Alien attacks and Fifa 15 chants: The art of video game noise

---- Article from BBC News ----- Sound design is often the unsung hero of video games. But when developers get it right, primal instincts are triggered, helping

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Originally posted: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-29474695

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By Leo Kelion Technology desk editor @ BBC News Sound design is often the unsung hero of video games. But when developers get it right, primal instincts are triggered, helping immerse players in the action. Below, the brains behind the soundscapes of five of this year's biggest releases discuss their art in exclusive interviews with the BBC: Skulking through the corridors of Alien: Isolation's derelict space station you strain to pick out the footsteps of the 9ft-creature hunting you from the creaks and ominous throbs of the surrounding walls and air ducts. In the distance you think you make out a reptilian "croak". A glimpse of the motion tracker confirms you're not alone, prompting you to hide inside a cabinet - but the door's slam is too loud and your own intake of breath threatens to give you away as the now unmistakable thud of beast approaches. Playing the spin-off of Ridley Scott's 1979 movie is a fraught experience. "We went for a sense of realism, but at the same time all the sounds had to have an emotional context to them," says Byron Bullock, the title's sound designer. "We want the player to feel scared. Things like the motion tracker, for example, as soon as you hear that beep it puts you on edge. Alien: Isolation's motion tracker warns you of the creature's approach before you see it "It's almost like a heartbeat to it - it gets faster and faster and higher in pitch. That can make you feel anxious." Deep breath Another sci-fi titan, George Lucas once said that "sound is half" the movie-going experience, adding that it's "where you get the most bang for your buck". But while film-makers have the luxury of knowing what's going to happen next, sound in games is a more complicated affair. "One of the most important things in horror is creating suspense and tension. That's easier in a film because it's a linear medium," Mr Bullock explains. "A sound designer will know what's happening in the next 10 seconds. They can pre-empt situations with sound-effects, music and by changing the mix. "We wanted to do a similar thing in Alien: Isolation but because the gameplay is so dynamic - the Alien is unpredictable - it became an exercise in creating systems. WATCH: See and hear how Alien: Isolation uses sound to build tension "So, we have a value called Stealth, which tells us at any given moment how stealthy the player is being - how much noise they are making, how close they are to an enemy, the enemy's awareness of the player. "We use that to both change the music and the mix. We will lower the atmosphere and raise up the Alien's sounds and Ripley's breathing rate. "You don't want to be making any noise at that point, so we'll start to raise up your sounds a little bit just to put you on edge." Football chants By its nature, Fifa 15 seeks a very different audio aesthetic. Authenticity is the watchword for the world's best-selling football simulator. To achieve it, the title's creators teamed up with TV sports broadcasters across the globe, which provided recordings taken from several games. Each delivered up to 32 separate but simultaneously recorded tracks created by microphones dotted around the stadium involved. As well as delivering "realistic" effects for the rattle of goal frames and spectators' "oohs" and "ahs", this also allowed the developers to provide "thousands" of real chants and songs. "With our 10,000 or whatever years of evolution, we can really hear the emotional content of what's being said or sung," says Jeffrey MacPherson, justifying the time-consuming and expensive effort. "There's no substituting the real deal. When you're at Anfield and hearing, 'You'll never walk alone,' it's truly hair-raising. We'd prefer to go to great lengths to acquire that experience rather than trying to simulate it." However, making use of this haul posed challenges. WATCH: EA Sports' David Rutter discussed Fifa 15 earlier in the year at the E3 expo Chants featuring swear words had to be identified and ditched - a particular problem at South American games, Mr MacPherson remarks. And a pro-independence chant recorded at Barcelona's Camp Nou stadium caused controversy in Spain after a "perfect storm" of factors let it slip through to the demo version of the game. It doesn't appear in the final release. "It generated a whole lot of press, that's for sure," Mr MacPherson recalls. "In our quest to be authentic we have to be even more vigilant, and what we end up doing is creating a censored version of reality. "When you play a match you're not going to hear the same breadth of content that you would hear at the grounds on a Saturday afternoon. You'll get 35% to 40% of what you might hear. "That's just the nature of having an E for everyone-rated game." Destiny's demands Bungie took a very different approach with its recently released sci-fi shooter Destiny. "Almost everything that you hear in Destiny was created from scratch, in-house," states audio director C Paul Johnson. Sound design is often the unsung hero of video games. But when developers get it right, primal instincts are triggered, helping immerse players in the action. Below, the brains behind the soundscapes of five of this year's biggest releases discuss their art in exclusive interviews with the BBC: Skulking through the corridors of Alien: Isolation's derelict space station you strain to pick out the footsteps of the 9ft-creature hunting you from the creaks and ominous throbs of the surrounding walls and air ducts. In the distance you think you make out a reptilian "croak". A glimpse of the motion tracker confirms you're not alone, prompting you to hide inside a cabinet - but the door's slam is too loud and your own intake of breath threatens to give you away as the now unmistakable thud of