We need ambient airport sounds, why hasn't anyone done this yet?

[captain420 3,099]

I see a lot of sound mods and add-ons and such for planes, and cabin crew, etc but how come nobody has done any sounds for the airport? It feels so lifeless when you're sitting at the gate, doing your pre-flight duties and having to switch to external view to hear lifeless sounds. I want to hear the sounds of plane engines, the sound of ground crew vehicles, the sound of vehicles going in reverse, the distant rumble when planes take off, wind noises, etc. All of which makes the airport come to life. 

[JoeFackel 760]

Some of them you already get with GSX and there are also AI soundpacks available.

But there is still plenty room for improvement. Nobody wants an airport ambiance like Bangor in "The Langoliers" 😁

[Manny Ortiz 12]

The white zone is for immediate loading and unloading of passengers only!  or  There is no stopping in the red zone! 

Do not leave your baggage unattended

For security reasons baggage left unattended will be removed and destroy!

 

Edited June 22, 2018 by Manny Ortiz

[captain420 3,099]

I already have GSX and AI sound packs, it's not enough noise still. Being outside at any airport you hear a lot of noise compared to what we have in the sim now. It's so dead and lifeless in comparison.

[JoeFackel 760]

7 hours ago, Manny Ortiz said:

The white zone is for immediate loading and unloading of passengers only!  or  There is no stopping in the red zone! 

Listen Manny, don't start up with your white zone stuff again.

Edited June 22, 2018 by charliearon
Keep it clean on the open forums!

[overspeed3 410]

Well, in FSX (and in FS9), there have always been default sounds of  AI props and jet planes taxing past one's own aircraft parked at the gate...  No Langoliers at my airports!  

[Chock 17,769]

If you like I can try recording the sound of the ramp area and put that sound file up on the Avsim file library for you so you can see if you might be able to do something with it. I won't be able to do that until Sunday though when I'm back in work.

A lot of the time on the ramps you can't really hear much other than APUs. You do get the distant occasional roar of  engines as a plane takes off, and you get that sort of tubular howl from engines of aircraft taxying past your position, or at least you do if you don't put your ear defenders on, but much of the time you can't really hear anything of interest unless vehicles are present. I sometimes don't even wear ear defenders when we're pushing stuff out off the stands because the planes normally don't start their engines until they've crossed to the other side of the airport roads and are at the tug release points on the taxiway.

What you do hear a fair bit, is the horns beeping on service vehicles, because you have to toot the horn before you move any vehicle in the ramp area. I do think it is a bit weird that most aeroplane add ons - even really good ones which are 'study sims' - don't make any noise when the cargo hold doors open; the motors and systems which power those doors on things like Airbuses and Boeings are normally pretty loud and they even keep running for a bit after the door has stopped moving. I also think it's a bit weird that the jetways and air bridges don't make any noise when moving, in reality they clank and rattle a lot when operating and some of them have a siren or other alert sounds when they are under way. Most of the service vehicles, such as the conveyors and high/lows have diesel engines, which are left running because they power the elevator platform and those engines rev quite a bit when they operate and there is a horn to sound whenever they commence any platform movement. The catering trucks all have a siren on them for when they elevate or lower and that is pretty loud.

If you want an airport with a lot of ambient sounds, the new Pilot/LatinWings Almeria (LEAM) airport scenery for FSX/P3D does feature stuff like that, i.e. passenger terminals have ambient sounds and there are animated people walking about the ramp area etc.

 

[Clutch Cargo 384]

The ol' FDSFX add-on has an mp3 of airport ambient sounds.  Think it ran 5-10 minutes.  Though the app won't work in P3v4 (it will in versions 1 thru 3), you could still d/l the app, pull the mp3 and play it during your pre-checks.

[captain420 3,099]

27 minutes ago, Chock said:

If you like I can try recording the sound of the ramp area and put that sound file up on the Avsim file library for you so you can see if you might be able to do something with it. I won't be able to do that until Sunday though when I'm back in work.

A lot of the time on the ramps you can't really hear much other than APUs. You do get the distant occasional roar of  engines as a plane takes off, and you get that sort of tubular howl from engines of aircraft taxying past your position, or at least you do if you don't put your ear defenders on, but much of the time you can't really hear anything of interest unless vehicles are present. I sometimes don't even wear ear defenders when we're pushing stuff out off the stands because the planes normally don't start their engines until they've crossed to the other side of the airport roads and are at the tug release points on the taxiway.

