In this video, Secret Level’s Supervising Sound Editor Matt Yocum walks through the sound design and mixing of the episode Warhammer 40,000: And They Shall Know No Fear. Part of an anthology series of animated shorts based on popular game franchises, this episode is a sound designer’s dream: 20 minutes of heavily armored Space Marines fighting hordes of cultists and demons on an alien planet, culminating in a battle with a powerful sorcerer.
Get an inside look at Matt’s process as he talks about laying the groundwork in spotting sessions with the Director, breaks down the sonic layers of two epic scenes, and discusses the importance of contrast in sound design.
00:00 - Overview
First off, Matt explains the purpose of this walkthrough. “My goal here is to try and describe the different thought processes that take place whenever we’re approaching any project,” he says, “to help create a thought process that you can apply to your own projects to step through certain decisions and discussions with your directors or producers, or whoever the creatives are.”
"My goal here is to try and describe the different thought processes that take place whenever we’re approaching any project."
00:40 - Script and spotting
Whenever possible, Matt’s first step is to read through the script. “Reading the script is a great time to get a sense for the story, the characters; to understand the plot from beginning to end; to see where we start, where we’re going; and to hopefully come up with some sound-inspired ideas along the way,” he says.
Next comes a spotting session, where the Supervising Sound Editor watches through the episode with the Director and Picture Editor. Scene by scene, they stop to discuss ideas for how to use sound to support the story. “Basically, it’s our chance to understand from a storytelling point of view how sound design is going to help reinforce certain ideas and to help certain things feel impactful for the audience,” says Matt.
01:45 - How Warhammer lore informed the sound design
While spotting the episode with Showrunner and Director Dave Wilson, Matt received a crash course in Warhammer lore. “He was giving me tons of information on the really rich and vibrant backstory of the universe of Warhammer,” says Matt. Even though the nature of the Chaos gods who feed on the fears and emotions of mortals isn’t directly explained in the episode, learning this deep lore helped inform Matt’s sound design decisions.
“We can directly influence the way the audience perceives something, even if there’s no dialogue or exposition to explain what it is,” Matt says. “The sonic cues can be enough sometimes to explain what it is that’s going on or to at least give a sense of the vibe of whatever it is that’s taking place.”
"We can directly influence the way the audience perceives something, even if there’s no dialogue or exposition to explain what it is."
03:20 - Battle scene breakdown
Next, Matt plays a scene in which a horde of Chaos cultists and demons ambush the Space Marines in multiple waves. The scene starts off dense with gunfire, vehicles, gore, and battlecries before a brief pause interrupts the action and the pulse-pounding musical score takes over as the battle heats up again. The scene ends with a massive explosion and a heroic shot of the main character reloading his weapon.
In an action-heavy scene like this, Matt says, “The job of the sound designer and the sound effects editor is to essentially cover and to be aware of all the details of what’s going on, and to do multiple passes of covering all of the details,” including bullet bys and impacts, melee weapons, gore, vehicles, ambient sounds, voices, Foley, footsteps, and debris.
06:34 - Additive and subtractive processes
After playing the scene, Matt pulls up the Pro Tools session for the episode and scrolls through dozens of layers of sound effects making up the battle scene to illustrate the difference between the editing and mixing processes.
“The editorial process is what I would call an additive process, meaning we are choosing and adding in sounds to cover the details of what it is that we are watching,” Matt explains. “You may look at this and think, ‘That’s crazy. This will never play. How do I focus this?’ That’s where the mix process comes in.”
“The mix process is mostly a subtractive process, where we are going, ‘OK, what exactly do I need to focus on moment-to-moment?’” Matt continues. “I don't need to hear every sound in every shot. What I need to do is to look at the screen to look at what the character is doing or what action is being performed on screen and to essentially focus the spotlight on those elements.
08:30 - Music
All of that complexity is compounded when you add in music and dialogue, making it even harder to make important elements stand out in the mix. Fortunately for Matt, Wilson had thought ahead and planned out which moments would focus on sound design and where music should take over.
Talking over a replay of the battle scene, Matt highlights a break in the action where the sound effects briefly die down as the Space Marines brace themselves to fight the next wave. “The music takes over and becomes the driving force, and the sound effects are still there, but they are brought way, way down in the mix and serve more as texture,” he explains.
