After Bryce Raffle graduated from the Sound Design for Visual Media program in 2012, he found himself working on VFS’s first feature-length film, Captive, followed by a couple of independent short films. For the last six months, Bryce has been working for Ironclad on Sins of a Dark Age, an online MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) game for PC.

Why did you decide to study Sound Design?

Bryce: I’d been interested in a career in film for a long time. In high school and university, I studied filmmaking, film theory, and even acting. I really didn’t care how I got my “big break” into Hollywood. I just wanted to be involved in the film industry. So I made a ton of terrible student films and came to the conclusion that if I was going to be successful, I was going to need some proper training.

It wasn’t until I visited VFS, and started talking with their advisors, that I realized how perfectly suited I was to sound design. I come from a musical background, though not in the traditional sense. I can’t play an instrument to save my life. My background is in electronic music, things like synthesis and signal processing, sampling, and so on. A lot of these things were covered in the year at VFS, and the prospect of learning more about them was definitely appealing.

What were some highlights from your time in the program?

Bryce: To be honest, the entire year at VFS was an incredible experience. I could rattle off a dozen different highlights, but I’ll try to stick to just a few. For starters, I had a great class full of very talented people. We all got along really well, but we also had a lot of friendly competition, which I think is important.

Another highlight was recording Foley. There’s something incredibly satisfying about recording sound effects to picture, rather than simply editing pre-recorded sound effects using software. I also enjoyed the creative challenge of Foley – trying to figure out the perfect prop for a moment on screen.

The surprise highlight for me was game audio. I went to VFS with the intention of working in the film industry, but once I started studying game audio, I was hooked. What I love about it is that it’s interactive, non-linear, and immersive. With linear media, like film, you can see exactly when and how a certain moment will play out on screen. With games there are so many variables involved – everything depends on the player’s actions. I found that to be much more interesting: setting up audio to play out in real-time based on game events and parameters.

Besides the game audio classes, we were also given the opportunity to collaborate with students from the Game Design program on their projects and I was lucky enough to work on two different games.

After graduation, you started with freelance work. Tell us about your experience transitioning from student to working in the industry.

Bryce: For me, one of the major benefits of going to a school like VFS was the opportunity for networking. Throughout the year, you’re given opportunities to work with students from other programs, Film Production and Game Design in particular. So when school ended, I was already connected to dozens of fellow graduates and current students, many of whom were already working on various projects. I basically took on any project that came my way, and I had my hands full almost immediately after leaving school.

The highlight of my freelancing work was Captive, a VFS-produced student feature film. I was on set for 12 out of 13 days, and some of the shots were pretty intense for the sound crew, especially with two cameras running for every shot and not a lot of time for rehearsals. I think the most notable moment for me was a sequence that was filmed from the inside of a cigar shop, where the two main actors are doing their dialogue from across the street. It was raining and we were pressed for time, so we weren’t able to use wireless microphones and had to use a boom. Of course, with a wide shot across the street, that wasn’t an easy solution. I ended up extending the boom pole to its full length, about 16 feet, standing at the top of a ladder, and extending the pole across the street. It basically took two boom operators to manage that.

You are now working on a game called Sins of a Dark Age at Ironclad – what has that experience been like?

Bryce: I feel incredibly lucky to have wound up at Ironclad. It’s been an incredible experience and I feel like I’m learning something new all the time.

Sins of a Dark Age is truly a sound designers dream project. Working on a game that takes place in a fantasy realm filled with magic, knights in armor, and fantastical beasts like dragons and hydras is incredibly fun because it’s so creative. There’s so much that’s left up to the imagination. I’m constantly asking myself questions like, “what does a portal scroll sound like?” or “what does this magical runestone sound like?” and once I figure out the answer to those questions, I have to figure out how to make those sounds. It’s a constant creative challenge when most of the sounds I’m designing are not sounds you’d hear in the real world.

Ironclad’s fan base is also quite unique; I’ve found it pretty amazing how much their beta testers have stepped up to give meaningful and insightful feedback on Sins of a Dark Age. I actually get a lot of ideas and have even learned things that I didn’t know about the game just from reading the forums.

Now that you’ve worked in film and games, what do you prefer? What are the major differences?

Bryce: Film is like my first love. I think I’ll always love making movies. There’s really nothing quite like being on an action-packed film set. There’s so much going on all the time, it’s productive, and I feel like I’m part of something. I love seeing a film go from just a few words on paper to a finished product. I also love the feeling I get when I’m editing sound effects and the director hears everything for the first time. They’re usually blown away by how much you can step up the quality of a film just by adding in a bit of sound design, especially student directors.

For me, games are like this whole new world that’s still pretty much undiscovered. It’s a newer medium for one, and I feel like game developers are constantly making improvements to how games are made – graphics capabilities are improving, and new genres are still being explored. But it’s more than just that. I’m new to the game design world – I’d never even heard the term MOBA before I started working on this project – so there’s a lot of room to learn, come up with new ideas, and to see what works and what doesn’t.

What do you love most about sound design?

Bryce: I’ve been asked that question before. My answer is always what’s not to love? I mean, I get to spend my days making sound effects for video games. The reaction I get when I tell people what I do for a living never gets old either.

But what I love most about sound design – and in particular, what I love most about doing sound design for Ironclad – is the creative freedom. Sound design isn’t just about editing sound effects. It’s emotionally evocative, or at the very least immersive. Whether you’re gaming or just watching a movie, sound design is there to place you in the moment. There is a creative vision behind it, and I love having the freedom of expression and the ability to bring life to something you’re seeing on screen.

Thanks for speaking with us, Bryce! Good luck with Sins of a Dark Age.