So, Chuck Russom Special has come to the end. Many thanks to Chuck for sharing his fantastic stuff with the community and thanks to the readers who participated in the month. Here’re the answers to his questions:

Wow, the month of April just flew by!  I want to thank Designing Sound for hosting me this month.  I also want to thank the readers for putting up with my ramblings!  I have really enjoyed putting together all of these features and reading all the comments.  If you enjoyed my recording posts and want to hear more, follow my blog. If you want to keep up with my ramblings, you can find me on Twitter.

Designing Sound Reader: With regards to designing weapons for shooter games, do you consider the ethical aspects of your work? Where do you stand on such issues?

Chuck Russom: The games that I work on are usually created for adults.  The games are often violent, but I have no problem with adults playing whatever type of game that they choose.  I don’t feel most of the games are for kids.  It is up to parents to keep an eye on what their kids are playing and decide what entertainment is not appropriate for them.  As for the debate about if the game industry markets mature games to kids, or if it should be illegal for retailers to sell to kids, I don’t really care to be involved in the debate as I don’t know the answers.

When I work on games based on actual events (Call of Duty, etc) I do think about how we are representing the sacrifices of the the soldiers who fought in those conflicts.  And yeah, maybe the games areexploitive to a point.  Personally, from being involved in those projects, I’ve learned a lot of history that I might not have learned otherwise.  Its always my hope that at least someone playing one of these games is interested enough to go out and learn the true history behind these events.

DSR: Hi Chuck. I can see you record a lot of different sounds everyday, and also you’re releasing your won sfx company… Storage has to be very important to you. I just want to know what kind of hard drives do you use? Do you have a backup system? or a RAID, a Drobo, or something like that?

CR: I don’t use anything special for hard drives.  I just make sure to have an onsite and offsite backup of everything.  For work-in-progress stuff, I have it all sync’d to my Dropbox account.

DSR: Hey Chuck. Terrific Special!! I love all your posts and also you have a new daily reader of your blog. I was wondering about your techniques on sound editing and restoring and I have a couple questions: 1) When you transfer your recordings to your computer… How is your workflow? Any special techniques or tips on that? And 2) What tools do you use for editing and restoring? Do you like tools like RX, Waves Restoring, Sonnox, DNS/WNS, etc…?

CR: After I record, I copy everything to a folder on my computer.  The folder is sync’d to my dropbox account until I have a chance to get it backed up to an offsite drive.  I always want a copy of my stuff offsite, just in case something happens.  I have a folder that contains all the files in my editing queue.  Once edited, the files are copied to a mastering queue folder.  After mastering, they are copied to a metadata tagging queue folder.  Then finally they are copied into my library.

I use Nuendo for mixing/editing, Sound Forge for editing/mastering, and mostly Waves plugins (including WNS, and Znoise.).  I prefer using editing and EQ to fix problems instead of noise reduction, but will use it if I have to.

DSR: What is your main equalizer to deal with sound effects? Do you use the default EQ of Nuendo or do you have any preferences? And what about your favorite compressor/limiter?

CR: I use Waves Ren EQ a lot.  Note because it is the best, but because I’ve been using it for years.  Lately, I’ve also been using the Waves API EQ’s a lot.  I also use the EQ of Nuendo from time to time.  It’s quick and easy and does the job.  Waves L2 is my favorite dynamics processor.

DSR: Chuck, I’ve been recording and mixing music some years ago. I already know some techniques on EQ and Compression for post, but I’m still don’t understand well when and how to apply compression to a single sound effect… I use tools for change the transients, and also limiters and compressors to enhance or “compress” the sounds, but I want to know if there’s an specific rule or some technique used on dynamics processors…

CR: Really the only rule is to not use processing unless you need it to achieve the sound you are after.  I use a lot of EQ and dynamics processing.  I mostly use EQ to cut and correct issues.  I’ll use dynamics to get more punch and fullness out of a sound.  But if the sound doesn’t need processing, don’t mess with it.

DSR: Hello Chuck, you mentioned that you love using Sound Forge. I would love to know some of your favorite sound editing tips with this software.

CR: I mostly use Sound Forge for mastering sounds, making loops, and quick edit jobs.  Every sound that I design for a game or library passes through Sound Forge before it is done.  I like to use Sound Forge for cleaning up and fading the head and tail of a sound.  I will also use it to fix any problems I see in the waveform and do final processing (EQ, dynamics, etc).  When I’m editing recordings, if it is a mono or stereo recording, I’ll usually edit it in Sound Forge instead of Nuendo.  I just find it faster.  If I recorded multiple tracks, then I always edit/mix in Nuendo, then master in Sound Forge.

DSR: Mr. Russom, you sir, you do a lot of field recording. I think the list of things you haven’t recorded is shorter than the list of things you have recored. So I ask you this which I have a problem with; Mic gain when recording. Judging gain is something I need to work on. I went out to record a train, waited in the frakking freezing cold for it to pass, which it eventually did. Whereupon, I get my recording, bolt inside, shed my parka and zero down all my gear at what was surely a record speed, put my SD card into my computer, ready for AWESOME train sounds, expecting an intense ‘BWOOM TICKA-TICKA-TICKA-TICKA’ as it booms past me. However, all my mic picked up was ‘Fwuh-ta-ta-tuh’. I thought I had adjusted my gain well, I clapped my hands, and adjusted the gain until until I wasn’t peaking. CLEARLY, this is no the way to go. So, to summarize my VERY LENGTHY question: Do you have tips for selecting the right gain levels for what you’re recording?

CR: I’m not sure that I fully get what you are asking, but here are some thoughts on gain staging.  It’s obvious if you record with levels too high that your sound will clip.  But you also need to be careful about recording too low (I talked about this in my gun recording article).  It is also common that recording issues have nothing to do with your level settings.  If your mic can’t handle the SPL level you are trying to record, it could crap out on you.  You fix this by using a different mic, or moving the mic further from the source, or even poiting your mic in a different direction.  You may have too hot of a signal coming into your recorder/mic pre.  You fix this by using in-line mic pads to lower the signal coming in.

There are a couple other issues that you could have when recording something like a train.  First, trains push a lot of air as they move by.  If your mic does not have sufficent wind protection, the air will blow into the diaphragm of the mic and cause it to distort.  Second, there could be a lot of low end coming from the train.  To us, low end doesn’t seem to be as loud as high end.  Your mics do not react the same way as your ears.

Finally, the only way to know where you should be setting your levels is to really learn your gear and experiment recording as much as you can.  Then, you will have a good baseline to start from every time.

DSR: God of War II is a very loud game, in terms of music, and sound. Was there ever a conflict between the sound design team, and the music team over whose noise takes precedence, or gets cranked up more? Or in videogames, is the attitude toward balancing the mix between music and sound more laid back since the player can adjust those levels on their own?

CR: When we mixed GOW1, the game’s Director, Dave Jaffe, was adamant that the music had to be really loud.  We, as sound designers, hated it at the time, but you have to give the director what he wants.  On GOW2, I felt it was important to be consistent and keep the music loud.

DSR: Can you tell us if you managed to bypass this MTX box, cause we’re a couple of guys who think that it’s still possible to do it (making a 7pin to 5pin to 2x 3pin XLR connectors)… Also, can you give us some of the most crazy “natural / unreal” sounds you ever recorded?

CR: I’ve never tried to bypass the MTX (decoder box for Neumann RSM191).  Even if you built the cable, I’m not sure how the signal would be without the decoder.  I don’t know enough about the tech behind that mic, I’m not sure that it is the same as having 2 separate mics.  The box doesn’t bother me, it fits easily into an extra pocket in my recording bags.

DSR: Also, how do you give metadata to your sounds? What’s your strategy in terms of how to name your sounds and describe them. Thx again!

CR: I use Basehead to inject metadata.  I’m always finding new ways to name and describe stuff.  I like to include info about what the source is, when/where I recorded it, what it was recorded for, etc.  It helps later to find that thing that I know I recorded Xmas day 2010.  When I’m describing, I try to think of any words/phrases that I would expect to use to find a sound in a search.  I make sure those words are in the metadata.

DSR: When recording sound fx, how often do you use several different mics to capture different perspectives. I understand that gun sessions is an obvious one as well as vehicle recording. But do you find yourself using multiple mics for perspective/different sonic qualities when recording other more common sounds?

