GDC 2007: Designing the Sounds of Gears of War with destroyed beauty

Every time I hear the words “Gears of War” and “sounds” used in a sentence, I always hear and see the Mad World trailer (“All around me are familiar faces, worn out places, worn out faces…”) replaying in my mind. Face it. That vid was effective marketing on their part. When it comes to the actual game though, do know that they put a lot of effort in the creation of its audio riffs.

One of the events in GDC was a panel with Epic Games‘ Mike Larson (audio director for GoW) in a discussion on “The Sounds of Gears of War.” Beside him were Jamey Scott and Daniel Vogel – sound designer and programmer respectively. So, what did they talk about? Larson explained how they wanted to carry out the concept of “destroyed beauty” through sound – they achieved it in the Mad World trailer, methinks.

During the start of audio development though, they tried to “take the literal equivalent of that concept” by adding a lot of static noise and distortions into the riffs. So much for the “destroyed” part, but that just made the tracks sound as if there was just a problem with the playback itself. Not good. So, Larson said that he had to limit the audio palette by compiling just a few restrictions and Scott adds that they wanted to “transcend [the] limit of technology and become more stylized.”

This eventually led them to more organic-sounding effects; nothing was synthesized. They wanted very unique sounds – not just those that you would get from an audio library. They actually had live recordings – and believe it or not, those sounds the Locust make actually come from human vocal chords. The team wanted a “heavy and gritty feeling” instead of the “controlled and clean sound.”

Put that way, it actually makes sense and fits perfectly with the game. Can’t believe how extreme they went with the sound effects, but the more I think about it (and especially after hearing their story), I can’t help but appreciate it all the more.

Every time I hear the words “Gears of War” and “sounds” used in a sentence, I always hear and see the Mad World trailer (“All around me are familiar faces, worn out places, worn out faces…”) replaying in my mind. Face it. That vid was effective marketing on their part. When it comes to the actual game though, do know that they put a lot of effort in the creation of its audio riffs.

One of the events in GDC was a panel with Epic Games‘ Mike Larson (audio director for GoW) in a discussion on “The Sounds of Gears of War.” Beside him were Jamey Scott and Daniel Vogel – sound designer and programmer respectively. So, what did they talk about? Larson explained how they wanted to carry out the concept of “destroyed beauty” through sound – they achieved it in the Mad World trailer, methinks.

During the start of audio development though, they tried to “take the literal equivalent of that concept” by adding a lot of static noise and distortions into the riffs. So much for the “destroyed” part, but that just made the tracks sound as if there was just a problem with the playback itself. Not good. So, Larson said that he had to limit the audio palette by compiling just a few restrictions and Scott adds that they wanted to “transcend [the] limit of technology and become more stylized.”

This eventually led them to more organic-sounding effects; nothing was synthesized. They wanted very unique sounds – not just those that you would get from an audio library. They actually had live recordings – and believe it or not, those sounds the Locust make actually come from human vocal chords. The team wanted a “heavy and gritty feeling” instead of the “controlled and clean sound.”

Put that way, it actually makes sense and fits perfectly with the game. Can’t believe how extreme they went with the sound effects, but the more I think about it (and especially after hearing their story), I can’t help but appreciate it all the more.