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PRESENTED BY:lnd ecialGame SpecialGame Sound Sound Game SpecialGame Sound Sound SpecialSpecialBringing Entertainment Alive!Gam> same fear system as the music is – with oneimportant difference. The creepy ambi’ patchis more active when not much is happening.The advantage is two-fold. First, of course,‘creepy’ happens between the horrific bits –not during. Second, it lends itself perfectlyto the basic mixing technique of getting ridof unwanted sounds as main focus builds:crescendo, not cacophony, in other words.Another example is the surround reverb.At low fear, the music reverb is very presentin the rear, for a more open, ambient sound.As the fear level rises, that reverb is proportionatelylowered, ‘de-muddying’ the mix.Veca also notes a very system co-operativeapproach to visual effects. In Dead Spacethe audio system tracks effects and modifiesparameters during their life, as opposed tosimply firing a single effect at the start of adiscrete event and forgetting about it:“We were able to look at values inside thevisual effect at every frame and say ‘okay, it’schanged slightly, we’re going to change theaudio to match exactly what it’s doing’.”Tooled UpAs far as core audio gear in Veca’s studio isconcerned, we can start with Steinberg’sNuendo, an RME Fireface 800 interface, andBlueSky monitoring. “I wanted to do greataudio, but not overspend,” he says. And thenhe adds an interesting point to the great valuedebate: “I never want quality to suffer – we havetonnes of plug-ins and a lot of great software– but another employee, another head workingon the game, is worth a thousand plug-ins.”In plug-ins, Veca definitely has a fewfavourites from the Dead Space experience:“GRM Tools was just phenomenal. We usedthat for creating just weird, strange effectsthat you don’t normally hear. AudioEase’sAltiverb is some of the best software that I’veever heard in my life… and Speakerphone– we used that a lot too. Brilliant stuff.”The Visceral Games team also used a goodselection of synths and outboard in the designfor Dead Space. Moog Little Phatty, KorgMS2000, Access Virus, Electrix Warp Factory,dbx, BBE, and more were all employed.Heavy BreathingThere are some very specific moments andenvironments in Dead Space that neededspecial attention. For example, the excellent‘Zero G’ (zero gravity) scenarios move awayfrom an orchestral music arrangement to an allsyntheticsoundtrack, “Using synths and digitaleffects,” explains Veca. “I wanted to give you asense of floating in space.”There’s also the de-pressurised areas – noair. “People were asking ‘what are you goingto do when there’s no air?’… I said ‘I’m goingto turn everything off because you can’t hearthings in no air’.” Though Veca did leave inanything that might be conducted throughIsaac Clarke’s equipment and body, and stillbe audible in his suit: muffled breathing,heartbeat, his own muffled footsteps, creaturehits, and so on. On entering de-pressurisedareas Veca employed real-time filtering to‘suck out’ normal sound in a very short time.Then again, on leaving the zone, sound rushesin and gets exaggerated: “It’s an explosion ofsound,” he says. “I wanted it to be as loud aspossible… from no sound to loud and ugly,and grating.” For this, Veca recorded the SanFrancisco BART train (Bay Area Rapid Transit):“The wheels squeal, they go crazy… I went onthe BART train with a Sony portable recorderand was standing between the two cars whileit was going under the bay… Where it says‘Do not stand between cars’… I stood there.”That's how horror movie characters get intotrouble…. ∫THE WINNER IS… (X20)Obviously we can’t know if Dead Space has won any more awardsfor audio between writing and going to press, but to the best ofour knowledge, here’s the 20 it has picked up so far…• BAFTA: Best Use of Audio, Best Original Score• Developers Choice Awards (GDC): Best Audio• AIAS (Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences): OutstandingAchievement in Sound Design• GANG (Game Audio Network Guild): Audio of the Year, SoundDesign of the Year• Kotaku: Best Sound• Game Spot: Best Sound Design• IGN: Best Use of Sound (PS3)• GameSpy: Best Audio• Edge-Online: Best Audio Design• Game Focus Awards: Best Sound Design• NAViGaTR: Use of Sound, Sound Editing in Game Cinema,Sound Effects• Golden ‘Fro Awards: Best Sound Design• TeamXbox Game of the Year Awards: Best Sound• TGR Awards: Best Sound Design• Cody Awards: Best Sound• The Sixthaxis (TSA Awards): Best Audio.........................www.visceralgames.comINFORMATIONAudio Director – Don VecaSound Designer – Dave FeiseSound Designer – Andrew LackeySound Designer – David SwensonMusic Composer – Jason GravesAudio Software Engineer – Jay WellsAUDIO MEDIA JULY 200929