Quoted from imagamejunky:I had it at speech +3 before. Now with Tim's mod I'm trying default (0 and 0) and the speech call-outs are already quite loud.
I talked with imagamejunky about these attenuation settings. I really don't know what to recommend here. All of the leveling I did when editing the custom callouts and music was based on w/e the standard stock settings were set at for 1.00. I don't feel as though you need to tweak these but everyone's setup is different--I for one am using the PinSUB mod to output to external speakers and a sub. Also, I learned that regardless of those settings, some callouts or music will be louder or quieter at times--and it's the game doing it/adjusting it in real time (out of our control). Everything should be as balanced as possible with my code + stock attenuation but if anyone finds a "sweet spot" for either of those settings, please share it here! Oh I will admit that the opening long script callouts are almost 100% of the time "louder" than the in game callouts once you get going. So I wouldn't go attenuating too much based on that, otherwise you're risking making all the subsequent callouts too low. Again, the game is doing that not me.
Also I can't reiterate enough that you need to set your BACKBOX SPEAKER setting to 8 Ohms if the update "decides" to flip it to 4 Ohms. That's key (unless you have installed 4 Ohm custom speakers of course).
EDIT: Ok now you guys got me messing with these attenuation settings just now LOL. I just played around a bit and I wanted to clarify what's really going on with callout and music replacements in general
So first of all, it's important to understand that the stock version callout actors' lines were all recorded in an isolated vocal booth. The sound editors just smashed the heck out of them afterwards in post production to where there's little to no dynamics left and they are all metallic sounding when listening to any given individual .wav file on its own. In fact, in many cases the engineer introduced clipping and distortion due to over-compression and limiting. You likely won't be able to tell while playing b/c the programmers compensated for this in gameplay with the way the machine's code "mixes" vocal and music in real time.
In contrast, the original dialog track I worked with (for replacement callouts) is overall lightly compressed from the 1993 actor's boom mic recordings, not isolated in the same way as the stock callouts (the JP movie actors were recorded on site with boom mics, not in some isolated vocal booth). While most were very clean, I still had to work magic to bring clarity, killing b/g noise and ever so carefully "smash" the .wavs so that they met the "volume" expected by the machine. Even with this quality track I ran into multiple hurdles on some lines. One you'll probably notice is with one of the control room entry lines -- Lex saying "It's a UNIX system, I know this." It's going to sound very pitchy and muffled. That's just how that boom mic recorded her. And believe me, I spent hours on that one line alone trying my hardest to "fix" it. But as they say in the audio biz, you can't polish a turd . What you hear in game is the best that each line can be for this machine, given the limitations/requirements of the pin. I'm very confident about that. If I wasn't I wouldn't have shared the code with you.
Three music and/or custom callout examples I'd like to call out (pun intended ) to set expectations and help you understand why certain callout or music replacements may sound better, worse, quieter, louder, etc. at any given point in game:
1) T-Rex Rampage Music: It's going to sound "quieter" than most modes where the music was replaced. This is a conundrum I cannot figure out to this day. I believe it's simply due to the nature of the live orchestra's replacement song. It's low end heavy. Even with revisiting it multiple times, re-eq-ing, messing with compression, the game just "wants" to play it quieter.
2) T-Rex Encounter: I have quite a few callout replacements that occur both when initiating and during this mode. No matter what I've tried they are all "quieter" than in other modes. I sweetened those callouts just as loud/the same quality as any. It's super bumming b/c that was a ton of creative work.
3) Chaos MB Start: I have a number of Ian Malcolm lines that will cycle/fire once you initiate it. The "whooooooosh-screeeach" SFX and music clouds them out every time for me. It's beyond frustrating. I have amped and eq'd those darn callouts numerous times to no avail. It's devastating that I couldn't figure it out b/c there are $ lines in here from Ian. I think once I revisit I may need to pull the stock SFX down manually.
In summary... Despite my efforts and regardless of what you do with the attenuation/any other audio settings, you are going to come across points in the game where you can't clearly hear my replaced line or feel that the music is "too loud" or "not loud enough".
Note that the attenuation #'s are misleading. Positive = more attenuated (quieter) and Negative = less attenuated (louder).
I will say that I just played a few games with SPEECH = 5 (to lower the callouts) and MUSIC = -3 (to boost the music) and I did feel happier overall. The moral of the story is that you could tweak these all day and never find a happy medium since there are so many variables involved.
Added over 4 years ago:
I'd like to recall what I said about SPEECH = 5 (to lower the callouts) and MUSIC = -3 (to boost the music). SPEECH = 5 is way too much attenuation in general and honestly given what I had said about callouts being at different volumes throughout, I would leave that SPEECH setting alone. Not to mention I don't know if this changes the volume of SFX. Reducing the attenuation (upping the volume) with the MUSIC setting to -2 or -3 seems to balance things out better. It's all up to you guys and your setup, but if anyone new were to read this I'd say don't touch these settings.