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 83 Were there moments where a sound worked beautifully in isolation but had to be redesigned once it was placed inside the game engine? David Jegutidse: I think in 14 years with this franchise, I have rarely seen a sound that did not need iteration after being let loose in the wilds. The first step is verifying a sound in isolation; the next step is locally playing the sound in a probable situation to compare it against other sounds. The third step is playtesting with other people and ideally full servers. Each step of the way will typically come with changes and iteration. It is especially the abstract sounds, those that lack a real-world reference and therefore, are entirely subjective that need the most iteration. Low health experience, kill indicators, flag captures and many more. It's these sounds that will require a lot of back-and-forth and feedback until they really click and feel just right in the game. In all of this, it's always important to stay objective and not get too attached to individual sounds or even recordings. How important was spatial audio to the experience, especially with verticality, distance, environmental positioning, and large-scale combat? Gonçalo Tavares: In a game like Battlefield 6, position is everything. Hearing that an enemy soldier is about to have line of sight on you can give the split-second to take cover or shoot back before it's too late! We've spent months iterating on how different sounds attenuate, obstruct, or change depending on elevation. Luckily, our tools and systems allow us to go into detail with each sound and define these behaviors on a case-by-case basis. On the flip side, there's a lot of permutations of behaviors and a lot of sounds, so we've had to pick our battles carefully. COLLABORATION & PIPELINE KEEPING THE BATTLEFIELD SOUND CONNECTED With multiple studios collaborating across different countries and time zones, how did the team maintain a consistent sonic identity across the project? Mari S. Minto: This is always a challenge. In pre-production, we built an ATAR, or Audio Target. It was a level built on top of the visual target where we could start establishing the foundations of the soundscape. We worked on the relationship between footsteps, ambience, weapons, vehicles, voice, destruction, and the overall mix. We added acoustic spaces, indoor environments, radio voice, third-person voice, and many of the core systems that would become part of the game. The goal was to create something tangible that the whole team could listen to and relate their work to. When you're working across multiple studios, time zones, and external partners, it's important that everyone understands not only what we're building, but also how it should sound and feel. The ATAR gave us a common target to work toward and became an important tool for keeping everyone moving in the same direction. Jeff Wilson: Once we had our established multiplayer reference mix, we then started applying those settings to Campaign and REDSEC. Our reference mix established our baseline, but we then had to push both Campaign and REDSEC to have their own feel. This meant producing smaller parts of a Campaign Mission and adding layers to reinforce Campaign's 'cinematic' style. And for REDSEC, it was about minimalism. Like Campaign, we would use a Point of Interest in our Ft. Lyndon map to dial in our audio mix. These served as the examples of 'what good sounds like' in terms of mix, used as reference by everyone working on these experiences. Were there shared references, style guides, audio bibles, or review processes that helped keep everyone aligned creatively? Mari S. Minto: References are a big part of our workflow and one of the main ways we stay aligned. Whenever we start a new feature or project, we spend a lot of time gathering material and looking for inspiration. That can be anything from films and documentaries to news reports, social media, helmet camera footage, or recordings from our own field trips. We watch and play games together, sharing thoughts and experiences. Here's an example: Before we built the ATAR, I collected many references