CR: If I’m doing a session where I have a bit of time and can set up in a location (vs running around with my gear), then I will often use multiple mics.  If it is an expensive or rare source then I always record multiple tracks.  I don’t always keep all of the mics when I am editing.  You’ll find some mics that worked better on the source and you use those tracks.  Often, you won’t know which mics worked best until you are back at the studio.  That is why it is nice to have multiple mics setup.  It does take more work though, sometimes that added work isn’t worth it.

DSR: Regarding audio implementing, is it part of your job as a sound designer nowadays? If so, what engines are you usually working with (FMOD,WWISE,etc…)?

CR: I think that in general implementation should be a huge part of game sound design.  Now that I am freelance, I don’t do as much hands on game engine work as I did when I was in-house.  I’m mostly hired to create assets these days.

DSR: Knowing that your audio will be downgraded somewhat for a videogame, do you ever compensate by adding more high end than you usually would in the mix so it pops through more after it gets converted down to whatever format? MP3.. 44K.. or whatever videogames are doing now-a-days?

CR: I don’t generally add high end to compensate.  After doing this for a while, you begin to know when something may have an issue in-game.  Sometimes when a sound is converted into game format, strange things happen, and you have to revisit a sound.  For the most part, I just go off my experience and have a feel for what will and what won’t work once implemented.  But, you never know 100% until it is in the game.

DSR: What software do you use aside from your DAW and sound forge? Do you ever get into Max/MSP, Reaktor, or any other programs? Thanks!!!

CR: Besides my DAW and Sound Forge the only other software I really use is Basehead and batch renaming apps.  I’ve never used Max/MSP.  I have Reaktor, but have not got around to learning it.

DSR: I had a question regarding session file management. With games today having a lot of sounds that often need to be tweaked, do you put the individual layered sounds that comprise an explosion in one session file or have more of a macro file containing all of the explosions, shotgun blasts, etc? I’m wondering what file management practices you would recommend based on your own personal experiences.

CR: It depends on what I’m working on.  For weapons, each weapon gets it’s own session.  I may also have specific weapon fire and weapon Foley sessions for each.  Character/Creature sounds I often just keep one session for each character.  I may have seperate sessions for vocals and for weapons/magic.  For level based sounds like fire, doors, and other events, I often have a session comprised of all the sounds for that level.  It depends on how big the session is going to get.  Another approach would be to have sessions for categories like mechanical sounds, breakables, etc.  I try to sort out the best approach early on a project.  It all depends about the type of work that I’ll be doing.  The important thing is to be able to quickly find the source for all sounds that you design, so that you can do needed fixes as fast as you can.

DSR:  if chuck lost all his all library data today – what’s the first thing(s) he’d do to rebuild?

CR: I think I’d first find the nearest bridge to jump off!  This is definitely something that worries me, and I’ve taken steps to ensure that it never happens.  I have an offsite backup of my library that I check on regularly, so I’m protected in the case that I have a fire, theft, drive crash, etc.  IF I did lose everything, I would rebuild little by little.  I’d probably just build a library from each project I work on.  It would take years to rebuild.

DSR: how is your room acoustic treated? A photo of your studio, perhaps? what you consider is the most important thing for a treatment?

CR: I have acoustic panels and bass traps from GIK Acoustics.  Right now it is pretty basic, I have panels at the first reflection points on the walls/ceiling, and bass traps in the corners and on the wall behind me.  I think the most important thing about treatment is to buy/build a product that is designed to be sound treatment (instead of using carpet or something).  There is a lot of info on the web to read about acoustics and how to treat your room, following the basic guidelines will take you a long way.

DSR: Reading the gun and explosion designing articles, I realized that Chuck have really clean recordings. Do you have any special tip to get clean edits? I’ve an specific issue… When I load the files into the editor and do some cleaning (fade, trim, eq, compression, etc) I see a nice dynamic range and fine amplitude, but when I normalize the file, the maximum value is a little peak (not a clip, just a part with higher amplitude). So if I normalize to -0.5dB that peak will be the maximum peak and the rest of the file wouldn’t be in -0,5db. For example with an engine loop. It’s a constant sound, but it has a little peak. If I normalize that the peak would be at -05 and the rest of the file on something like -3, etc.. I can cut it and make a crossfade, but.. is there a way to reduce this kind of peaks? I don’t know how to normalize and get files with this clean dynamic range/amplitude. Maybe more eq? Compression? What could I be doing wrong? Bad recording? Bad editing?…

CR: If I understand you question correctly, and the problem you are having, I’d say that you should NOT be normalizing your sound.  Normalzing only raises the maximum peak of a sound to a set level.  It sounds to me like you trying to get more level out of the entire sound.  You need to use dynamic processing like compression, limiting, or a volume maximizer (Waves L2, etc).  If you want everything to be at the same level, then you need to squash your peaks down, while raising the level of the rest of the sound, normalizing isn’t going to do that for you.

I work on a lot of games that are filled with guns. Over the years, through experimentation, screwing up, listening to movies/games with great guns sounds, and tips from other sounds designers, I’ve been able to create a process that works well for me. The biggest influence on my gun sound design has not come in the studio, but on the gun range. I’ve shot a lot of guns. I’ve also been around a lot of guns while they were being fired. Hands-on education is really the best way to learn something. So, if you really want to improve your gun sound design, find a way to get out on a range where you can fire some guns off. The feel of a gun’s shockwave through your body as you fire it, the sore shoulder you have the day after shooting, the payoff of destroying a watermelon with a blast from a shotgun, these are some of the lasting lessons that you will learn.

I have a few philosophies/guidelines I try to follow when designing gun sounds for a game:

• Guns are loud. Try to reinforce that in your sound design
• Guns give the player feedback. The player is expecting a payoff when they fire a gun. Your gun sounds need to give the player a sense of satisfaction and make them want to fire the gun over and over again. Gun sounds need to make the player feel like a badass
• The player’s guns need to be the coolest sounding guns in the game
• The AI/Non Player gun sounds should not overtake the player’s. But, they still need to be scary and create stress/tension. Being shot at should not be a relaxing experience
• Bullet shell ejects and gun Foley (reloads, movement, etc) are very important to the sound and help the gun feel more real
• Every gun in the game needs a unique sound. You may have 20-30 different guns in a game. In reality, after a while all guns start to sound the same. Find a way to give each gun its own signature.
• Don’t forget the gun tail/decay. The first few hundred milliseconds of a gunshot have very little character. If you neglect the gun tail, your guns will sound less powerful and they will all sound very similar

Here is a little insight into my gun design process:

• I try to start from sounds of the actual gun if I can. If I can’t find source for a particular gun, I do some research and try to find a gun of the same caliber, with a similar rate of fire, that uses a similar mechanism. For handguns, I rarely start with handgun source. Handguns just don’t excite me; they are usually a lot weaker sounding than the “hand-cannons” that most people expect to hear. Watch the Indiana Jones films, his gun sound is not from a handgun, and it makes him seem really bad-ass when he fires it. When designing sounds for a project that is not based in reality, all bets are off. I just try to create cool sounds that fit the project and worry less about things like weapon caliber.
• Sounds of the bolt/action/mechanism are a very important component to a gun sound. Action sounds make the gun feel like it is a working piece of machinery. These sounds make the gun feel real. Even if they are real low in the mix, you can feel when they are not there.
• I stick to three basic layers when designing guns. Each layer is made up of the minimum amount of tracks that I can get away with. Less is always more. I call my layers: Mech (gun action/mechanism), Body (this best represents the full range of the gun. If I was going to use only one layer, this would be the one), and Punch (this is a bass/boom layer). If needed I will add additional sweeteners, like a layer to give more reverb/space, more bite, or whatever might be missing
• By designing in layers, I can create quick and easy remixes and alt mixes of a sound
• I’ve found the following processes/plugins useful at one time or another: EQ (usually cutting vs boosting), Compression, Limiting, Clippers/Transient processors (Oxford Transmod, Waves Trans X, T-Tracks Clipper), Saturation (Analog Channel, URS Saturator, etc), Bass Enhancers (Waves Ren Bass, Maxx Bass, and Lo Air), and I’ll sometimes use gain to clip the sound. Basically, I just make everything as loud as fuck
• I whipped up a quick sample of a machine gun burst. Below is screenshot of my Nuendo session that shows the layers I used. In this case, my Mech Layer was made up of one track. My Punch and Body layers were each made up of 3 tracks (really it is only two tracks, one mono track and spilt stereo (L/R) tracks). I edit each track and insert plugins as needed. The tracks in each layer are then balanced against each other and sent to a group. I use the groups to easily mix all the layers together, and create remixes or alt mixes, if needed.

