2720416

Spatial/directional definition of sounds in close proximity (approx. 1-30m) has been improved.

<3

The main problem with Arma's sound is the lack of bass and lowering of frequency and sound clarity over distance. for example, lightning sounds like a sheet of metal being hit with a small rock no matter how far away. I would think that with the Zues update they would have noticed that it sounds nothing like lightning. Real lightning is extremely loud and can be heard as a booming crack and rumble for miles.

@gutsnav
I agree totally, the ambient sound is so bad that I am removing it from all my missions until they make it positional.
Sick of running around with a cricket in one ear :-z

Check out the latest change note on my mission...
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=230856661

Old ticket I know... But as it's still alive and everything sound related seems to be pooling here...

Tried playing the other day for the first time in nearly a year... And the Lock sound is evil! It's so loud.. you can have WW3 around you and I'm unwilling to use the "T" key activated lock-on on any of the shoulder mounted launchers... It kills my ears :S

Here are a few videos of missile lock sounds
AIM-9 (IR): http://youtu.be/Tl0mAWYNaw8?t=41s
Pilot knows to fire because the tone rises and becomes steady in (high) tone.

FIM-91 (IR) [faint at first, but you can hear it increase in volume and pitch as the missile acquires the target]: http://youtu.be/uH0idEAYl7I?t=2m28s
Essentially the same as the AIM-9

Air-launched radar guided missiles such as AIM-120 AMRAAMs and AIM-7 Sparrows do not have a lock tone, acquisition symbology is all visual. The AA LRange missiles on the Buzzard already have this behavior, so nothing needs to change. The pilot knows to launch because typically the boresight circle will grow in size, an asterisk/star will appear, and/or a light will come on. The range cue will also tell the pilot whether he is in range or not.

AGM-65 Mavericks are IR, Electro-Optical, and CCD guided (varies). None of these produce a lock tone. The pilot knows he is locked on because the crosshairs in his TGP collapse and touch the target.

GBUs obviously don't have a lock tone either, and I believe this is properly represented. The pilot knows to launch because the CCRP system says he's near the optimal point of release.

The FGM-148 Javelin (correct me if I'm wrong,) does not have a lock tone either.
The shooter knows to fire because the box he's "drawn" around the target will stay on the target.

From this we can effectively see that only passive-infrared guided missiles such as the AIM-9 and FIM-92 have actual "lock tones."

I see another ticket was linked related to this, all of a sudden whenever i switched weapons in multiplayer, with or without mods, before and after re-install the sound of weapon is inaudible to my friends i see this bug is also from last year as well

Ticket # 0016326 Player gun sounds are inaudible after weapon switch

edit: also same problem in current dev build this issue needs fixed asap
JSRS was a temp fix for one person but not others. hows this bug even been looked at after being grouped in here with a metric ton of other sound issues?

I would also like to see better engine sound for vehicles e.g add a sound for gears changing when the vehicles speed increases/decreases

We also need to update the sounds for the attack helicopters and SPAAG. They both sound very weak compared to the new small arms samples.

AH-1W cannon, filmed by the target: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPMA_SdoZhI

AH-1Z live-fire exercise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUzRGQmsZyE

AH-64D live-fire: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpPMbbuSOuA

SPAAG:
http://youtu.be/nYQ74qnTato?t=50s

http://youtu.be/4RaBEtb3LWw?t=50s

I second that. Firing the guns as well as the impacts need new samples. Especially the impact sound, which sounds the same as a detonating fragmentation grenade atm, requires some attention.

The problem with sounds is not only that they are not immersive - more importantly, they are all the same (they repeat all over and over) and annoying.
Especially ambient and injure sounds. You will really hate rain on relatively quiet or stealth missions where the only thing you hear for minutes and minutes and minutes is that raining sound, which probably in a non-looped form would take about 10 seconds. Or imagine such cases where there is no medic in your team and you are injured - injure suffering sure should produce some sounds, but default ones are again quite annoying.
Some types of voices have different set of fatigue\injure sounds, which are far more better and not that ugly at all.

In this slow-paced shooter you have to wait a lot if you wish to win, waiting is pretty important part of the game, as it is most frequent thing you do and most long thing to do. Fatigue encourages waiting. Dangerous environments encourage waiting. Making ambient sounds sound deliciously would in a very lot improve this game.

Is this even worked on? Or just "assigned" and thats all? I feel you have forgotten about it.

AS TEMPONRARY fix you can download JSRS Dragon Fire LITE (Not full as its wip!) sounds are beautyfull with it!

As JSRS is not that popular anymore try : Dynasound and Enchanced Soundscape both by Laxemann ( good sound but be carefull lag incoming)

i agree, arma3 needs a sound design, volume, falloff, stereomix, dynamic.
i think you recorded real sounds and just putted them in because its a simulation game. but you forgot to tweak and design this sounds like u did with your maps and models. i think arma3 sound needs also a new balance between realistic and tolerability. in dont care what the realsim guys say, how a gun should sound like and how loud. Its a simulation and u have to make it work and enjoyable. U cant just make it as in real life, for example: you can't run thru every backyard in real life they are mostly closed, it would not make fun to play a map like this. What do you think why every garden in Altis has one broken wall and a door, no its not for the realism. 75% of ALL sounds are just annoying because they wanna be real and loud. Pls work as hard on the sound as on the look, it really matters. sound is the only thing that makes 3rd-person better than 1st-p because its less annoying. Think about your hard work on this nice maps and models and compare it to the sound. <3

I think it can be closed now, as we have pretty awesome eplosions, tails etc.

Ticket can be closed, as it's not valid anymore.