Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1524863
M OT I O N P I CTU R E S O U N D E D I TO R S 121 affect all diegetic sound, which we do a lot in horror. Fitting the psychological state of the main character in Little Hope, we pitched all diegetic sound down preceding scares for example, ambience beds, winds, leaves, birds, cicadas. The pitching could be authored by both time and amount very easily. For Little Hope and House of Ashes, we created a single RTPC variable for each playable character that affected the processing on theirs and more so, other characters' sound, as the infection took hold simulating a hallucinatory experience and adding a feeling of isolation to the focus, playable character. Every game has its standout moments. Can you share any particularly memorable audio moments from your projects that have left a lasting impression on players? BP: So many to mention, from hallucinatory 1950s pinup encounters in Man of Medan, 1692 Salem witch trials of Little Hope and encounters between US marines and alien vampires in House of Ashes. Right at the start of The Devil in Me, the game director Tom Heaton came to my desk and said, "Have you heard one of the characters is a sound technician and there's an entire level where she's wandering around tracking the killer with a directional microphone?" What a gift to a sound team! Based in narrative where the killer records conversations, successful kills, victims screams and has various mech and tech to help his desire for blood, we created an in-game system where Erin (the sound recordist from a TV production crew), wanders the corridors of a deserted hotel focusing the sound emission only where she points the microphone, shifting the mix perspective on the players' decision to remove or wear the headphones as they desire. We went hyper- cardioid (of course!) to really constrain the field of audio focus and this feature got a lot of good feedback from the players. Spatial audio can elevate the horror experience to new heights. How are you leveraging this technology to create more immersive and terrifying game environments? BP: Our work in VR has allowed us to really delve into spatial audio and we have brought those learnings to our cinematic games. Since Rush "OUR WORK IN VR HAS ALLOWED US TO REALLY DELVE INTO SPATIAL AUDIO AND WE HAVE BROUGHT THOSE LEARNINGS TO OUR CINEMATIC GAMES." 1692 flashbacks ‒ Little Hope