Shield Attack Sound Design: God of War Breakdown Tutorial

Intro

Hi there! If you want to learn how to create sound effects, you are in the right place. Today, we will create a shield attack sound effect. We will use a short clip from the game God of War. We will design it from scratch using sounds from my library. This includes raw recorded sounds and some design sounds. Let’s get into Reaper and start!

Original Sound Analysis

Here we are inside of Reaper with a short gameplay clip. Let’s listen to the original sound to have a reference.

Now that we have our reference, I will start looking through my library for shield sounds. I already have some designed sounds that could be a good starting point. I want to create a basic outline first and then add other elements later.

Shield Attack #1

First, I want a ring-out sound. I found one that sounds great! Now, I will look for something higher pitched.

This sound is a bit sharper, but I like it. Now, I will pitch shift it a little bit to see if I can get different tones. Right now, these sounds feel disjointed. I can blend them together or use bus processing to make them work better.

I also want to add some punch to the sound, so I will use the Enforcer plugin to help with that. Now, let’s create a different version. I will try one that sounds more like a metal bar being hit.

Shield Attack #1 v2

For this sound, I found a shield impact sound. It is layered and compressed. I still want to find more sounds to create a sequence. I found another dull metal impact sound to layer with the original.

Now, I want to add some low end to give it weight. I’ll look for a whoosh sound to add some low end. I found a whoosh sound that will accentuate the impact. I will also center it with the ReCenter plugin.

This is shaping up nicely! Now, I want to listen to the redesigned sound compared to the original.

Shield Attack #2

Let’s move on to the second shield attack sound. I want to make sure I add a bass drop to the low end. This sound is different; it has more higher frequency resonance. I will mute the first sounds and see what we can create with this.

I found two different metal hits in my library. One has a fade-in sound, which matches what I want. I will layer these sounds together and adjust their volumes to create a good mix.

I am also looking for a big impact sound to layer with this. I found a swing hit impact sound and will blend it together. I want to focus on getting the low mids and bass into this sound.

Now, I will add a kick sound for the bass drop. I will process it with the Enforcer plugin to enhance the sound. Let’s hear how it sounds compared to the original.

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Shield Attack #2

Now, let’s return to the second shield attack sound. I want to ensure that the bass drop is clear. The original has a tame sound, so we will adjust it to make it more powerful.

I will add some distortion to enhance the upper harmonics and make the sound richer. Now, let’s listen to the redesigned sound again.

Conclusion and Final Thoughts

I hope you found this process useful. We created a shield attack sound inspired by the original while making it our own. Let me know what you think in the comments! If you have questions or want to see more redesigns from God of War, let me know.