Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1538144
the atmosphere, the phasing, the reflections, the reality we deal with in movies and ads carry forward to games. Some let us loose and let us go nuts. For example, a Need for Speed Unbound trailer has extremely rhythmic and harmonically correct cars, blending with the music as an instrument. That's an aspect that not many clients dare to go but it's just another example of how our history in trailers influenced it greatly. PS: It was really well received. You've been part of building a strong team at Source Sound. Can you talk about how the studio is structured, and what kinds of creative strengths your collaborators bring to work? Charles Deenen: Right before COVID, we opened our new 15-room, trailer- focused facility in Woodland Hills, CA, which took more than three years to build. We were all super happy to be in brand-new, state-of-the-art rooms. And then, a week later, we all had to leave for two years. That was a bummer, but we adapted quickly. We had built the studio as a rock- solid, super-secure facility. COVID changed all the security rules. All our feature trailer work is done 100% at our facility. For gaming, we've opened a four-room facility in Missouri, where years. Daredevil was my first theatrical trailer sound design job. During my 10-year tenure at EA, I learned a great deal about game trailers and am proud that I was able to march trailers forward within EA. We thought it would be neat if I joined Source Sound to create a dedicated game trailer sound wing. We didn't know if it was going to work. Game trailer audio was still pretty green—low-budget projects for most. Fortunately, it took off like a storm. Shortly after, we added cinematics and other types of work to the roster as well. TORQ is a division of Source Sound that specializes in vehicle sound design. Can you talk about its origins and how it fits into the larger Source Sound ecosystem? Charles Deenen: Several automotive creative directors looked at our brand and couldn't understand how a trailer house was going to do the sound for their car ad. So, after some conversations with those directors, we thought it'd be best to separate it from Source Sound for clarity. We installed a dedicated crew to handle this, trained in the way we created the Emmy- and MPSE award-winning car work. There's a lot to learn about how a car interacts, how it drives, gearing, drift clutching, air movement, etc. For us, it was best to educate a smaller crew and try to make them the best in the biz. I am happy to say that we've now done work for 92% of the car brands and have diversified to in-car audio, commercials, brand recording packs, films, and more. We've been hired several times on film for our car audio design craft and will hopefully continue this. TORQ has worked with brands like Acura, Aston Martin, Audi, BMW, Porsche, Hoonigan, and Red Bull Racing. How do these automotive projects inform or influence your work on games and cinematic content? Charles Deenen: We're happy that we've been working on game trailers for Forza, Need for Speed, and other car- based games for more than 10 years. Each of them gets the same treatment as the high-end car brands. When prototype cars arrive in the game, we sometimes have the luxury to record it already for the 'reveal ad' of the car. Every project is a learning lesson, and we carry that forward to each new project. The technical details that we learned in games carry forward to movies and ads. The spacing, M OT I O N P I CTU R E S O U N D E D I TO R S 101