Here are the sounds:

Mech Layer:

Punch Layer:

Body Layer:

Mix of all layers:

Sadly, the Chuck Russom Special is coming to the end. Here’s the last interview we made, this time talking about “Quantum of Solace” (the video game), where Chuck was the Audio Lead.

Designing Sound: So ,how do you get hired on Treyarch and how do you get involved with Quantum of Solace?

Chuck Russom: I am a huge, life-long fan of the Bond franchise. I even have a poster from You Only Live Twice (Sean Connery era Bond Film) hanging in my dining room. I had always wanted to work on a project set in that world. When Activision picked up the Bond game license a few years back, I started looking into which studio would be doing the games. Everything sort of fell into place and worked out perfectly.

Treyarch was doing the first game. They were based in LA and looking for an Audio Director. Through a friend, I was able to get my resume into Activision and then into Treyarch. They invited me in to interview and I basically told them that I was a Bond nut and I must work on the game. I guess it worked, because they hired me on.

DS: How early you started to work on the game? How long was it?

CR: I started on the game in February of 2007, it shipped in November 2008. I spent 20 months working exclusively on QoS. That is the longest I have ever worked exclusively on any one title.

DS: The 007 is very iconic… How important was for you? I mean there’re different films on 007, different games etc, and QoS features some scenes and stories from the QoS film and also things from Casino Royale. How those elements influenced you to work on the sound of the game?

CR: Working on the franchise was really a very personal thing to me. It was the only game that I worked on where I came in as a hardcore fanboy. I really approached everything I did from the perspective of a fan. I first interviewed job a few weeks before the Casino Royale movie came out. I knew the game would be based on Casino Royale and its sequel. Before I accepted the job, it was important that I was able to see Casino Royale. I knew that it was a reboot. I loved the book and was hopeful the movie would be the best yet, but with reboots it can be hit and miss. I wasn’t sure that I wanted to work on the franchise if they totally screwed up the movie. I saw Casino Royale as soon as it was released and absolutely loved the new direction. It cemented the fact that I had to work on the game.

DS: How was the storytelling influenced by sound? What were the decisions on the sound side to enhance the story of the game?

CR: If you think about the sound of Bond, you instantly think of the music. Everyone knows the Bond theme. For me, music was the one thing in the game that constantly reminded you that it was a Bond game. Our composer was Christopher Lennertz. I had worked with Chris before on MOH: Pacific Assault and he’d also done the music for the last EA Bond game; From Russia with Love. He came by the studio one day and we talked about the music from Casino Royale and just Bond music in general. It was awesome; he totally got the music of Bond.

Our ideas were totally in sync. We already had a great relationship from the last time we worked together it was great to have the chance to work with him a second time. Chris is so easy to work with and such talented composer. Working with him on QoS was one of the highlights of the project for me.

DS: Lots of guns, explosions, car scenes, all kind of places, etc. I think the field recording had to be heavy. How was that?

CR: For the first several months on the project, there was little game to actually work on. I devoted most of my time recording or planning recording sessions. I’d drive around LA with recording gear in my car looking for construction sites to record for the construction chase level. Record anything I found in my day to day encounters that seemed cool. I hired Foley artists at the Sony Pictures lot to do all of the player movements and body falls. We also recorded a lot of other sounds on the Foley stage. Things like debris, impacts, grenade bounces, weapon Foley, etc. We recorded two days of gun fire and one day of silenced guns and bullet impacts. We drove out the Arizona desert for a day of explosion recording. We also booked two days at a wrecking yard where we dropped cars from a forklift. All of this was in addition to the day to day sounds that members of the team would go out and record. There was more recording for QoS than any other game I’ve worked on. I demanded it. I approached the game as if it were a big Hollywood summer blockbuster. There were some battles with the producers over budgets, but it was worth it, and I won out in the end!

DS: I think another challenging feature was the dialogue. How and where you recorded it?

CR: Dialog was a massive task on QoS. I acted as the Dialog Supervisor for all versions of the game (360/PS3, PC, PS2, DS, and Wii). I hired Rob King, owner of Green Street Studios, to be our Dialog and Casting Director. We ended up recording several celebrities from both Quantum of Solace and Casino Royale. This was a huge challenge, as we had to track down every actor and go to them. As the QoS film was finishing shooting, the producers had us come out to Pinewood Studios in London, where they had arranged some of the actors for VO sessions. We were based in England for a few weeks recording at Pinewood and also tracking down other actors throughout Europe. Rob and I went on one whirlwind European trip that had us leaving London on a Friday afternoon, recording Mads Mikkelsen in Berlin on Saturday, recording Eva Green on Sunday in Dublin, and returning to London that same say so that we could prep for our next session in London.

On the way from Berlin to Dublin, we had a flight change in Paris, and we ended up missing our flight, which was the last of the night. We were stuck in Paris for the night with no hotel and no understanding of the French language! It was a pretty interesting experience. Luckily, we got the first flight out in the morning, landed in Dublin, and made it to the studio just before Eva Green arrived! Later, when I thought about the experience and did the math I realized we had been in 4 countries in 40 hours with no sleep. That was one of those experiences that both sucked and was really awesome at the same time.

Being a movie game we were dependant on the script from the film and it came to us very late. Not only was it late, but it changed a lot. Our game script and game design was way behind. We had our writer with us in London and he was writing scripts the day before we had Judi Dench in for a session. All the while, the game design wasn’t final and everything was always changing! The whole dialog process was a mess. We would have celebrity actors recording lines for levels that weren’t designed yet. We had no idea if they would fit the game, and we could only hope that we would get the actors back for a pickup session. There were so many drafts of the script; it was really hard to keep up with all the changes. I also ended up writing all of the AI battle dialog, because our writer was so busy with the rest of the game script.

There is no way we could have pulled it all off if it wasn’t for Rob. While we were in London, talking about the script and our recording plans, he was the one saying that we weren’t going to be able to get it done if we didn’t get moving. He was looking at the deadline and the amount of work and was worried that there wasn’t enough time. The game team had no clue; they would just keep going with their design changes and never lock the script. Everything about the design and script was so up in the air, but looking at the schedule, Rob knew that we had to get back to LA and continue with our recording as soon as we landed! We started casting for our non-celebrity sessions while we were still in England. I listened to a lot of the auditions and made casting picks on the plane back from London. Once back in LA, we went right into scheduling the non-celebrity session. We were in the studio recording for 8-9 hours, 4 actors a day, for a month. As chaotic as it all seemed, it ran like clockwork. Rob had every detail sorted out. The sessions ran like a machine.

DS: You were also the implementer on all the sides. What tools you used for that? How was the process done?

CR: We had a good sized sound team on QoS, up to 6 people at the end. Everyone was really talented and embraced using the tech to implement their sounds. Sound Designers working on levels used the game’s level editor and level scripts to implement their sounds. We had a tool (that hardly worked) to implement sounds onto animations. I handled the dialog and music implementation. For the dialog, I worked closely
with the game scripters who helped implement most of it. I would just follow behind them and change timings and things that didn’t seem to work as I’d hoped. I did all of the music implementation myself. We
didn’t have a fancy music tool. I had to go through all of the level scripts and find the places that I wanted music to start and stop and put calls in for that. We did have a slightly interactive music system, where the stealth music would change to a higher intensity version if the AI detected you. For the most part, the music was scripted by hand, it was me putting calls in that said, when this event happens, play this piece of music and then switch or stop music when this occurs.

DS: You played different roles and you had to make lots of decisions… How good was that for you? How did you feel with this lead position?

CR: As an Audio Lead on a project, you need to position yourself to best help the project succeed. When I first started on QoS, I was the only sound designer. That went on for probably 6 months. During that early period, I spent much of my time recording and building a library and creating a lot of the core sounds like movement, bullet impacts, etc. I also got a good head start on the weapon sound design. As production ramped up, our sound team grew. We got to the point where the sound design was under control, but the dialog and music really didn’t have focus. Sound design is my first love, but I needed to focus my efforts toward dialog and music to help the project succeed. I supervised the production and implementation of both. In addition, I did finish working on the weapon sounds design, I wasn’t about to give up all sound design….

DS: What is the most you learned from working on this game? We everyone learn from both bad and good things, so… how was your learning experience there?

