Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1512183
28 M PS E . O R G we had these huge banks of Foley for each individual character. None of the characters in this game shared Foley. For Marcus' arm, there were like six variations of that. We had something else for Kim's duck and crunch. We had hundreds of files for Foley that I recorded in my studio. I would build up these rigs of backpacks filled with kitchen knives and all that stuff. Power tools. I would run around and get that sound. Not to boast or anything like that, but before that nobody had done Foley on that scale for a video game. And if it had been done, I hadn't heard it. I was really into Foley and I had this new wealth of storage, so I took advantage of that. We went to town. And Mike was really into it. I'd suggest things like, "Dude, we should do leg sweeps!" And he was like, "Are you serious?" I was like, "Yeah dude, it'll be really rooted." And he was like, "Yeah dude, go for it." So I recorded it and it all worked out. EM: I remember in the quieter moments, you'd hear that difference between when he's walking slowly versus if he's running. It's still very memorable for its time. JS: I had worked on a bunch of different shooters, including Unreal at that point, and that whole disembodied footstep thing always really bugged me. It never felt cinematic. It always felt like, "Let's cover this up with music." So really digging into the Foley and describing the texture of these characters walking around, that was really important to me. They were happy to support me in that. EM: So, a scene like this, let's pause it. There's weapon fire from both sides, as well as bullet whiz-bys. Did you create some version for the gameplay which you are repurposing in the cinematic, or are you building them differently for a cinematic? JS: We definitely use game assets in the cinematics. That was sort of a critical mandate, because I worked a lot on all the in-game sounds in establishing signature sounds. That was really my primary focus during the game. So I wanted to continue that through the cinematics. Make sure that everything has continuity. Bullet ricochets were a big part of this. I remember putting a lot of work into the bullet ricochets and they were in the surrounds and all that stuff. We were really going to town with the 5.1 mixing because that was really the first time that we had that opportunity. EM: Yeah, I remember that Jamey editing the sounds of Gears of War in his studio