Helikona Sound

The palette

The brand's rules for sound, translated from video-guidelines.md §10 and the name story. The full brief, with the audition checklist, is in docs/sound-effects-prompts.md.

• Heard from a distanceThe island at dawn or dusk, never noon. Surf is far off and slow; the listener sits under the trees.
• Real island materialsDriftwood, sea-worn stone, bamboo, coconut husk, broad leaves, wet sand, salt air. No synth, no glass.
• Everything fallsA gesture lands and stops, like a wave drawing back. Nothing rises, swells or shimmers.
• The rust dot lands lastOne soft tap of driftwood or stone, ~150ms after the mark resolves. Placed, not hit.
• Silence is the defaultRoom tone and sea air carry a scene; a sound is the exception, and sits well under narration.
• Not a resortNo steel drums, ukulele, bongos, seagulls or parrots. No braams, risers or notification dings.

Many of these are generated very quiet on purpose — a room tone can peak below −30 dBFS — so the page lifts each take to a listening level by default (by loudness, at most +18 dB, never above −6 dBFS peak); each take shows its true peak beside its length, and the toggle in the bar plays it at generated level instead. In a mix they sit under narration: peaks around −18 dBFS for stings and transitions, −30 dBFS or lower for room tone, mastered to about −14 LUFS overall.

Choosing

Pick one take per sound, or more than one to ship them as variants a consumer can cycle through (<id>-1.mp3, <id>-2.mp3, …). Picks are kept in this browser until they are recorded: the bar below writes the pnpm audio --choose … command for everything picked, which copies each chosen take to the shipped file and records it in the manifest. Sounds marked Shipping take n already have a recorded choice; picking differently here proposes a change.

Logo sting Video

The mark builds over ~400ms and the rust dot settles ~150ms later (video guide §5). Whole sting 0.8–1.2s, then hold. It must fall in energy, like a wave drawing back, never rise.

The rust dot Video

The sonic full stop: the last element in the logo build, and usable alone. Short, low, rounded, dry. Placed, not hit.

Scene transition Video

The one whoosh the video guide allows (§10): a soft, low movement under a 300–500ms crossfade. Near-inaudible on its own.

End-card resolve Video

Plays as the end card lands; hold at least 2s in silence after it. Nothing here is a stinger.

Room tone Video

For scenes that work in near-silence (video guide §10). Loopable, and always heard from a distance: the listener is in the shade, not on the beach.

Product UI Product UI · proposal

A proposal, not yet a guideline. The video guide bans UI sounds in video; the apps are a different surface, and the agent rail, Learn and the app switcher sometimes need to say "done" or "your turn" to someone not looking at the screen. If adopted, the set stays this small and every sound is off by default.