HRTF 3D positional audio

[samueljustice00]

We actually mimic HRTF ingame, all the objects and creatures have an azimuth relative to camera and the azimuth angle is used to control a shelving filter which subtly removes about 3db of high frequency dependent on the angle, that's then multiplied by distance for further shelving. This isn't channel independent however, but still sounds quite natural. We also use a parametric EQ based on distance as well to notch out high frequencies that don't travel as far over distance - most games just use a brute force low pass on distance, we don't do that which is why the game sounds quite natural over longer distances. Couple that with an reverb amplitude multiplier which is also applied on distance - it brings it all together.

FMODs solution isn't rudimentary, instead of brute forcing a single setting on all sounds it allows us to pick and choose, as well as fine tune. It just requires a knowledge of what tools to use and when.