Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1538144
musical nature. A game sound is built to be played 1,000 times and not get repetitive or disturbing. In trailers, you often want that same sound to have a much higher impact or disturbance or acquire a musical nature. It also has to work against much bigger, denser music. So, while the game asset sounded great by itself, it often will disappear among a thick sound bed. So, enhancements are needed for those. Our clients fully understand this and allow us to do this. Our repeat clients know that we'll ensure that known franchise sounds are represented and trust that we'll keep them recognizable. Each trailer brings new challenges. How to create a new vibe, a new hook, a recognizable bit that makes that trailer stand apart from others is usually the one that takes the most time. There's a misconception from feature/TV folks that trailer audio teams "take feature editorial." While that's maybe true for about 10%–20% of the trailer, the remaining 80% is all new design. For games, however, it's 97% new. The 3% are the iconic sounds which are requested. It's impressive how you balance staying true to iconic sounds while keeping things fresh and engaging. When it comes to mixing a trailer, what do you see as the most important elements to get right? How do you guide the viewer's ear and make sure every moment has impact? Charles Deenen: Flow is the most important. During my years at EA (Electronic Arts), we used to analyze with great detail when viewers would drop off on trailer views. This caused me to dive deep to combat the reasons, using reinvigoration of scenes, proper chapterization, and attention-drawing audio. If the user gets bored, can't follow the trailer, or doesn't understand what to focus on, a fair bit of that can be attributed to audio. Sound needs to guide the flow, needs to make it clear what dialogue line is key, which gadget was important, which musical theme gives a hint, etc. Our role as story enhancers is to create or enhance that flow and use the power of sound to do so. It's also really important for us to know what the age group is—the demographic. We'll try to craft with the target in mind. Sometimes trailers of the same franchise are created for different demographics, and we adapt the sound to fit with that target in mind. Vehicle Sound Design You've developed a reputation as one of the go-to experts in vehicle sound design specifically for games and commercials. What makes vehicle audio so challenging and so rewarding? Charles Deenen: Since I was a kid, I always loved cars. My brother was a mechanic, and I watched him do repairs and oil changes in our garage. I never imagined that cars and a sound career would intersect. It wasn't until Bruce and Jay from SoundStorm gave me a shot on The Fast and the Furious that I knew this was what I'd wanted to do. During my years at Electronic Arts, I learned how to record and listen to cars (from John Fasal), learned how to clean up recordings and how to get them to feel impactful and more. The exposure to the minutiae of detail on hundreds of cars, working with a team to replicate every detail on them programmatically, explained to me a lot about what listeners perceived as reality, and whatnot. Had it not been for that experience, I don't think I'd be as confident now to tell a client we'd make their ad/film/spot/short feel correct sound-wise. To me, a car is a voice, a singer. It's an opera, a rock star, a quiet girl. Each has its own style, tone, and feel. For me, it's important to bring this out in every vehicle. It's not about editing that car; it's about making it shine on the stage as the performer that it is. Surround it with a great band and voila. When, in the end, you play it and you feel like you are there, the concert is complete. That's one of the most rewarding parts. Seeing the tremendous feedback, we get from listeners is something we love but also learn from. M OT I O N P I CTU R E S O U N D E D I TO R S 99