Designing Sound Rearder: What technique (or tip) you wish you had known when you first started doing sound design professionally? Rodney Gates: I wish I knew how to make something sound large, other than just using reverb tail. One way this can be achieved is by pitching something at multiple intervals – an octave down, two octaves down, and blending with the original. This … [Read more...]
Rodney Gates Special: A New Role – Becoming Audio Director
[Written by Rodney Gates for Designing Sound] In early June of 2010, I became Sony Online’s Audio Director for San Diego. So how has this experience been so far? I’ll dive into a few points. A Delicate Balancing Act When I started working at this company, my primary focus was as a Senior Sound Designer on “Clone Wars Adventures”. It was very different for me as I was initially … [Read more...]
Rodney Gates Special: Coming Full Circle – Spearheading “Clone Wars Adventures”
[Written by Rodney Gates for Designing Sound] It seems perfectly fitting that with the Star Wars films being such an influence for me as a Sound Designer, when the opportunity came up to become the Lead on “Clone Wars Adventures”, a joint venture between Sony Online Entertainment and Lucasarts, it was hard to resist. Hit the Ground Running When I started on the game, it … [Read more...]
Rodney Gates Special: Designing Vehicle Audio for “Transformers: War For Cybertron”
[Written by Rodney Gates for Designing Sound] Home Digs “Transformers” is a mega-hit franchise for Hasbro with a huge fan base fueled by cartoons that beckoned to us in our formative years during the 80’s. The battle between the Autobots and the Decepticons has raged on for decades now, with seemingly no end in sight, and we still line up to see it, be it new toy line, game, … [Read more...]
Rodney Gates Special: Creating Hand-to-Hand Combat Audio for “Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Conspiracy”
[Written by Rodney Gates for Designing Sound] Jason Bourne – One Skilled Fighter Jason Bourne is one of my favorite characters brought to the silver screen in the early 2000’s. More realistic and practical than James Bond, he made for a great character to watch. I loved the tightly-choreographed fight scenes in the films, so when we set out to begin development of a game … [Read more...]
Rodney Gates Special: Early Challenges – Authoring Sound for “Darkwatch” on Two Very Different Platforms
[Written by Rodney Gates for Designing Sound] All SKUs are created equal…right? It is a common question every time a new game is released on the console platforms: “I have both systems. Which version should I buy?” In a perfect world, any game created for the consoles would run just perfectly on them, without any performance edge leaning towards one machine or the other. … [Read more...]
Rodney Gates Special: How I Spend My Vacations: Field Recording
[Written by Rodney Gates for Designing Sound] Serenity Now! Nothing can be more peaceful than sitting quietly for several minutes at a time in a unique location recording the living world in front of you. Your eyes and ears are alert and observant of everything that’s happening as the recorder captures it all. There is a calm that comes over you and for the first time in a … [Read more...]