                            Aliens Sound F/X
                            ----------------
                           General Info  File				


First off, I'd like to thank Dave Lobser and his team dearly for
bringing us, IMHO, the best PWAD I've ever seen (even beats ID's original!)

If you don't already have the ALIENS graphics and level patches, go get
them!  (infant2.sphs.indiana.edu in the /pub/doom/themes/aliens directory)

---

Why, you ask?

Well, after picking up the Aliens file and being duly and thoroughly 
impressed beyond any of my expectations, I did find one thing lacking.

The sound files were a bit in the low-quality side and some of them 
were either very annoying after hearing it 500 times or they just didn't
fit.

So, I sat down with the Directors edition of Aliens, cranked up the 
Laserdisc player and proceeded to digitize 50 megs worth of sound from 
the 2hr 20min movie.  What you see before you is the final result.

The original ALIENSND.WAD was around 600k, the new one is a little over
2megs.  Many things were added and changed.  I hope they aren't as 
annoying and fit better than the originals.  

While DOOM uses 11025s/s digitized sound files, there still is a quality
difference between 16bit 44khz and lower quality sound files when they
are inserted into the PWAD.  

I digitized all the sounds in CD Quality 44.5khz in 16bit. They were
then converted to 8 bit before letting DMAUD insert them into DOOM.  
The volume of each one was painstakingly tested to verify that they
weren't too loud or soft, depending on the sound effect.  The difference
in quality is definitely noticeable.  

The entire F/X package was designed with a surround system in mind 
(in relation to volume & certain F/X), I don't know how it will sound
on small computer speakers or earphones though, someone let me know!

The BGM was also painstakingly chosen (from many many midi files) for
their appropriateness in each level.  I think they all fit rather 
nicely.

Any and all comments, be them good or bad, bug reports and the like
can be directed to: jrzerlan@nps.navy.mil  -- they will be happily
accepted :-)

Locked, Cocked & Ready to ROCK!