This interplay between music and sound effects illustrates the importance of the additive and subtractive approaches. “As a sound effects editor, I just need to cut all of the material,” Matt says, “And then, when it comes time to mix, we will make those decisions on what things need to be featured.”
09:36 - Pro Sound Effects libraries used in the episode
“Editing big, busy scenes like this is the exact reason why it’s so important to have curated and organized, really great-sounding libraries; and that is what Pro Sound Effects helps bring to the table,” Matt says. “When I'm able to go search for my libraries with specific terms and pull up lots of great results, that makes my life a lot easier.”
Matt goes on to list some of the PSE libraries he used for this episode, including the Odyssey Collection, King Collection, Colossal, Dark Matter, and Detonate.
10:20 - Temple scene and the importance of contrast
Next, Matt plays a scene in which the Space Marines enter a temple housing a massive statue devoted to a Chaos god. With the protection of an astropath – a type of sci-fi sorcerer – they begin firing at the statue before a rival sorcerer emerges and stops time, causing shells to freeze in midair while it stabs the astropath and psychically attacks the mind of a Space Marine.
“Just like in the previous canyon battle scene, there's a lot of sound going on here, and one of the most important tools that we have at our disposal for a scene like this is the use of contrast,” Matt says. “Specifically, I'm talking about contrast in dynamics, and I'm also talking about contrast in terms of making choices that are tonal-based sounds versus noise-based sounds.”
12:43 - Tonal contrast example
Matt focuses first on a shot of the Space Marines firing their weapons while the astropath’s force field protects them from an assault by giant, disembodied hands. Instead of using the usual explosions and impact sounds, Matt chose to create custom synthesizer hits with a low-mid tonal quality to better stand out in the mix.
“Within the context of the full mix, it helps give this sort of low-end weight,” Matt explains, adding that he designed the sounds to sound bass-heavy on large speakers yet still have enough midrange to be audible on smaller speakers. “Creating tonal things that have a little bit of movement to them will stick out and help add support in a really busy-sounding, noisy moment,” he adds.
“Creating tonal things that have a little bit of movement to them will stick out and help add support in a really busy-sounding, noisy moment.”
14:06 - Dynamic contrast examples
To demonstrate the importance of dynamic contrast in an action-packed scene like this, Matt focuses on the moment when the enemy sorcerer swoops in and plants their staff in the ground, causing a magical explosion that stops time and freezes the Space Marines’ shells in mid-air.
“I want to focus on the fact that there are sort of rhythmic cuts in here; it's not just a continuous sound,” Matt says. “Instead of just going ‘boom’ and sustaining through and just creating one long explosion sound, it's super rhythmic and it kind of continues to evolve.” Cutting sound effects rhythmically and adding in pockets of silence helps create dynamic contrast that keeps the scene moving.
Matt goes on to break down a few more key moments from the scene. Using tonal elements, rhythmic editing, and brief moments of silence allows the soundtrack to follow the pace of the action without becoming a noisy mess. “All of this is contrast,” he says. “Contrast in tone, contrast in dynamics, contrast through rhythm.”
17:55 - “If everything is a 10, nothing is a 10.”
“We have this phrase, ‘If everything is a ten, nothing is a ten,’” Matt says. “In other words, if everything is as loud and as big as it can possibly be at all times, it eventually just sounds sort of normal. There's no contrast there.”
If you start your sound design at the ‘ten’ level, there’s nowhere to go when things need to sound bigger. But by pulling back and making certain moments a little less intense, the ‘ten’ moments will feel much bigger and more impactful. “Just keep that in mind as you're designing to make sure that you're utilizing contrast in order to create something that feels big,” Matt concludes.
18:54 - Conclusion
Wrapping up, Matt reiterates how rewarding it was to collaborate closely with Director Dave Wilson. “You should be doing the same on your projects,” he says. “Get invested with your directors. Show them that you can bring ideas to the table; that you care about telling the story sonically. Show them what is possible through sound design.”
Secret Level is available on Amazon Prime. To hear Matt’s sound design in full, watch Episode 5 of Season 1, entitled “Warhammer 40,000: And They Shall Know No Fear.”