CR: QoS was the most challenging project that I’ve ever worked on. I had never worked on a game for so long before. I’d never come in so early and had as much pre-production time, but still felt so behind as the game neared completion. There were a lot of changes in direction over the course of the project. A lot of staff changes. Trying to be in sync with an in-development film was a nightmare. There were quite a few times when you just weren’t sure what game you were working on anymore, where it was going. By the end, I was working the jobs of 3 people and working the hours to go with it. The only thing you can do is go with your instincts, rely on what got you through the problem projects of the past. The end goal is to have a great sounding game ready when it is time to ship. We had a very diverse, talented, and dedicated sound team and we achieved the goal of shipping a great sounding game.

This is what a normal Ground Bloom Flower sounds like:

Normal is rarely enough for me. I wondered, what would happen if I threw these flowers into water. I just happened to have a pool nearby to find out! (sorry mom)

One of the readers asked if I could give some tips on how to process library sounds and what to do when you can’t record your own source. It is a common misconception that sound teams that work on films, AAA game titles, or teams that do a lot of sound recording do not use commercial sound libraries. The fact is, no matter how large the budget, or how much time you have to record sounds for a project, there will always be sounds that you are not able to record on your own. Commercial sound libraries are a valuable and necessary tool for all sound designers and sound editors. The problem with commercial libraries is that they have been over-used and include easily recognizable sounds.

The key to using commercial libraries is to use them creatively. Any school-aged kid can look through a catalog, find a sound, and place it into a scene. Using libraries creatively means using the sounds you find in a library as sources to build your own sound creations. When I’m auditioning sounds in my library, whether they come from a commercial source or a recording of my own, I am not looking for finished sounds. Instead, I am looking for layers to create my own sound. I’m looking for the building blocks of the sound I need to create.

Here are a few tips on how to get the most out of library sounds:

• Use the sounds in your library as elements to build new sounds
• Use edits and fades to use just a portion of the sound
• Use processing such as EQ (high and low pass filters), pitch effects, bass effects, filter effects, and modulation effects to give the sound a new feel
• Use the sound as source to create a totally different type of sound. Charles Deenan wrote some excellent articles that highlight this approach here and here
• Mix sounds from multiple sources, including material that you record yourself

I decided to make a quick example sound using only commercial libraries. Since explosions are something that sound people rarely have the opportunity to record, I chose to make an explosion sound. More specifically, I chose to make a rock explosion. I could have taken the easy road, searched my database for rock explosion, and used a stock sound like this:

It isn’t very creative grabbing a stock asset from a library and using as is. And I would not consider this sound design. If I was going to just use stock sounds for my projects, I might as well hire a high school kid to do my work for me while I lay out on a beach somewhere sipping drinks with little umbrellas in them. Actually, maybe that isn’t such as bad idea…..

Anyway, back to sound design. The first thing I do when designing a sound is to think of all of the elements that make up the sound. I’m essentially creating a list of ingredients for my final, designed sound. Here is what I decided I would need for the rock explosion:

• Standard explosion sound
• Explosion decay (or thunder decay)
• Rock impact/smash/crack
• Rock debris
• Sweeteners, if needed

The first sound I need to look for is a basic explosion sound. This will form the base of my designed explosion sound. I will then search for different explosion or thunder decays that I can blend with the explosion sound to make it more my own. Since I’m designing a rock explosion, I want to bring in the sound/feel of rock breaking, smashing, cracking, etc. I will also need rock debris to really sell the destruction of rocks. Finally, if the sound just doesn’t feel finished, I will look to add any sweeteners or additional layers that I feel are missing.

I always try to design my sounds using the least amount of elements as possible. In the DAW age, with unlimited tracks are our disposal, it’s easy to go crazy and just start adding layer after layer of sound. Often this just adds extra noise and takes away from the punch and clarity of a sound, while not adding anything to the sound. Simple is usually better, so I start as basic as I can and then add elements that I feel are missing. I want to be sure that every layer I add really needs to be there. When I’m doing my final mixdown, I’ll even remove layers that I feel do not add anything to the sound. Nothing should be in there just because I have available tracks.

Once I find the sound sources I need in my library, I load them all into my DAW. I use Nuendo, but the process is the same no matter what DAW you use. I put each sound element on its own track, and line up all of the tracks in the timeline. I then edit and fade each sound until I get just the section of the sound that I am looking for. Then I do any needed processing on each track using various plugins. When I’m building a sound using multiple layers, I remain aware of the frequencies that each layer occupies. I approach sound layering like writing music for an orchestra. Each layer should represent its own “voice”. Each “voice” should work together to create the new sound. I’m looking at each layer to occupy a specific frequency range. I use EQ and low/high pass filters to remove frequencies that I feel a layer does not need.

I searched my library and found all the sound elements that I listed above. I loaded them into Nuendo and sync’d everything up to where they worked best in the timeline. I edited and faded each sound until I felt it was only the portion of the sound I needed for that particular layer. I ended up having to add 2 sweetener layers. The explosion didn’t have enough impact for me, so I added a short impact sweetener. I also added a second explosion sound as a sweetener. This explosion has a whooshy-blast type sound that I feel adds some character. I added and tweaked plugins and adjusted the volume/level of each track to build a mix.

This is what my session looked like once all sounds were loaded in, sync’d, and edited:

Here is what each sound element sounded like straight from the library, with no tweaking:

Explo library example:

Rock explo library by crussom

UNPROCESSED SOUNDS:

Rock Impact:

Rock impact by crussom

Rock Debris:

Rock debris by crussom

Explo Base:

Explo base by crussom

Explo Decay:

Explo decay by crussom

Explo Sweeten:

Explo sweetener by crussom

PROCESSED SOUNDS:

Rock Impact:

Rock Impact P by crussom

Rock Debris:

Rock Debris P by crussom

Explo Base:

Explo Base P by crussom

Explo Decay:

Explo Decay P by crussom

Explo Sweeten:

Explo Sweetener P by crussom

Explo Designed/Mixed:

Rock Explo Designed by crussom

I needed some bullet whizbys for a project I was working on. You can record real bullet bys and ricochets, but it takes a lot of time, some money, and often you don’t get the results you are looking for. I was looking for a controllable solution that would be relatively quick, easy, and cheap. I went out and fired various metal objects and found that pennies were my favorite (and the least expensive too!). I also got some good sounds firing bullet shells and washers of various sizes.

Unless you have access to a sound stage or an empty warehouse, it is difficult to find an indoor location that is large enough to fire off a slingshot. I did the recording outside in the mountains. It was the largest, open area that I could find that was away from the bulk of city traffic. I still had to deal with the occasional car and airplane, but that is what you always have to deal with when recording near a city. Recording outside you will also have to contend with the sounds of nature, so a lot of editing and EQing will be needed. These flyby sounds are very quiet, so it helps if you use a clean sounding, low noise microphone and preamp. I ended up recording on two occasions. The first time I used my Neumann 191 stereo shotgun and I felt the mic added too much noise into the recording. I went out a second time with my Sennheiser MKH800. The MKH800 is a really low noise mic, and I felt it gave me much better results.

These samples were recorded to a Sound Devices 744T recording at 24bit 96K.

Slingshot firing pennies:

Slingshot firing bullet shells:

Slingshot firing washers:

Call of Duty (released 7 years ago) was one of the most important jobs for Chuck Russom, so we decided to make an interview talking about that game and what it meant for his career.

Designing Sound: How do you get hired on Infinity Ward and how do you get involved with Call of Duty?

Chuck Russom: It’s crazy when I think about it, the first Call of Duty game was 7 years ago. So many of the opportunities I’ve had in my career came about because of my work on that game. It’s also been insane to watch the Call of Duty franchise grow into one of the most successful game franchises ever.

My relationship with Infinity Ward started with a job posting on a website. I was looking for a new game audio gig and I found a post by a new company that wasn’t too far from my house. I contacted them and found out that the company was formed by a bunch of guys who had worked on Medal of Honor: Allied Assault. That game was very successful and had amazing audio work, so the chance to work on a project with Infinity Ward was very appealing. After an initial meeting, they decided to contract me for a month to work on their first playable level. After that was complete, they hired me on fulltime to work on the rest of the game.

DS: I think your relationship with the rest of teams had to be even more “active”… How was that process of feedback and organizing all the stuff together?

CR: Everyone at Infinity Ward was very aware of sound. It was quite the opposite of most teams. I never had to step up on my soapbox and complain about the importance of sound. I didn’t have to spend my time convincing designers to hook my sounds up. The designers would have sound in mind while they were building an event. They would usually have sound requests to me before I had even seen the events they were working on.

DS: Being the only sound designer, and being your first project doing too much things, how do you organized your workflow? How long the project took to you?