beast approaches. Playing the spin-off of Ridley Scott's 1979 movie is a fraught experience. "We went for a sense of realism, but at the same time all the sounds had to have an emotional context to them," says Byron Bullock, the title's sound designer. "We want the player to feel scared. Things like the motion tracker, for example, as soon as you hear that beep it puts you on edge. Alien: Isolation's motion tracker warns you of the creature's approach before you see it "It's almost like a heartbeat to it - it gets faster and faster and higher in pitch. That can make you feel anxious." Deep breath Another sci-fi titan, George Lucas once said that "sound is half" the movie-going experience, adding that it's "where you get the most bang for your buck". But while film-makers have the luxury of knowing what's going to happen next, sound in games is a more complicated affair. "One of the most important things in horror is creating suspense and tension. That's easier in a film because it's a linear medium," Mr Bullock explains. "A sound designer will know what's happening in the next 10 seconds. They can pre-empt situations with sound-effects, music and by changing the mix. "We wanted to do a similar thing in Alien: Isolation but because the gameplay is so dynamic - the Alien is unpredictable - it became an exercise in creating systems. Jump media playerMedia player helpOut of media player. Press enter to return or tab to continue.WATCH: See and hear how Alien: Isolation uses sound to build tension "So, we have a value called Stealth, which tells us at any given moment how stealthy the player is being - how much noise they are making, how close they are to an enemy, the enemy's awareness of the player. "We use that to both change the music and the mix. We will lower the atmosphere and raise up the Alien's sounds and Ripley's breathing rate. "You don't want to be making any noise at that point, so we'll start to raise up your sounds a little bit just to put you on edge." Football chants By its nature, Fifa 15 seeks a very different audio aesthetic. Fifa 15 has more crowd chants for the major teams than previous versions of the game Authenticity is the watchword for the world's best-selling football simulator. To achieve it, the title's creators teamed up with TV sports broadcasters across the globe, which provided recordings taken from several games. Each delivered up to 32 separate but simultaneously recorded tracks created by microphones dotted around the stadium involved. Jump media playerMedia player helpOut of media player. Press enter to return or tab to continue.LISTEN: Hear some of the Liverpool FC chants recorded for Fifa 15 As well as delivering "realistic" effects for the rattle of goal frames and spectators' "oohs" and "ahs", this also allowed the developers to provide "thousands" of real chants and songs. "With our 10,000 or whatever years of evolution, we can really hear the emotional content of what's being said or sung," says Jeffrey MacPherson, justifying the time-consuming and expensive effort. "There's no substituting the real deal. When you're at Anfield and hearing, 'You'll never walk alone,' it's truly hair-raising. We'd prefer to go to great lengths to acquire that experience rather than trying to simulate it." However, making use of this haul posed challenges. Jump media playerMedia player helpOut of media player. Press enter to return or tab to continue.WATCH: EA Sports' David Rutter discussed Fifa 15 earlier in the year at the E3 expo Chants featuring swear words had to be identified and ditched - a particular problem at South American games, Mr MacPherson remarks. And a pro-independence chant recorded at Barcelona's Camp Nou stadium caused controversy in Spain after a "perfect storm" of factors let it slip through to the demo version of the game. It doesn't appear in the final release. "It generated a whole lot of press, that's for sure," Mr MacPherson recalls. "In our quest to be authentic we have to be even more vigilant, and what we end up doing is creating a censored version of reality. EA removed FC Barcelona fans' Independencia chant from the final version of Fifa 15 "When you play a match you're not going to hear the same breadth of content that you would hear at the grounds on a Saturday afternoon. You'll get 35% to 40% of what you might hear. "That's just the nature of having an E for everyone-rated game." Destiny's demands Bungie took a very different approach with its recently released sci-fi shooter Destiny. "Almost everything that you hear in Destiny was created from scratch, in-house," states audio director C Paul Johnson. Destiny is Bungie's first game since the Halo series, which had distinctive sounds of its own "Part of it's professional pride, and [part] to give players something unique to enjoy." Exotic sounds required searching out unusual techniques. The sound of one enemy class - the Vex - was inspired by a performance artist who had uploaded a video of himself to YouTube, copied it, uploaded it again, and repeated this about 1,000 times. "He came up with this really crazy sound that sounded mechanical and robotic but had emotiveness to it," Mr Johnson recalls. "So we wrote a little program and used the sound of big cats - cheetahs or something - and ran it through a process like that... hundreds and hundreds of times." To deliver the perfect sound for dirt footprints Mr Johnson says he and another team member travelled "all over" the state of Washington, until they finally got what they wanted at the top of a mountain range. "We probably burnt thousands and thousands of dollars of people's time just to get those footstep recordings to sound good," he says. "You obsess over every single asset [but] I think the net effect of that is awesome-sounding stuff." And then there's the game's multitude of weapons. A three-day trip to Las Vegas to shoot "every gun we could think of" provided the raw material, which was later made to sound sci-fi back at base. But the critical trick, Mr Johnson adds, was to ensure that each shot fired sounded different. LISTEN: Hear what Bungie's weapon recordings sound like in the final game