Is there a plausible reason why the sound effects in Fangs of Asterkarn, specifically the explosive sounds of the “Bloodsworn”, the shrieks of the Kaw’Hranaak, and the audio associated with the new feathered monsters (especially the projectiles fired by the Matriarchs), are so much louder than all other sound effects in the game?
I play using a Dolby Digital 5.1 speaker system, not headphones.
When playing in the evening, one has to be somewhat considerate of neighbors and others living nearby.
Whenever I enter these specific areas, the volume, driven by these particular monster types, is significantly higher than in the rest of the game or even in other zones within Fangs of Asterkarn.
Shouldn’t the volume levels throughout the game be dynamically normalized, or at least balanced?
What has your experience been?
higher damadz = higher sfx? 
wouldn’t be the first time it’s a thing atleast
also could be sfx stacking in some cases i suppose, like there’s a lot of multi projectile stuff in FoA, and multi effect/hit stuff has been known to overlap sound and increase from it
Well, it’s not a bad thing when things go “boom” 
but the difference compared to all other areas is really noticeable, and 5.1 surround sound definitely plays its part…
On the other hand, it’s a real pain to have to keep adjusting the volume knob. And if you turn it down a bit, everything else ends up being too quiet for me again.
As a composer and music producer, i do a LOT of audio engineering, and while it is an art, there is a science to it too.
When assigning sounds to events or animation frames, most developers just find an appropriate sample and bring it in as a game asset. But programmers are rarely audio specialists and dont realize there is a right way to incorporate audio into games — and action games require more attention to this audio inclusion.
I could tell since the first time i played GD that Crate was not employing a bona fide audio specialist when i first heard the scream of the Aetherial Reanimator. Throughout the game and even into the mods, there are sounds that are too loud, sounds in the wrong octave, or sounds that are not even there where you would expect. Even more there are ZERO audio effects rigs for places where they need it, like reverb and delay to help define space and provide an immersive ambience.
When bringing in audio assets, developers must go thru them, independent of the game, and check their levels (loudness), saturation (audial weight), and clarity (equalization). There needs to be a standard for all of these attributes, plus, in lieu of audio fx plugins, sound files must be “baked” with their fx, so for example, those sounds that are to be played in a cave environment, have a built-in reverb and echo. (I have one such audio clip where i had to add distant reverb to babbling water to give the effect of a vast underwater lake.)
Maybe Crate should hire someone to engineer all audio the game uses and maintain this aspect of the game.
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