Help with DooM Sounds?

[Okgo5555]

My OCD is getting the best of me and, in the spirit of feeling retro and vanilla, I would like to down-convert the assets of my mod to be in line with the 1993/1994 standards. The issue is that, I have some sounds that are good, and fitting, but they should be down-sampled and converted to DoomSound format. Here's the deal: If I do something simple like take DSPISTOL and down-pitch it to my liking, I am usually getting a result in .ogg. Fair enough. When I then convert that into DooMSound in SLADE, it sounds like total crap and doesn't sound up to snuff of the original Doom assets. I'm just curious if there is a better tool-chain/process that other people are familiar with that could help me.

[difficultoldstuff]

OK, so my process of making "punchy" and "retro" sounds is by using Audacity, setting the project rate to 16k / 11k / 8k Hz (whichever you feel like sounds better for the sound you're working on), then maybe playing with some Distortion / Highpass / Lowpass filters, exporting as a .wav, importing and leaving it as .wav. Sometimes you can convert it to OG Doom sound format if the result sounds good in your ears, but mostly I leave them as .wav. Also watch out for sound clipping, too much volume can produce nasty clicks in Doom. Hope this sparks any ideas, good luck!

[The Almighty Red]

My OCD is getting the best of me and, in the spirit of feeling retro and vanilla, I would like to down-convert the assets of my mod to be in line with the 1993/1994 standards. The issue is that, I have some sounds that are good, and fitting, but they should be down-sampled and converted to DoomSound format. Here's the deal: If I do something simple like take DSPISTOL and down-pitch it to my liking, I am usually getting a result in .ogg. Fair enough. When I then convert that into DooMSound in SLADE, it sounds like total crap and doesn't sound up to snuff of the original Doom assets. I'm just curious if there is a better tool-chain/process that other people are familiar with that could help me.

I generally use Goldwave for simple things like this. Generally speaking, when lowing the sample rate of a sound file you are going to inevitably hear some static and fuzz. It's just the nature of sounds at a low sample rate. In all the sounds I have ever down-sampled and then converted to DooM sound format, I have only ever come across one sound effect that sounded so "very staticky" and bad that it was unusable. One trick I have come across which can help is to not immediately down-sample something. Reduce the volume by 50% or even 75% if necessary, down-sample, then scale the volume back up. This seems to help prevent some excess static and distortion when converting it. Another thing you can try is gradually down-sample a little at a time and tweak as necessary. If you're taking a sound from say, 48000hz down to 11025hz right off the bat, it can sometimes have a harsh effect. If you do it incrementally, (to 32000hz, adjust some things, then 22050hz, then adjust some more, etc.) it can produce better results. Hopefully some of this helps.

[Okgo5555]

Ok. That's helpful. The distortion from the crunch of downsampling in Audacity makes sense. Thanks.

[Chally Brence]

Ok. That's helpful. The distortion from the crunch of downsampling in Audacity makes sense. Thanks.

Yeah, I can tell a bad Audacity from the day I was hatched.