Can you hear me now?

So, I’m working on my nearly-finished first release of my book tracking app, TBR.

Did I mention I had shoulder surgery back in January? I’ve been doing rehab exercises every day, three times a day, since January. It’s become something of a habit. But I keep reminders, because otherwise I get caught up in things and forget. I started with the simple iPhone todo list app, but awhile back I switched to the Not Boring Software’s Habits app. A game-like experience for forming habits, or as the founder Andy puts it, the World’s Most Satisfying Checkbox. And it kinda is…. animations, 3D models, and sounds. And it’s pretty. Just won one of Apple’s App Design Awards.

Face-palm. My app has no sound! (for that matter, neither does my existing app Bookship). Duh.

I’ve never done it before, so I start reading. In my head, my app is making bookish noises like a page turning, etc. As I read I learn that audio UX has similar design styles to visual design, and “Skeuomorphism” (things sound like / look like what they are), may not be the best approach for sound ux. And more importantly that sound design is another path to creating a compelling brand.

Just as there is a place for visual designers, who can create something beautiful and connective, the same is true for audio. There are firms that do nothing else, for example.

OK well I’m not ready to belly up to the bar and hire a composer, and my needs are pretty modest. So, I go digging for sound effects. Well. There’s a lot of them, and a lot of places to look. I poke around a bunch of sites (Freesound, SoundSnap, Mixkit, Artlist.io etc), talk to my son-in-law game developer, who recommends Pond5 and reminds me to make sure I get licenses for everything. “Free is free, but sometimes it’s worth paying”.

I poke around and prototype with 5 or so free sounds from different sources but realize they don’t hang together – individually good, but all different and kind of random, and the possibilities are overwhelming. I realize I need to take a step back and think about what I want.

What is this sound for? What am I trying to convey? What is my brand about? And then look for a package (a sound pack) of thematically consistent sounds.

Well, to me, books are about learning, and being transported; a means of adventure, and a place of peace and escape from all the noise out there. Youtube, Instagram, TikTok, Netflix, your job, etc. ad nauseam. I want something tranquil, restful, non-invasive, almost kind of Zen. Yeah, that’s it. Zen. I start building a soundboard, googling and listening, of some concepts that have the feel I might want.

Turns out Not Boring’s Habits used a composer named Thomas Williams. Mostly games, but some utility apps and even some short films. Here’s a soundtrack he made for a game, it’s actually nice to just listen to.

Nice. Since I’m thinking Zen, I start googling for Zen sound effects, and stumble upon Ableton, which is audio editing software, and reading their blog. I find this article. Mentions a Japanese composer, Sugai Ken, who does field recordings and integrates nature sounds into his music.

Yeah. A lot of natural sounds, pings and echos, things that could be at home in a quiet app about books. I take that as a vector and run with it.

After about a million listens to random chirps and squeaks and pings (my wife says, “What the hell are you doing over there?” :)), I stumble on a few things that feel promising.

After letting it sit for a day, seeing how the sounds feel after a lot of listens, and prototyping a bit, I feel like this one is the answer: Sound Ex Machina’s UI Sounds Musical. I found it on Artlist.io, when I go to buy it it looks like it’s $10 a month to subscribe. Fine. Go to subscribe, realize no, I need the premium version @ $15/month to get the rights. OK fine. Go again to purchase, get something that says, “Oh you want SFX?” That’s $20/month. Just enough annoyance and friction in the process to make me go looking elsewhere. I try to find their real website and see if I can buy it, it says “Down for Maintenance”. A few days later it still is. I wonder if they’ve gone under…anyway in the meantime I find a direct purchase on itch.io. Even better, the Artlist package only has ~30 sounds, but this “real” package has 300, and for about the same money. I go for it. At which point I learn that the sounds I bookmarked on Artlist have Artlist-specific names, so I have to go match up the ones I’ve chosen against the 300. No big deal, just realize, if you like a package of sounds, look for the original if you can – more sounds, better pricing, etc.

The other bit of advice all the blogs give is, don’t do too much; it gets overwhelming or irritating pretty quickly. I try to restrain myself to key actions and errors.

Anyway, after that it’s all downhill. Just integrating the code (I’m on Ionic, there’s a simple plugin for playing audio, which I use, and it’s all integrated in under a day). Oh. Don’t forget haptics too – vibrations, the “feel” of the app. I do that too. I don’t know if people will like all this or not, but the app just feels and sounds so much more real, more tactile, more professional.

Fingers crossed :).

Here’s a short sample of the sounds I’ve ended up using:

I hope you get a chance to check out the app, and our sounds. (Oh: bonus: the first sound you hear is a Ukelele, the native instrument of Hawaii where I live. Not a factor in my decision, just a happy accident.

Some background reading I found helpful as I was working on sounds:

And some sound resources, places to look for interesting sounds:

https://www.pond5.com
https://freesound.org/
https://www.soundsnap.com/
https://mixkit.co/free-sound-effects/
https://www.storyblocks.com/audio/sound-effects
https://www.artlist.io

Viking

Can you hear me now?

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Books, Startups, Travel, Search, Music