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 71 footfall, let us bend reality to match what our players expect to hear. Foley isn't always matching what we see on screen with the scientifically accurate prop. Having the freedom to think outside the box and then to hear the execution from Foley stage to the latest build, let us adjust throughout the two years that we worked in Marvel's New York. Herschell Bailey: The process of recording the balloons for the wing suit presented us with a few challenges. Firstly, our entire studio's personnel had just been relocated to a new temporary location while our offices were being remodeled. This meant the audio team had just lost the use of our soundproof recording rooms. Secondly, most of the sound team was busy moving equipment, and setting up workstations so we could get back to work. To get the recording, we enlisted the help of one of our project managers, Jim Niemiec. We stayed late one night to minimize employee noise, and constructed a mini-foam recording booth with the scraps we had taken from our old studio walls. It took a bit more work than normal, but we were eventually able to capture the sounds that we needed to get the web wings just right. Another detail I really love is how the sound of the rain changes when hitting different surfaces. It is especially cool to hear when playing with my Sony Pulse headphones. How did you achieve such detailed and dynamic rain effects? Ben Pantelis: System-wise, we have a grid around the player where within each grid section we are finding the highest priority material that the rain could hit, then playing and positioning the appropriate sound there. We also had a ring of additional 'distant' rain emitters which play more diffuse rain sounds when the rainfall is heavy. When Peter was corrupted by the symbiote, what approaches did you take to create this sonic tension? Did you use reversed sounds, voices, slowed pitch, or other techniques to convey the change in his character? Can you describe any specific sounds or audio cues that were pivotal in depicting Peter's transformation and the influence of the symbiote? Johannes Hammers: Pete's transformation was a key aspect of the game's overall narrative, and the audio had to reflect this. The signature sound was born out of a vertical slice we did early in development. Jerry Berlongieri, our senior lead, asked me to previs Pete's Surge Mode—the ability he gets in ACT II. It was Pete at his peak fusion with the symbiote. One of Jerry's descriptors as we were brainstorming was "make it sound like a stack of Marshall amps," he's angry and his thinking is clouded and he's vengeful. To get that unhinged energy, I used many layers of distortion and found my plug-in chain quickly. The combat layers were made up of avalanches, rock impacts, ice cracks, body falls, and sped-up explosions. The black suit texture was made up of Foley recordings, including celery, melon, spaghetti, leather, wet chamois, "ZACK ALSO SET UP A 'FLOW-STATE' IN WWISE— THE LONGER YOU TRAVERSE THROUGH THE CITY, THE MORE YOUR SPEED INCREASES AND THE SOUND OF THE WHOOSHES GET MORE INTENSE." –J O H A N N E S H A M M E R S