Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1546054
M OT I O N P I CTU R E S O U N D E D I TO R S 71 Battlefield audio team, Mikael Mansson Grolander, Warren Post, and Goncalo Tavares, recording rock and dirt debris in Southern California. Microphone blimps are in view. we want something we can use right away for the current project, long-term we want to extend our collection of building blocks which we can hopefully use for many projects to come. The dream is always to record something that you can drop into the game without doing much to it in post. To get as close to that as possible, we also plan our recordings with our playback systems in mind, while still staying open-minded to let the recordings influence our systems. Also, implementations might change over time, so you don't want to overcommit to current designs. So, we strike a middle ground, considering general usability with a bias toward known systems and needs, but also, we record a lot of extra perspectives and content that we might not be able to use instantly but likely in the future. Were there any recordings that surprised the team once you brought them into editorial? Either because they worked better than expected, or because something that sounded amazing in the field didn't translate in-game? Nate Iske: You could say we had a "happy accident" while recording bullet impacts. We had placed a small, somewhat expendable microphone near the line of fire to capture impacts from an extremely close perspective. During the session, the mic ended up taking a direct hit. Thankfully, the recording survived. Once we were able to listen back to it, we were left with the sound of a highly distorted burst of energy of the microphone breaking up. This recording ended up becoming a key layer in the shield-break sound in REDSEC. It gave us a sense of impact and failure while being both gritty and aggressive. Rodrigo Morales: We went out to a canyon desert for a day to capture some smaller textures, movement, and debris. I couldn't have imagined that these recordings would become my most- used files on Battlefield 6! We were able to capture such nice details that it was hard to use anything else; it made me realize that the small things can be as important as the big, exciting moments. The Crow's Nest, which is the largest Levolution* event in REDSEC, uses a lot of these recordings for last bits of debris once it has fully collapsed. (*Levolution in this context refers to massive, dynamic, mid-match environmental events that completely alter the layout, sight lines, and flow of a multiplayer map. These events are usually triggered by players destroying specific structural weak points.) Just like using silence right before an explosion, having good detail layers can make a big sound even bigger! David Jegutidse: We recorded jets at a Swedish air show, where eventually we found a nice spot that was far enough away from the PA commentary for it to be inaudible, while very close to the flight paths, and a stone's throw away from the runways. Being there in person is awe-inspiring and I don't use that word lightly. It made everyone giddy. The surprising part was how effortless those recordings worked in-game, and how close the recordings resembled what we heard. It sounds strange since that is what you always want it to be like, but it's rare that the gap between game and reality can be bridged this well.