Before reading this story, turn your speakers on and listen to the song above. Trust us. We’ll get back to it in a minute.
Listen to the sounds of Fable III and you’ll hear some noticeable contributions made by three Sound Design for Visual Media grads – Robbie Elias, Noa Lothian, and Kyle Fraser – out of the Microsoft Game Studios SoundLab.
“Noa and I both got a chance to do creature design for two creatures in the game.” Robbie explains of the trio’s work as sound designers. “In one case, we used our own voice mixed with animal vocals and heavy processing to create an original design for each set of vocals.” Kyle, meanwhile, cut particle effects like magic shields and electricity.
Most of Robbie’s time on Fable III involved being in the Foley room, capturing details for in-game animations – everything from cloth to kisses to footsteps to body falls.
And then came the dogs. Robbie recorded eight of them for the sounds of the game’s canine companion.
“Funny story about this,” Robbie says. “I almost got attacked by one of the dogs. His name was Butch, and he was one of the meanest dogs I have ever encountered. If you put your hand near him when he had a treat he would literally make the sound of a demon from hell.”
“One of the best recording sessions I have ever been a part of.”
Robbie Almost Dies (MP3) (WAV)
“We used eight microphones for each dog,” he says, “which in included a 4-mic array setup (two 8040s, 416, and a MKH 40) around each dog, a stereo hand held MS rig, MKH 30 and 40, and a stereo ‘distant’ setup.”
But what about those singing chickens? Noa got to design some short songs for the game, including this one. “The chicken song was mostly Noa and myself ‘bawking’ the melody of the song in a VO room,” Robbie says. ”Then Noa layered in some real chickens to make it sound authentic.”
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