What you do hear a fair bit, is the horns beeping on service vehicles, because you have to toot the horn before you move any vehicle in the ramp area. I do think it is a bit weird that most aeroplane add ons - even really good ones which are 'study sims' - don't make any noise when the cargo hold doors open; the motors and systems which power those doors on things like Airbuses and Boeings are normally pretty loud and they even keep running for a bit after the door has stopped moving. I also think it's a bit weird that the jetways and air bridges don't make any noise when moving, in reality they clank and rattle a lot when operating and some of them have a siren or other alert sounds when they are under way. Most of the service vehicles, such as the conveyors and high/lows have diesel engines, which are left running because they power the elevator platform and those engines rev quite a bit when they operate and there is a horn to sound whenever they commence any platform movement. The catering trucks all have a siren on them for when they elevate or lower and that is pretty loud.

If you want an airport with a lot of ambient sounds, the new Pilot/LatinWings Almeria (LEAM) airport scenery for FSX/P3D does feature stuff like that, i.e. passenger terminals have ambient sounds and there are animated people walking about the ramp area etc.

 

That would be great if you don't mind. All those small little details you've mentioned all add up to quite a realistic sense of immersion of being there. Which the sim is sorely lacking. Sounds of vehicles, sirens, motors, exactly how you described it. Would be great if GSX 2 can incorporate or add these missing sound effects to their vehicles, loaders, jetways, etc. Maybe the plane makers should also be aware of this so that they can also add it into their next update. Sound also plays a very important role in making the sim as realistic as possible.

[captain420 3,099]

4 hours ago, Clutch Cargo said:

The ol' FDSFX add-on has an mp3 of airport ambient sounds.  Think it ran 5-10 minutes.  Though the app won't work in P3v4 (it will in versions 1 thru 3), you could still d/l the app, pull the mp3 and play it during your pre-checks.

FDFSX what is this?

[Chock 17,769]

As promised, here is some audio recorded on the ramp at EGCC, this was at around 5.30 am today. And as noted, most of the time you tend to only really be able to hear either the APUs or, when it is on ground power, the avionics exhaust vent (which sounds much like an APU anyway). This is why everything is done with hand signals and we wear ear defenders, since you can't hear anyone talking unless you're right next to them.

Audio files in the folder linked here. If someone wants to use em or mess about with them, feel free:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1qjhZBNyILYBLOvYBsCaK2NAZ3eRSPiLF

One of the sounds in the folder is recorded from the location in this pic, i.e.the forward baggage hold of Thomas Cook Airbus A321-211, G-TCDB which was on stand 26 at EGCC. You can hear the engine of the conveyor and the whine of the avionics heat exhaust vent on that recording, and you can even hear someone walking in the cabin above me since it was going to pushback in about 30 mins and so people were starting to board. The other recordings are of other aircraft and vehicles etc on adjacent stands, mostly A321s from Thomas Cook but also one or two Jet 2 aircraft, i.e. that 737 you can see in the pic, plus some pushback tugs such as one of ours which you can see on that pic, other cargo vehicles etc.

Edited June 25, 2018 by Chock

[Nemo 1,305]

AFAIK, sound has to be embedded into each airports.bgl files. Not sure if it can be done with ADE.

[Chock 17,769]

An easy way to add those sounds, if someone wants to, is to trim them so they make a seemless loop, then add them to some bit of scenery, such as a baggage truck, or even something as basic as a road cone at the head of the stand. If anyone wants to do that, knock yourself out lol. The sounds can be made suitable for a loop in Goldwave (if you need a freebie audio editor) and if you have FSDS, you could knock up a road cone scenery bgl in about a minute, maybe two minutes if you want to put a texture on it lol, that way you could stick that scenery on your favourite stand at your fave airport pretty easily and have some ambient noise there. 🙂

[jason99vmi 157]

i mean if you have good AI sounds then all you hear is engines starting, taxiing or departing or reversers.   GSX has some ground sounds.  

In the AVSIM library search for AI sounds.  I think they are made by Kai?  something like that.  

Sorry not at home so can't look but its the best AI soundpack i have heard.  realistic engine types.  sounds for full throttle etc

 

I found it.  you can even have a listen before you download. 

https://k-akai.blogspot.com/2018/04/ai-traffic-sound-pack-171.html

Edited June 25, 2018 by jason99vmi

[SpiritFlyer 987]

For those who do not know, the vast majority of ORBX sceneries have a lot of character and in-depth immersion with common ambient sounds of everything from birds, aircraft and automotive engines, nearby overhead flights and human conversations, often accompanied by brightly coloured flutterbyes 🦋.

I expect there could be blended-in sounds of kangaroos hopping, but I can not distinguish that from some of the loudest chirping birds and barking dogs in the world!

Have something like 139 ORBX programs in FTX Central, which means I have not visited most of them in a long time, that await the next rainy day to drop in, wander around and listen up. Maybe I will fire up and do that instead of hanging around here!

Lots of sounds and sights, but of course the Master Builder did a perfect job on the real, unsimmulated version outside my door in the summer countryside of New Brunswick Canada!

Time for a walk or a flight... ennie, meenie, minie moe...

Kind regards, 

.