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 79 reflections at various distances, a small group of us always stayed near the armorers with the goal of capturing all the close initial environmental character. On this shoot, we recorded everything from epic canyon tails, open fields, valleys, various indoor spaces and even lighter urban-style areas. What makes a weapon recording usable for Battlefield specifically? Are you listening for punch, realism, mechanical detail, tail reflections, emotional response, or something else? Tom Wright: Honestly, pretty much everything suggested in the question! Because we have such a granular approach during our design process, we are often trying to capture these layers fairly independently. We have developed very specific microphone techniques for recording both punch and mechanical layers; as well as other approaches for capturing early environment, late reflections, slaps, bullet impacts, etc. When we head out for these large- scale recording sessions, our goal is to capture as much different content as possible. This usually requires taking about as many channels as we can handle. When we're ready to roll, there isn't usually enough time to stop to take a listen to the material you're capturing. We find that the best approach is to use our best judgment at the time for both shooter and microphone positioning. We're aware that some recordings might not come out as good as others. But ultimately, this is perfectly fine —because each and every take that we capture is a different reality. With a major philosophy of ours being the idea of replicating realism, sometimes we even find ourselves using 'bad' recordings when there are 'good' ones sitting right beside them. How much source material might be captured for a single weapon, and how does the editorial team organize,