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 37 Career Beginnings and Inspirations How did you get started in the field of sound editing, and what drew you specifically to dialogue editing for video games? I started in audio as a music recording engineer in the Nashville area in the mid-2000s, but I quickly learned that it was not a great time to work in recording studios as digital distribution of music transformed the music industry (and its recording budgets) drastically. I moved back to California, took a post-audio specific course, and switched gears to post-audio shortly afterward. I found it really intriguing learning how the sounds that enthralled me on the big screen are created, and that really scratched my creative audio itch. Game dialogue was not something I set out to do; I didn't really think of it as a 'thing' or career that I could do. Being an avid gamer since the early NES days, I jumped at the opportunity to work on games. I wanted to do any editing I could get my hands on, and dialogue work was the first opportunity I had to work on games. Can you share any early influences or mentors who have significantly impacted your career? The biggest impact on my career (even now) was interning at Danetracks in the late 2000s. There was not a single person but a group of many that influenced my early sound editorial years. Between learning from the amazing designers, editors, and supervisors at Danetracks to collaborating on projects with other interns, it was hands down an amazing growth experience as an editor. Most of the projects and work of my career are tied to the relationships I made during those early years. Notable Projects and Challenges You've worked on high-profile projects like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Mortal Kombat II. What were some of the unique challenges you faced while working on games like these? NetherRealm Studios (creators of Mortal Kombat) is one of my favorite studios to work with. We have a great relationship with the folks over there. Their writer/director and audio teams are our obvious collaborators, and it's always interesting to see and hear what they dial up. One of the unique things about our relationship with NetherRealm is also working with the animation team on sync. There is a point in their games where the fighters square off and deliver introductory fight dialogue. There are hundreds of different intro interactions between all the fighters, and working with the animation team, we put together a workflow to sync the voice-acted lines (recorded in LA) without any timing changes with facial capture (shot in Chicago) for the intro lines. For the latest game, Mortal Kombat 1, the animation team upgraded their pipeline and revamped their intro animations, and that afforded us the opportunity to do the same, adapting our sync workflow to higher frame rates and automating many of the redundant processes. The flexibility in scheduling voice and face capture at different times in different cities is a tremendous help for their processes. How does the process of dialogue editing for video games differ from working on films or TV series? First and foremost is the environment. Game dialogue has the luxury of not being recorded on location. Performance capture stages are like being on set, but still do not have the various background noises of a production stage. Sync is another key difference. There is a certain leeway with sync that animation will always have versus live action. Game production has made tremendous strides with animation over the years, but there's always some give with the variety of ways picture and sound work within a game engine and how it's presented to the player. On the other hand, the amount of dialogue for a typical AAA game greatly exceeds the number of lines for a film or TV program and is usually recorded over the span of years. Maintaining consistent quality standards across tens of thousands of lines that are recorded intermittently over years for a production is an important function for the dialogue team. Each game production has different specs and delivery requirements, and as an external dev partner, we are usually working on multiple projects at any given time. Specific workflow documentation for each project is key to successfully maintaining the consistency and quality over thousands of lines during the length of the production. Techniques and Tools What are some of the essential tools and software you use in your dialogue editing process? There are two main tools I consider essential for my workflows: iZotope RX and Keyboard Maestro. I spend roughly 75% of my typical editorial