CR: I don’t know if there was really any organized aspect to it. It was chaos! I pretty much learned as I went, though trial and error. It was my first time working on a game in that genre, my first time leading the audio, my first time working on something so high profile. I worked on the game for 9 months, and it was full bore the entire time. It never really slowed down. There was a mountain of work, and I just kept digging at it until it was done.

DS: How the limitations of that generation platform affected you on the sound specifically?

CR: Actually, Call of Duty was the first game (and the last) that I didn’t feel limited by the tech. We only shipped on PC, so I really had more memory available then I knew what to do with! Way beyond any game then I had worked on before. It was the first time that I was able to keep my sound assets at 16 bit 44.1K, which was so huge to me. It was also the first time that I had any tools that I could use to control the way sound worked in game.

DS: Did you get influenced by some other warfare game or film?

CR: Saving Private Ryan really changed my life. When I first saw that film, I had already been working as a sound designer for a couple years. I was totally blown away at the audio work in that film, I knew that I wanted to do work at that level, that I absolutely had picked the right career for me.

Going into Call of Duty, I was very influenced by Saving Private Ryan, as was the game team. The team was also very influenced by Band of Brothers and Enemy At The Gates, so those also became an influence. I spent a great deal of time watching every war movie or movie with guns that I could find.

The Medal of Honor games were a big influence, since that was our main competitor. Since most of the team had worked on Allied Assault, the audio on that game was referenced quite a bit. I spent a lot of time listening to the sound assets from the game, dissecting them, using nearly every sound as a reference to what I needed to match or better with the work I was doing.

DS: You was also the implementer, mixer and apart of making the sounds you had to make all of them work on the gameplay. How was the implementation process done? What tools did you use there?

CR: I had a lot of implementation help from the designers. They hooked up most of the sounds in the game. They also wrote me a script that I could use to place ambient emitters (fires, waterfalls, etc). As far as tools, Call of Duty was made in 2003, and audio tools have come a long way since then. I was using excel and a CSV file to control all my sound volumes, variations, fall offs, etc. It was way more control that I’d had on any previous game. The tech we had worked quite well and I was very happy with the sound coverage in game and with the mix.

CD: That was your first time with a shooter game. How do you helped to make a great shooter experience? Is there a style or technique you used to enhance the player’s emotion?

CR: I had worked on one shooter before, but it was fantasy based and nowhere near as intense or immersive. The approach on Call of Duty was to make the player feel like they were in the middle of the war. I had very dense and very loud ambient tracks playing at all times. The ambient tracks would have elements like gunfire at multiple distances, tanks, explosions, and even up close bullet impacts at times. This really gave you the feel that there was a lot of sound happening all the time. There more intense the level, the more dense I would make the ambient track.

There were always a lot of AI characters on screen with you, both enemy and friendly. Just having all these characters near you shooting their guns, made for a real intensive experience. There were always bullets whizzing by or impacting near the player, mortars whistling and exploding near the player, guys shouting words that you couldn’t quite hear, it was all very LOUD!

DS: Could you tell us something more about the recording process? I know it was your first time recording guns, so what stories you have on it?

CR: We did 4 days of gun recording, capture both gunfire and bullet impacts. We had 4 different nationalities in the game, and each had 6-8 different weapons, so there were a lot of guns. We recorded most of the actual weapons from WWII. We teamed up with Spark Unlimited who were working on a different Call of Duty game (Finest Hour), so we did a combined gun shoot. I’d never recorded guns before, so I let Jack Grillo (Audio Director from Spark) handle the recording process. We recorded to 10-12 channels. I think we had a DA88 and a couple portable DAT machines. I do remember running a couple channels of mics on my Tascam DAP1. I can’t remember too many specifics, as it was 7 years and many gun shoots ago.

DS: And what about the dialogue? Did your record that? How was the process?

CR: I did some of the early dialogue recording. Handling the engineering, editing, and processing. As development ramped up, I was way too busy with sound effects to handle much of the dialog. The bulk of the recording and editing was outsourced. I handled the mastering and any processing that was needed.

DS: That was your first time designing guns and warfare stuff. How was the creative process on the design side? What tools you used for that?

CR: The tools I used then were not too different than what I use now. Protools HD, Sound Forge, and Waves Plugins. In addition to the guns that we recorded, I had every sound library that had guns.

The process was a lot of trial and error. There were a lot of iterations. I made (and learned from) a log of mistakes. There were a lot of reworks up until the last minute. I had never designed gun sounds before that, so it took a lot of work to get to the sounds that we shipped with. One of the biggest challenges was the number and variety of guns in the game. There were probably 25-30 different guns in the game. Giving them all a unique voice was a huge challenge. It still is to this day, anytime I work on a project with a large variety of guns, its difficult. Guns just start to sound the same after a while.

DS: What was the most you learn from working on this game_? And what was your favorite thing of working on Call of Duty?

CR: The biggest thing that I took away from the project, something that’s had a lasting impact on me, is what to do when your best effort isn’t good enough. There were numerous times over the course of the project where I designed a sound, or completed a level/sequence, and while I did the work to the best of my ability, it just wasn’t at the level required by the team or the project.

In a situation like this you have two options. The first option is that you can just give up. You convince yourself that you gave it your all, maybe you just are not good enough to compete at this level, you accept it and go away and cry about it. The second option, and the only one that is acceptable to me, is to face your challenge head on. Lock yourself in your room and continue to work and rework until you get to the level you need to be at, no matter how much time or how much effort it takes. It is really about complete tunnel vision, nothing can get in the way of achieving your goal. If you commit 100% of your focus and all of your time to a problem, and you tackle it from multiple angles, you will achieve the results that you are after.

There is a song by Eminem called Lose Yourself that basically became my motivation song on that project. There is one lyric in the song that would constantly play in my head; “Success is your only motherfucking option, failure’s not.” I would constantly remind myself that, every time I thought I hit a wall while working on something. I’d listen to the song all the time in the car while driving to work, just to hammer the thought home. There as no way I could accept anything less than perfection. The game was just too good to have inferior audio. And the team expected nothing less than “award-winning audio”.

I used various metal objects on the ice and recorded for about half a day. Once it was all edited, I had over 200 hundred edited sound files.  Since the original post has been so popular, I thought it would be fun to share some additional recordings from that day here on Designing Sound.  I recorded this by taking a 6 inch by 6 inch block of ice (1.5 – 2 inches thick), placing it on a table, and then touching/scraping/rubbing/probing it with various objects made of metal.  I recorded at 24 bit 192K using a Sennheiser MKH800 into a Sound Devices 744T.

The advantage of recording at such a high sample rate is the reduced loss of fidelity when you slow down or pitch the sounds.  To give you an idea of what it sounds like when you slow the sounds down, there are samples at 4 different speeds.  I took each sound, loaded it into Sound Forge, and reset the sample rate (without resampling) to a lower rate, thus slowing the sound down.  The 4 speeds are normal speed (192K), 1/2 speed (96K), 1/4 speed (48K), and 1/8 speed (24K).  You’ll notice that the more the sound is slowed, the more hiss develops.  The slowest sounds almost sound like they are old analog tape recordings.  This noise can easily be removed, but I wanted to present the sounds here without processing of any kind.

Cymbal Full Speed:

Dry Ice Cymbal Full Speed by crussom

Cymbal ½ Speed:

Dry Ice Cymbal 1/2 Speed by crussom

Cymbal ¼ Speed:

Dry Ice Cymbal 1/4 Speed by crussom

Cymbal 1/8 Speed:

Dry Ice Cymbal 1/8 Speed by crussom

Frying Pan Full Speed:

Dry Ice FryingPan Full Speed by crussom

Frying Pan ½ Speed:

Dry Ice FryingPan 1/2 Speed by crussom

¼ Speed:

Dry Ice FryingPan 1/4 Speed by crussom

Frying Pan 1/8 Speed:

Dry Ice FryingPan 1/8 Speed by crussom

Continuing with the special of Chuck Russom, here’s a very cool talk I had with him, about the sound design of “God of War I” and “God of War II”. Check:

Designing Sound: How early you came into the development of “God of War I” and “God of War II”?

Chuck Russom: It’s funny talking about GOW1 and GOW2 now, since GOW3 was just released! We’ll have to see how good my memory is, since we are talking about a period of time between 2004 and 2007, and with the amount of work and number of hours that went into those games, it’s all a blur!

Before GOW1 was even finished, I was hired to be the Audio Lead for GOW2 (or what ever followup game the team would make). When I started working at Sony in October 2004, GOW1 was just hitting Alpha and was about 4-5 months away from shipping.

