Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1524736
"Libraries are very inexpensive; hence, why there are so many libraries. I would say too many now that are very, very low priced, and some for a reason because they're not done well or are using very cheap equipment—or inexpensive equipment to be more accurate." With a need for period-specific items, specialized vehicles, and undeveloped settings, sound teams benefit greatly from on-location capturing. Spending hours in the desert or sporting events, Wu and his team hunt for the perfect sounds for each unique project. Wu, who has worked both for film and video games, recalls how the film Baby Driver had similar demands. "When I worked on Baby Driver, I was tasked to record all the stunt car sounds. I went ahead and told the stunt driver, 'Let's do this performance driving toward a microphone and do a nice slide toward the microphone. Let's do it maybe 10 times, and that way, the sound editor can cherry pick what they want. They can edit whatever sounds more interesting,' and that's [also] my main approach for games. Do as many variations as possible, and that way, the sound designer can edit all different ways and throw it into the software." The need for variety in video games is a desperate necessity as editors have to edit in a nonlinear fashion that anticipates a player's every possible move. While movies follow a set storyline that always plays the same way, video games offer significant variation. Where one player may go left, another has the choice to go right and change the entire game, creating hours of additional content. "[Game] content is so much longer," explains Wu. "A movie is an average of 90 minutes to 120 minutes, a TV show is under 60 minutes per episode, but games play out for weeks or months if you played it straight and played it in all different ways [with the] different scenarios. You can decide to go right this time and see what happens. It's one of those 'choose your own adventure' games. That's how I explain what the differences are. It is just like film production, just a lot more content." Editors are forced to build a 360-degree soundscape to keep players immersed, regardless of what they choose. "I have to make a lot more sounds and more variations to make the game Watson Wu captures external sounds of a Ford GT, provided by father-and- son owners Lou and Sal Grasso, for the racing game Grid. Photos of weapons and the Ford GT, courtesy of Dion Photography (L-R) Watson Wu, Arnold Diaz, Jason Shortuse, Joel Suraci, and Vito Pelikan on location to capture car-crash sound effects for Ring of Elysium, a battle royale-style game.