This blog was originally posted on Creating Sound. Additional information about the website can be found at CreatingSound.com
Creating Sound on Twitter | Creating Sound on Facebook
Planet Side 2's Website | Rodney on Twitter | Gary on Twitter
Rodney's Planetside 2 Video Footage: "I like this distant-perspective video a player made."
INTRODUCTIONS IN FIVES
- Gary also works with San Diego recording facility, Studio West. He does engineering on various projects and teaches Pro Tools and Game Audio.
- Gary has two sons Faustus (11) and Joaquin (7) who enjoy games as much as he does (maybe more?), including PlanetSide 2.
- Rodney also has two children, both girls, named Sienna (4.5) and Zoe (2.5) that keep him happily busy.
- Rodney has also kicked off a new virtual instrument company called SoundCues. He’s planning on releasing three sample libraries in 2013.
- Both Gary and Rodney are very like-minded and share similar goals with sound design, and wholly “get” the process of creating and integrating audio into games. Game audio is equal parts creative and technical, which they both enjoy immensely.
- Distance treatment
- Creative choice
- Realism for automatic weaponry
- Effective dynamic mixer achievements
- Excellent player feedback
- Don’t be married to your sounds no matter how much you love them. Revisions can come at any time!
- To effectively focus on frequency separation
- Details in sound changing over distance
- How to control chaos; what to focus on in such intense moments
- That designing sound for games IS what I want to do for a long time.
FREQUENCY IN FOURS
In three weeks’ time, we can complete 70% of the weapons, explosions and vehicles for PlanetSide 2. Working ridiculous hours, of course. But in four months, if everything was available to work on, and all technology in place? The game’s entire soundscape could be accomplished.
2) In four hours’ time, Gary and Rodney could finish:
An entirely new weapon, from scratch, including all perspectives and corresponding suppressed version.
3) The sound effect in Planetside 2 that’s best expressed in four seconds’ time is:
Gary's Nanite rez / de-rez
(CTRL/Command + F) IN THREES
- Rodney - Avid Pro Tools, Waves plug-ins, and Sony Sound Forge Pro.
- Gary - mine would include Sonnox Transient Modulator instead of Waves.
- The Biolab capture - I had a lot of fun designing the base captures. The FX team and I really got together and kind of sync’d up on what we wanted.
- Proximity mines - The moment when you come around the corner and you hear that bang. It’s just awesome because you know you are doomed! At the same time there is such gratification hearing one go off that you placed and it results in a kill.
- Sniper bullet whiz-bys - Design asked for some unique whiz-bys for the sniper projectiles. After a few iterations we got some that we all liked. Then, Adam (one of our other sound designers) added some air reflections on them that made them sound just killer.
- The NC Sniper rifle
- Gary’s C4 / Grenade Explosion (it’s a toss up)
- The NC Reaver aircraft’s exterior high-speed engine (there’s some elephant in there for you tie fighter lovers).
PEOPLE SKILLS IN TWOS
1) Who are two people playing in sound that you admire?
- Rodney - by a long shot, Ben Burtt
- Gary - Frank Bry
2) Rodney - what kind of sound work would you do that might honor that person?
Energy weaponry and/or vehicle engine audio design.
3) Gary - what kind of sound work would you do that might honor that person?
Hopefully, be able to match the fidelity, depth and quality of his recordings.
LISTENING IN ONES
- Rodney - the depth of the soundscape - PlanetSide 2 represents well from close to distant, and is pretty dynamic overall.
- Gary - The controlled chaos. The moments where bullets are whizzing by, bombs are dropping, explosions are going off and it makes you feel like you have to get the hell outta there! Then, as the battle eases off, there are these little moments that feel like you can breathe once again as the soundscape eases off.
- Rodney - Chaotic!
- Gary - BOOM!
- Rodney - don’t be lazy, work hard, create a quality demo, and research everything you can online. There’s plenty of information on game audio out there now.
- Gary - Make sure you can be very self-reliant. This work is much more than just creating a sound in Pro Tools and just “dropping” it into the game. There are many systems and much tech to learn. Don’t be afraid to get involved with all the processes.