Much of the design and gameplay on GOW1 came on very late in the development cycle. I joined the audio team as an additional sound designer, to help get the audio finished.

Pre-production on GOW2 started just after the first title shipped. I was on GOW2 from day 1, though I had other projects I was also working on. During the early days of God of War II, I spent very little time actually working on the title (due to my commitments to other Sony projects). Mostly I would keep track of what was happening during pre-production and attend meetings with the dev team.

I began to devote all of my time to GOW2 in September or October of 2005. The game shipped in March 2007.

DS: What is the importance the rest of developers give to the sound of GoW series? How was your relationship with both of them?

CR: On both titles, the development team assigned sound impmenters to work with the audio team. The implementers were the main liason between the audio team and the development team. They were responsible for getting all of our sounds implemented in the game engine. Their tasks included setting up ambient zones, placing sound emitters, and tagging sounds to animations. Before I started working on the franchise, all of the sound design was done from the San Diego sound studio, while the game was developed in Santa Monica. Having sound implementers as part of the dev team was crucial, since there was no other audio precence in the Santa Monica Studio for most of GOW1.

There always seemed to be some tension between the development team and the sound team, on both titles. I think it really came down to how creative the dev team is and how they work. The game was constantly changing up until the last minute. The team would try an idea, throw it away, try something else, throw it away, etc. There was very little documentation, and the few documents that exsisted were usually out of date. Often, these changes were not communicated to the audio team in a timely manner. We’d have little time to react to the changes and re-work our audio.

On GOW1 with the audio team all being offsite, there was a huge gap in the day to day communication that you get when everyone is in the same building. Without an ongoing prescence, it is sometimes easy for a dev team to forget that audio is part of the project.

I think there was less tension on GOW2 than on the first, just by having me onsite with the team. I was on the project from day one and attended all the leads and team meetings. But there was still some of the same issues that were present on the first game. By the nature of audio development, no matter how early we get invovled in a project, the bulk of our work happens at the end. And things were always changing up until the end!

On GOW2, with me being onsite with the team, I was able to assist in a lot of the implementation. But having the dev team devote resources to sound implementation was still critical in delivering the audio experience required by the project. Designing the sounds required by the project was a fulltime job for mulitiple sound designers. There is just no way we could have got the sounds into the game without having dedicated implementers.

I know it sounds like I am complaining here! But, I absolutely loved working on God of War. Of all of the projects that I have worked on, my years working on the God of War franchise are my favorite part of my career. I made so many great, lasting friendships while working on those games. I would work with anyone from that team again in a heartbeat. It’s true what they say, nothing worth doing is easy.

DS: And how was the work with the rest of the sound designers on your team?

CR: When I came on to GOW1, my purpose was to support the audio team and help them get the game done. Brad Alredge (Audio Lead) and Mark Reis (Sound Designer) did a phonominal job establishing the sound of the GOW universe. I was very careful that my work fit with the style and tone that they had already developed. Since much of the game came online very late the sound team was just slammed with work. My job was to help them in anyway that I could. I worked with the sound implementers to identify any sounds that were missing or out of date. I made a big list of needed assets and ended up desiging much of the assets that were not already being worked on. I think I ended up working on most of the later levels in the game. Some had never received a sound pass, others needed a polish pass.

I was the Audio Lead on Gow2. Brad Aldredge was my primry sound design partner for the project. Brad was a tremendous resource to have on GOW2. Not only did he design most of the iconic GOW sounds and define the audio tech on the first game, he also had a long history on the franchise and knew exactly what the project needed sonically. And he is a great sound designer.

Over the course of both projects, there were quite a few sound designers who contributed in one way or another. I consider myself very lucky to have been part of those teams. Everyone invovled are not only talented sound designers but a great group of people.

DS: In GoW I you start to work in a late state of the game, but in GoW II you came from the beginning as an audio director, working closely with the rest of developers. How was that difference? How important was for you the opportunity of work in the game in an early state?

CR: When I started on GoW1, it was racing to finish, but there was still a lot of audio work to do. I had to come on, learn the tools, and get to work making sounds before I had a real understanding of the project.

I was on GOW2 from day 1. By coming on so early, I watched the project take shape. I was there for all of the changes, I got to integrate into the team early on, I had a much better understanding of the project before the audio development really ramped up.

DS: What were your main focus on the emotional and storytelling aspect of the gme? How the sound helped on the other aspects of the game (the story, the character/level design, the gameplay, etc)?

CR: From a gameplay perspective, I think the brutal style of the sound design really enforces to the player just how much of a dirty badass that Kratos (the main character) is. So much emphasis on those games was placed on all of the finishing moves that Kratos can do. All the gore and tearing off enemies limbs, ripping them in half, etc. There is a lot of blood and gore in those games! The sound is always right there giving you that wet and gushy payoff!

Another area that I feel the sound really tells the story is in the music. The God of War franchise has featured music from some incredible composers. There are some epic themes that I really can’t imagine not being there. The music team did an amazing job telling the story through music. I think music is really the first thing people think of first when thinking about the audio of God of War.

DS: One key feature on GoW titles is the cinematic experience. How that aspect influenced the sound design on those games?

CR: Everything in GOW is big and over the top. The sound certainly supports that. There is so much animation and so much camera work happening in the GOW games. That’s really what gives them their cinematic feel. Every animation is supported heavily by sound. With the tech that we used, we were able to put a sound anywhere on an animation. The finishing moves that Kratos does on the enemies are very cinematic. Every one of those moves were packed with sound. You’d have vocal sounds from both Kratos and the enemy he was fighting, blade sounds, gore sounds, foley sounds, and various other sweeteners.

Everything in the game was like that. We didn’t have a lot of memory to work with on the PS2, but we learned how to creatvely re-use sounds to layer together and create new sounds.

DS: In GoW you done the mix of the game. How was the implementation tool for that game? How the engine was structured?

CR: The final mix of GOW1 was done over the period of one week. Dave Murrant (Sony Sound Desgin Manager at the time) and I played through and mixed the game non stop over many late nights during that week. Brad Aldredge (GOW 1 Audio Lead) stationed himself in my office, wearing headphones, finishing up last minute sound additions and fixes. In another room Clint Bajakian (music supervisior) was finishing up last minute music edits and implementation. It was a crazy week!

Sony has an audio tool called SCREAM. SCREAM, like many modern sound tools, allows you to create in-game sounds consisting of multiple layers. When it comes down to the final mix, it is so nice having access to different layers of a sound. In addition, we had different groups (buses) of sounds (footsteps, ambience, music, etc) that we could control the balance of individually. There was also a ducking system which is a lifesaver when you need to accent something like dialog. Or a big sound moment.

DS: What was the evolution of this tool for GoW II? How the implementation was done in the second title?

CR: GOW2 also used the SCREAM tool and little changed for the second title. The audio in GOW1 was very successful. Going into GOW2, we decided not to shake things up too much. There were a few key areas, like creatures, that were given new focus. Otherwise, the sequel was much the same as the first. Its nice to be in a postion where most things worked well the first time around. You get to really focus on taking what you had an pushing it further. It was really nice not to have to reinvent the wheel on GOW2.

DS:: Let’s talk about Kratos (main character). He have different movements, weapons, magic powers, etc. How the sound of Kratos was done? What was the approach there?

CR: Kratos is a badass mofo. He kills anything that gets in his way (even his family). At the end of GOW1, he even kills a god. All of his sounds are huge and brutal.
When I joined GOW1, the core sounds of Kratos had already been fleshed out by Brad Aldredge. Brad created so many of the signture sounds in the GOW universe, such as Kratos’ blade sounds.

On GOW2, my key focus was on Kratos and the other characters. I tried to keep the sound of Kratos as true to GOW1 as possible. For GOW2, he had a few new moves, like wall climbing and grappling. The key to these sounds were keeping them in line with what we’d heard from Kratos before. Blades stabbing rock for the wall climb. Chains, blade hits, and whooshes for the grappling.

Also on GOW2, Kratos had an all new set of magic powers and sub weapons. Kratos’ magic sounds were always about power and impact and not sparkly fairy dust. We’d use sounds like lightning/thunder, earthquakes, explosions, huge rock smashes, etc.

DS: Also there are a lot of different creatures. I know you hired David Farmer (Lord of the Rings, King Kong) to work on those monsters for GoW II. How was the experience of working with him? How the creature’s sounds were done and how you approached them?

