DSP Motion is the perfect tool to add a sonic dimension to your videos, motion designs and animations. In this post, we will design the sound of an animated logo that was created in After Effects. Let’s see the result first, and then we will recreate all the sound layers, simply by drawing them with the mouse!
We divided the post in three sections, following the events in the video: first the fire tornado, then the explosion, and finally the reveal of the logo.
All the assets, from the .motion files to the Reaper session and the video, can be downloaded at the bottom of this page, in case you want to follow along.
The Fire Tornado
The Rotate-Fire patch was an obvious choice for the base layer of the tornado due to the circular movement of the fireballs. Drawing shrinking concentric circles perfectly captured the feeling of the fire tornado. We adjusted the controls and synthesis parameters to get the right stereo spread and burning intensity.
A second layer was created with the Move-Fire patch to add some emphasis when the fireballs pass in the foreground. We generated several variations, adjusting the duration slider to make the sounds progressively shorter, matching the acceleration of the fireballs.
To add some intensity while the fireballs move up and gain speed, we added a layer with the Transform-Fire patch. Notice how the curves we are drawing in the tool follow what’s happening in the video and the sound naturally matches the action.
To add even more intensity, we added a bit of rumble with the Appear-Mineral patch. The impact generated by this patch – when we draw over the vertical axis in the center – was also used for the sound of the explosion.
Finally, the Scale-Fire patch was used to simulate the sound of the growing smoke plume and the initial blast of the explosion.
It’s time to check how all these layers work together in Reaper. All sounds come from DSP Motion; we simply added some fade-ins / fade-outs and the default Reaper compressor.
The Explosion
The Fire-Merge patch is perfect to create the sound of the explosion: by synchronizing our drawing with the video, we can use both the rise-up sound and the deflagration generated by that patch.
We also added the thunderclap triggered when drawing over the central axis of the Appear-Electric patch. In Reaper, we edited these sounds to add a short silence between the rise-up, the initial blast and the shockwave to create a more dramatic explosion.
Finally, we added some light debris sounds at the end of the explosion. They were created with the Move-Granular patch, using rocks for the type of the grains.
Let’s check the explosion section in the Reaper project! We added a light EQ and distortion, both standard effects coming with the program.
The Logo
We are finally ready for the logo reveal!
To simulate its incandescence, we re-used the Scale-Fire sound we made for the smoke plume in the tornado section, keeping only its most intense part. We also created a second Scale-Fire sound, aimed at rendering embers-like crackling at the end of the logo’s combustion.
For the sound associated with the glowing light under the logo, we created a harmonic-rich droptone with the Appear-Synthetic patch.
We layered the droptone with a resonant modal sound created with the Rotate-Metal patch. We later reversed it to get a nice and short rise-up sound, and to have a better transition when the light starts glowing.
These two last sounds go though the same light Reaper reverb which glues them together and gives them more space. And we are done! Now, let’s see the whole Reaper session.
You can download this Reaper session below. It includes all the wave files generated by DSP Motion and the video.
The original DSP Motion files are also all available for download.
Finally, the logo animation was based on an After Effects template licensed from the MotionArray web site.
For another example of sound design for an animated logo, check this recent post:
