RØDE Rage Video Interview with Watson Wu

I had the wonderful opportunity to hang out with sound designer & field recorder Watson Wu during this past year's audio track at SIEGE in Atlanta, GA. Just a few of his credits include Transformers: War for Cybertron, Need For Speed, and Operation Flashpoint. Very talented and great guy to talk with. He recently did an interview with Rode Microphones' "RØDE Rage" series about his career in audio production, so check it out below!

Stop, Hey, What's That Sound...

Stop what you're doing. (please?) Stop and just listen to the everyday sounds around you. You might hear the hum of your fridge running, the rain lightly tapping at your window, or the bustle of people at a coffee shop. Those audible characteristics that we take for granted are what clues us in on where we are. Without them, we'd be in a dark, desolate void. Or a sound proof recording studio. Either way, stellar sound and music is what pulls the viewers into the film or video game. Forget 3D- audio is the all immersive atmospheric experience.

I've started a new personal sound design project that features fast cars and a ridiculous car accident from a very well-known movie that came out a few years ago. (Here's a hint- the car accident has the world record for flipping the most times. Crazy!) It's really exciting because I haven't worked with my automobile sound library yet, so it's a challenge, but a fun one.

After building a sound pass on the cars, I realized how many layers of sound goes into just one scene with a car driving by. First there's the engine, then the tires, then gravel, then wind... and that's just the car. Then you have the atmosphere to throw in there too. It's seriously amazing the details we miss everyday.

Next time while you're driving, turn of the radio and just listen. There's a whole world of sound you may not have your ears open to.

Mass Effect 2 Sound Design Reel

Finally finished my sound design for the Mass Effect 2 trailer!

After I captured a portion of the trailer, I completely stripped all original audio and created a new sound scape from the ground up. Using Logic Pro Studio, I created new audio and music through various sound design techniques to come up with what you're watching below.

Mass Effect 2 Sound Design Reel from Bryan Higa on Vimeo.

I can't really pinpoint which aspect was the most fun to create- there are too many! A few stand-outs were Thane's slow-motion sequence, creating gun sounds, and breathing life into the Collector's ship at the end. It was very challenging but oh-so fun. Thoroughly enjoyed creating this and hope you do to!

Hmm, so what should be my next project...?

Revving Up the Vocoder Motor

Lately I've been working extensively with Logic Pro's vocoder, the EVOC 20 TrackOscillator, and have been very intrigued on how useful it is and the variety of different sounds you can make with it. A vocoder takes audible speech, encrypts it, and transmits it to a receiver which then resynthesizes it into a version of the original signal spectrum. (I know. Simple, right?) Basically, it can take a voice and play it through another sound. First developed in the 1930s, it wasn't until the 1970s and onward that it was applied to pop music, movies and television. Listen to these examples of vocoding from Disney-Pixar's Wall-E. A vocoder was used to take actress Ellisa Knight's voice and alter her vocal qualities to make her sound like a robot.

My application for it has been a little different though. Instead of a vocoding a human voice, I've been synthesizing two different sounds to create something new. For example, I take a lion's growl and side chain to large insect clicking sounds. Once I do that, I play around with the formant by shifting and stretching it, increase the vocoder signal, and then I have the beginnings of a huge, disgusting monster bug! It's a lot of fun just experimenting different sounds to see what you can create. It's also pretty cool to see how your favorite monster roars are created sometimes with sounds you'd never expect- like a pig squeal or crying babies.

To end, I leave you with a more recent example of musician Imogen Heap using a vocoder and a keyboard with her voice. By singing into a microphone which is fed into a vocoder and mapped out to her keyboard, she's able to imitate an electronic choir. It's beautiful.

New Short Term Goal - Sound Design Demo

It's been a rainy week in Atlanta. Thankfully, I like the rain, but I haven't been able to really enjoy it because it's been a busy week. Also, thankfully, I love what's making me busy! Aside from working on various sound design projects for work, I decided that my new short term goal would be to make a demo reel of some sound design work. My first task? Take a piece of a movie from one of my favorite games, remove all the sounds, and then create new sounds for it! What's the game?

Mass Effect 2, developed by BioWare, is arguably the most popular game that has come out this year, and one of the greatest games I've played in a long time. So I took a portion of the official theatrical trailer and now in the process of adding my own sound design to it. It's so much fun! I've completed my gun sounds pass and now I'm working on footsteps. I'll be sure to post it when I'm done!

Mahalo!

Chillin' With My H4n, Tellin' Jokes

Finally got my Zoom H4n in the mail the other day and I've been having a blast with it. It's a small digital recording gizmo with two built-in condenser mics and two mic inputs. You also probably noticed it's sporting a wicked hair-do. That's a black Redhead Windscreen that I also got from many recommendations from fellow audio friends. It does an amazing job at eliminating wind noise while out in the field.

I spent the afternoon at the park recording various noises like kids on scooters and throwing rocks at trashcans. People probably thought that I was some hoodlum or something. I also got some pretty awesome quacks from the local ducks at the lake! Which reminds me of a good joke a friend told me:

A duck walks into a bar and the bartender asks, "Whadya have?"

The duck asks, "Got any grapes?"

The bartender yells, "We don't have grapes here, only drinks, now get out!"

The duck hops off the stool and waddles out.

The next day, the same duck walks back into the bar and asks the bartender, "Got any grapes?"

Irritated, the bartender yells, "I told you yesterday we don't serve grapes, only drinks, now get out!" So the ducks walks back out.

Sure enough, the very next day, the duck walks into the same bar and asks the bartender, "Got any grapes?"

Infuriated, the bartender pounds his fist on the bar and screams, "I told you two times we don't serve grapes, we serve drinks! If you ask me ONE MORE TIME I'm going to nail your beak to the wall! Now GET OUT!"

The duck shrugs and walks out of the bar.

The next day, the same duck walks back into the bar and asks the bartender, "Got any nails?"

The bartender looks at him and says no. So the ducks asks, "Got any grapes?"

May we all be as persistent as that duck is when it comes to what we want in life. I know I will be;)

More Crunch. Less Bloops.

Today I was working on some ambient noise that could be heard in a volcano. Forget that it'd be pretty tough to stay alive in one, just try to imagine what it would sound like. My initial thoughts? Some fire crackles here, low rumbles there, and some low pitch bloop sounds for the lava. Right? After designing an initial sketch, the bloop noises didn't quite sound natural in a volcano. It made it sound too watery and goopy.

After some thought and advice from friends, I decided to take out the bloops and to add more crunch with rock crumbling pitched lower to add more body. I also added a couple layers of fire thrower sounds with burning woodcrackles mixed in and VOILA- you're in a volcano. Be sure to check out the night life.

It's a small detail, but most of the time those are the most important ones.

Ready To Surf These Waves!

Aloha friends!

So I decided to pick up blogging again after a short break, but have it focus on my developing career as a composer and sound designer for film and video games. I'll be blogging about my radical stories of trials and triumph into designing sound and maybe post a couple things I'm working on. It'll be interesting to see my progression as an artist.

Until then...

Hang loose!!