CR: Working with David Farmer was one of my favorite things about working on GOW2. He is such a creative and talented sound designer. He’s also such a down to earth, easy going, cool guy.
On the first GOW1, the creature sounds were a big issue. Not that they were bad, but creature sounds are such a subjective thing. Dave Jaffe (GOW1 Director) had so many comments and notes about the creatures. The audio team tried a number of different directions, different sound desginers would come on and try new ideas. It just always seemed to be an issue.

On GOW2, I decided I was going to handle the creatures. I knew that it would be a lot of work, and I would have a lot of different tasks requiring my attention. I knew the creatures could quickly become a massive headache, and I wanted to avoid problems from the start. I love the creature sounds from the Lord of the Rings films (all of the sound is great really). So, one day I just said that we should just get the Lord of the Rings guy to help us. The game team got really excited, so I connected with Dave Farmer and he got really interested in the project.

The first thing I had to do was look at all of our creature sound needs. I had a budget to work with, so I had to determine what sounds would be sent to Dave, and what sounds I would need to design. The highest profile creatures went to Dave as well as many of the bosses. Anything based on a human stayed with me. For the most part, Dave focused on the creature vocals and I handled all of the weapons, magic, movement, etc. All in all, he probably worked on 80%+ of the creatures in GOW2.

I would send Dave animations and game captures, along with any notes that I had or notes from Cory Barlog (GOW2 director). In the GOW2 engine, I could script a sound to play on any percentage of an animation. Many times I would just ask Dave for a set of sounds that I could use as source and script together in the game to really build the sound of the creatures. I’d ask him for things like growls, breaths, snorts, pain vocals, death screams, attack yells, and a few specific sounds for each creature. I’d take his sounds, edit them, get them to fit into memory, and script the sounds to the animation and make the charcters come to life. It was really a cool process, and I’d never worked that way before. I was basically acting like a sound editor, taking a library of sounds that Dave build for me, and cutting them to picture.

DS: Another unique aspect on GoW is the foley, mostly on GoW II… is amazing. How the foley was focused on the game? There are mane sequences and levels where you really have to make huge sounds.

CR: Every level and every sequence had to have huge sounds! It was difficult to get any sort of subtlety come through with all the huge impacts, stone rumbles, creatures yelling, etc. We were meticulous about making a sound for everything, no matter how small. We used every kilobyte of memory at all times. I’m amazed that you picked up on the foley, with so much going on!

DS: I love every ambience on GoW games. How you create those ambiences? Where they were recorded? Any special technique used on the designing or implementation process of the ambiences?

CR: Various sound designers made ambiences for both GOW1 and GOW2. I don’t think there was any one set technique. Everyone brought their own methods. Overall, the ambiences had to be dark and
support the world. It was really fun for me, before I worked on GOW, I had been making ambiences for Medal of Honor and Call of Duty. Sounds of war with guns and explosions. On GOW, we got to experiment and play with ideas. There was no real-world reference. We could get away with using various drones, processed wind, synths, backwards samples, etc. I think we tried a little bit of everything, as long as we kept it dark sounding.

DS: How much recording was needed to both games? Do you have interesting recording stories about that?

CR: I can’t speak much for GOW1, as the sound gathering process happened long before I came on the project.

Early on GOW2 we did do a bit of recording. It was never a huge focus though. The pallete of God of War had really been established on the first title, and we had quite a library to pull from.

Brad Aldredge joined me on GOW2 as a sound designer handling level and environmental sounds. I remember that gathering recordings of rocks was important to him. We used rock on rock scraping for so many sounds on both games, and there were always rocks being destroyed/blown up in the game. For GOW2, Brad wanted to experiment recording different sources for these type of sounds. Specifcially, I know he spent some time recording dry ice and ice scrapes. I also remember him collecting rock debris sounds.

Electricity to use as magic source was something that we were really interested in. Brad and I met up with a guy who built Tesla Coils and other electricty generating machines. We spent a day recording that stuff.
Just before we started on GOW2, we had gone out and recorded exotic animals (lions, tigers, cougars, panthers, and bears) for a different Sony project. These animal sounds were also used on GOW2.

During the early days of GOW2, like usual, during my free time I was constantly recording. I recently found a lot of material I recorded during ths time. Much of it was never used in the game, but I guess I was just recording anything and everything I could find. Rock debris, different objects scraping on each other, fires, wind, anything really.

DS: What was the most you learn of working on those games? What that meant for your career?

CR: I learned so much about implementation working on the GOW games. I had never worked with an audio tool as full-featured and advanced as SCREAM before. SCREAM was a huge part of our sound design process. I’d say that most of the sound that you hear in the games are the result of how they were implemented in SCREAM, versus how they were build in Protools.
Before GOW2, I had never done sound scripting to the extent that I did on that project. Once you learn how to implement sounds into the engine, you get to a different level of game audio design. It’s really at that point that game audio becomes completely different than other mediums.

I also learned how to really stretch a small memory budget. In SCREAM, there were so many tricks that we had to make the most of our memory. We could make loops out of short one-shot samples. Every sound in SCREAM was built from multiple layers of wav files. We could build new sounds using a mix of layers from other sounds that were already in memory. This was huge for us. You could make a new sound that would not use any memory, but through creatively using wavs that were already loaded into memory, it would be a completely different sounding event.

Working on PS2, you really learn to use every kilobyte of memory and not waste anything. It tought me to be a bette sound editor. To really look at every wav file and be sure that every un-needed milisecond was edited out.

Introduction

Of all the things that I have done in my career, I get more questions about gun recording than anything else. Recording guns is an exciting experience and it takes a lot of planning and quite a bit of money to pull off correctly. Often I am asked why someone should consider recording guns for ªa project. Here are my feelings on gun recording:

Libraries don’t always have enough variety or the gun sounds you need – Sound libraries are a great resource and make our jobs easier. But when it comes to guns, it can be difficult to find the type of guns/sounds you need, and even more difficult finding the variety or perspectives that you require to build the sounds for your project.

To get a specific sound – There are probably guns sounds you are after that are not in any existing library. Whether it is the specific gun, a specific action, or a specific type of environment you are after, often your only option is to go record it yourself.

All the sounds you record will be grounded in the same space – The environment that you record in becomes a huge part of the sound of a gun. If all of the guns in your project are recorded in the same space, it helps to pull them all together and make them fit your world.

Experience the guns – Firing and being around a lot of different guns while they were being fired has influenced my gun sound design more than anything else. To learn first hand how guns work and to hear/feel them in person is both educational and inspiring.

In this article I’m going to share the approach I have used to plan and conduct gun sessions. I rely on professional, private party resources to provide weapons and locations. While others may have had success with police or military, I prefer working with the private sector as I can ensure that I can get the weapons I need, work in the locations that I choose, and work under my timeline. To get the results that I am after, I need to control as much of the process as possible. It takes a lot of effort to record guns and I want to be sure the effort pays off.

Planning

Planning and executing a successful gun shoot takes a lot of time and a lot of work. I can’t recommend enough that you hire the services of a professional sound recordist who has experience recording guns. The cost of a recordist will be such a small percentage of your overall budget, but their knowledge and experience, the quality they can deliver, and the equipment they can provide, will pay dividends. I recommend you choose your recordist first, and engage them in the planning of your session. They will have the contacts, resources, and advice that you will need to successfully plan.

Your recordist can help you determine how many days to schedule for your shoot, how many rounds you will need for each weapon, and help you develop a plan for each day. I like to record 15-20 rounds for a single fire gun (semi-auto, bolt action, shotgun, etc) and 150 – 200 rounds for a full auto gun. You want to record more shots than you need. You probably will run into issues during your shoot; lost takes due to air traffic, people moving/talking, insects, equipment issues, etc. It’s best to spend a little extra money, fire off extra shots, and ensure that you have enough takes for your project and for the future. I like to schedule 8 – 12 weapons to be recorded in one day. It depends on what your needs are, how many full auto vs. semi auto weapons, what time of year is it (the days are longer in summer), etc. When I am developing a recording schedule, I want to be sure that I have enough time to listen between takes and make adjustments to equipment, positioning, etc. You are also likely to encounter some small problems of one sort or another on shoot day, I want time to handle issues that arrise.

Once you have selected a recordist, you will need to select an armorer (weapon handler). The armorer will be providing and firing the weapons on your shoot. I work with professional armorers who have experience providing weapons to the entertainment industry. You want reliable professionals and not that crazy second cousin of yours who has a few machine guns stashed in his basement. The schedule of your project and a great deal of money is on the line, so make sure you do it right.

