Watson Wu, the master of recording fast, powerful cars (as heard in Baby Driver, Need for Speed, Fifth Gear, Transformers: War for Cybertron, etc., etc.) wrote about his experience recording rallycross cars for the newly released game, Project CARS 2. He shares a few moments from the passenger seat, lessons learned about gear, and lots of photos from the tarmac. You can read … [Read more...]
Watson Wu on Listening
Let's start out with what to listen for in a recording location. Naturally, we're always going to be looking for a space that isn't going to introduce too many environmental and human generated artifacts into the recording, but the physical layout and acoustic properties of a location can contribute as much character to your recordings as microphone selection...sometimes even … [Read more...]
Car Engine Approximation In Max
Years ago, when I first started dabbling in the deep and dark world of Max/MSP, I attempted to create the sound of a car engine. This month's theme (which is 'vehicles', if you didn't know) reminded me about it. I opened up the patch after ages and was a bit appalled by the state of it. There are hidden skeletons in every old patch! Instead of digging through a … [Read more...]
The Tonebenders – Vehicle Recording Roundtable
I'm really stoked by the way The Tonebenders Podcast has been jumping onto our monthly topics when they can. This time, they've got a spectacular roundtable conversation with Rob Noke, Watson Wu and Max Lachmann. Give it a listen, and make sure to visit the Tonebenders webpage to find out more information about their guests in this episode. Thanks for the contribution, guys! … [Read more...]
Planes, Trains and Automobiles …and tanks and bikes and boats and…
Guest Contribution by Stephan Schütze Why I am not going to tell you which microphone to use The simple answer to this statement is, because we don’t have time. The exact choice of which microphone to use for each situation of recording a vehicle is a detailed exercise and would take more pages than we have space for. Even then, there is a major flaw associated with the … [Read more...]
… Mr. President!!! … (Gen 3 Helicopter Implementation in Frostbite/Battlefield 4)
Guest contribution by Ben Minto and Bence Pajor of DICE … Mr. President!!! ... There we were in The Thirsty Bear, reflecting on the first lot of GDC Audio Sessions, and up walks Mr. Menhorn. He knew what he wanted from us; so after introductions, a few more IPAs and some passionate discussion it was in the bag. So here we are. A “behind the scenes”, warts and all, … [Read more...]
A Brief Tour of Automotive Sound Sources
Guest Contribution by Michael Hermes Modern cars are boring. They’re safe, practical, and quiet to the point of being uninteresting. A passing sedan glides by with a gentle whoosh of air passing over the car and the tires on the pavement. It makes for a pleasant ride to work but a short article on sound. Cars didn’t start out quiet, though. Decades of engineering and … [Read more...]