From raw audio libraries to finished sounds

Earlier this month Carbine introduced us to Senior Sound Designer Greg Meader as he walked us through bringing sound to one of WildStar's denizens. A nice start, but some people out there probably wanted to know more about sound design for MMOs like what makes a good designer or where they get all of the sounds they use. For those would-be sound designers out there, this week's WildStar Wednesday brings us Audio Director Charley Lanusse as he gives us another peek into the process of building sound.

In Greg's blog post we learned that what we hear from a monster/rocket/spell in an MMO can come from unexpected sources: fire extinguishers, markers, or even mud bubbles. There's a lot of work that goes into turning these original sounds into something that fits the game, but you still have to have these base sounds to work from and that means getting samples - lots of samples. Many come from commercial packages, but for those really unique sounds, it's time to go into the field and record your own. Experienced designers can amass a gigantic collection of sounds over the course of their career and those personal recordings can really make your work stand out from someone else's sounds.

If you'd like to read more about sound design or find out what makes for a great designer, head over to the WildStar blog and read the rest of Charley's post. While you're there, you should also read last week's blog post on the Ravaging of Arboria since the post came out after I was on vacation and unable to post anything for days. I swear, they save the good lore stuff for when I'm not home to talk about it...

Michael "Ragar" Branham