You also need a place that you can shoot and record guns. You may be thinking that you can just drive out to any open area in the mountains or desert and start shooting. This is neither safe nor legal in most cases. You want to do your gun recording in a safe, legal, and controlled environment.

You need a location that will have no other people shooting on that day. Most gun ranges are open to the public, so you either need to find a private range or a range that is willing to close to the public and rent to you. Many public ranges have days each week they close to the public and are available for private rental. You can usually schedule the range for these days, but be sure that there will not be any one else using the range the same day.

Next you need to consider the type of range. There are both indoor and outdoor gun ranges. You want to record outdoors. Indoor ranges have a very specific sound and the indoor sounds will not prove to be as useful or flexible as guns recorded outside. It is also easy to use processing to fake an indoor gun sound in your sound design, but not the other way around.

Outdoor ranges present a few challenges. You need to find a place as far away from civilization as possible. You don’t want to be near busy roads or highways. Air traffic is always a problem, but some locations are heavier then others. You’re going to have to deal with insects outside, which can be quite noisy at times. As with air traffic, some locations have more issues with insects then others. It is for all these reason that you must be prepared to fire off a lot of rounds to get the results that you need.

All locations will impart different characteristics into your recordings. The sound of the range will have a huge impact on your gun sounds. Think of it like this, the gun you fire is like a guitar, the range your fire in is like the guitar amp and reverb. Work with your recordist to find a location that will work for you logistically and will give you the sound you are after.

Here is a quick step by step gun shoot planning checklist:

• Choose your sound recordist
• Develop and refine your weapon list
• Determine the number of days that you need to record for
• Determine the number of rounds you will need for each weapon
• Choose and contact weapon handler, get a quote
• Choose and contact recording location, get a quote
• Work with recordist to finalize equipment needs, set up rentals as needed
• Finalize your budget
• Schedule dates. Book range, handler, and recordist
• Finalize contracts and insurance needs
• Plan food for shoot days, coordinate any travel needs

Schedule

Plan your recording schedule before the day of the shoot. Plan to arrive before sunrise and leave after sunset. Be sure to schedule time for set up, take down, and lunch. If you have any really expensive or high priority weapons, plan to record those first. This way, if you run out of time, you will at least be sure that the most important stuff is covered. If everything is of equal importance, I like to schedule the weapons from quietest to loudest. Schedule your weapons into groups of similar calibers/loudness. With this approach, you can set up your mics and record a group of weapons, then if you need to, adjust the mic set up and record another group of weapons. Here is an example recording order:

• Handguns
• Sub Machine Guns
• Small Caliber Rifles
• Larger Caliber Rifles
• Belt Fed Machine Guns
• .50 cal (or other vary large caliber weapons)

Set Up

Make sure everyone has correct directions to the shoot site. Everyone should also be clear about what time they are expected to arrive and what, if anything they are expected to bring.

Plan to be at the range just before dawn. Work with your recordist to find the best spot on the range to set up. Sometimes moving the shooting position just a few feet forward, back, to the left, to the right, etc, can make a huge difference on the sound. Walk around doing test claps, listening to the slapback. Or, you can even fire off some test shots. Talk with your weapon handler about your schedule. Make sure he knows what time you plan to start recording. Let him know how long you will need to setup. He will also need time to get set up, coordinate this so that he gets ready during your setup time. This way everyone is ready to go at the same time, and you don’t waste daylight.

Once you have your spot picked, don’t waste any time. Get set up quickly. It is going to take you a couple of hours to get everything set up. Try to set up your recording position as far away from the shooting position as possible, this will help save your ears and will allow the gun sounds to travel through a little bit of “air” before they reach you. Here is a sample set up plan:

• Unpack equipment from vehicles
• Set up any tables, chairs, and canopies you may have
• Put mic stands into rough positions
• Run mic cables to each stand
• Label both ends of each mic cable (with gaffer’s tape, etc). You want to know what mic the cable is going to
• Put all mics into their wind protection
• Put all mics on stands
• Power on and test all recorders and mic preamps
• Check that all recorders are set to the proper sample/bit rate
• Check that all recorders have the proper scene/take names setup
• Check that all recorders flash cards/hard drives are formatted/have available space
• Plug all mic cables into mics and into recorders/preamps
• In a notebook, take note of every channel of every recorder. Note which mic is on each channel and the position/location of the mic
• Fine-tune mic placement

Microphone Placement



I hate recording guides that get into specifics on mic placement. What works for one recordist in one situation, will not necessarily work for everyone. Here are some basic placement tips:

• Record using a variety of mics, to as many channels as you can, from as many different perspectives as possible. Keep in mind the more channels you record to, the less likely you’ll be able to properly check/monitor each channel, which may lead to less than stellar results. Also, the more channels you have, the more material you need to comb through when designing your sounds. I like to record, on average 14 to 16 tracks (more if required by the project).
• Focus most of your channels on close up and medium close up perspectives. These perspectives will give you detailed gun sounds.
• Distant perspectives will have less of the initial transient and mostly be the decay/echo. The number of distant perspectives you record should be based on your needs. If your project has little need for distant shots, then keep distant mics to a minimum, maybe just a couple of channels.
• Place your mics behind and to the side of the shooter for best results. I recommend that you avoid placing mics in front of the gun barrel, until you get more experienced. Not because of the risk of shooting a mic, but because it is harder to get a good sound. For distant mics, you can experiment with different placements.
• Use a variety of microphone types; condensers, dynamics, PZM’s, lav’s, etc.
• Lav mics often work well attached to a gun, and can give you good detailed mechanism sounds. Take care not to position the lav so that it gets in the way of the shooter. Also, keep in mind that gun barrels get very hot and can melt mics and cables, so stay clear of the barrel
• Dynamic mics work best when placed close to the gun. Try setting dynamics 3-10 feet from the gun.
• Place condenser mics at various distances. Know your equipment; know how each mic reacts to loud material and how close you can place each mic. Start at 10-15 feet and move back from there.

Recording

Ensure that everyone at the range understands that they need to be absolutely quiet and still during the recording. Talk to the weapon handler and explain that they need not move or work the action of the gun until the decay of a shot has completely died off or you give them the all clear. It is instinct for a handler to immediately clear jams or make a weapon safe when empty. Make sure they understand you need them to stay still.

A bullhorn/megaphone is a valuable tool on a gun shoot. Use it to ensure that everyone knows when you are recording and to slate your takes. Make sure that you slate each take with the name of the weapon and the action being performed (ex: AK47; Take 1 – single shots, AK47; Take 2 – short bursts, etc). You can also use it to yell at the people who don’t stay quiet when they are supposed to. It is also a good idea to use your notebook to keep track of take numbers and note anything about the take that you want to remember later.

The biggest mistake I’ve seen in gun recordings is incorrect gain settings. Anyone who has recorded sound before knows that good practice is to set your gain/levels so the loudest signal never exceeds 0dbFS (I’m talking about digital recording). Often, recordists will set their peaks lower, to give them some headroom (ex: -10dbFS). This is so that you do not have clipping/distortion in your recordings.

This approach does not work when you are recording subjects that are as loud as guns. The maximum level of a gunshot occurs during only a small fraction of the overall time of the shot. If you focus on keeping the loudest part of a gunshot under 0dbFS, then you will end up with recordings that sound like popcorn popping. Instead, you need to realize the initial transient of the gunshot is going to clip, and that is ok. You want to set your gain to get the best level you can for the sound that comes after the initial transient. I was once told that the first few hundred milliseconds are the least interesting part of a gunshot, it is what comes after that is the cool part.

You want to be sure that the signal coming into your recorder/mic preamp is not clipping/distorted. You accomplish this with proper mic placement and the use of in-line mic pads. If the signal coming in is distorted or sounds bad, more your mics around until you get the sound you are looking for. Don’t be afraid to switch out to a different mic. Not all mics work for every job you throw at them

The most important thing you can do when recording is to listen back to your takes regularly and make any needed adjustments right then and there. It is nearly impossible to get an idea of how your recordings will sounds just from monitoring during the recording. By listening back you can spot problems like incorrect mic placement, incorrect gain settings, bad mic cables, etc. Don’t wait until the day is done to listen to your recordings. Be sure you schedule enough time for listening and adjustments when you plan your session. Remember, a great deal of money is on the line, take some extra time and get things right in the field.

Conclusion

With proper planning and know-how, a gun recording session can yield you exceptional source material that you can use in projects for years to come. Gun recording is both a skill and an art. Don’t expect to achieve perfect results your first time out, like anything it takes time to master.

Written by Chuck Russom for Designing Sound