Creating Sounds for Tweetsie Memories
Sound on the web is a tricky thing. We’ve all seen, heard actually, gratuitous flash sound effects or techno music that make us reach for the mute button. But sometimes a piece of interactivity really benefits from sound.
Our team recently finished a new feature for the Tweetsie site, called Tweetsie Memories. Visitors share their favorite Tweetsie moments, send it in, and it shows up on the wheel. Since it was inspired by the Viewmaster, I recorded the sound of one clicking and releasing it, and added a little depth to the sound to make it more weighty, as it sounded pretty plasticy at first.
To make the wheel spin sound? Not too high tech, just a bicycle wheel and a playing card (King of Spades to be exact - cause you know, that matters) and timed the wheel spinning with the animation. Added some chorus to thicken it up, reverb and EQ, and the user gets the illusion that this is some kind of old-time fancy machine. So check out Tweetsie Memories… The art/design team did a great job creating this.