Learn workflow techniques & creative tips for your own sound design process.
Watch game sound designer Marshall McGee (Just Cause 4) design the detailed sounds of suiting up into a mechanical robot in the game Titanfall 2. Using sounds from CORE 2 Standard by Pro Sound Effects, McGee takes us through his sound design process from start to finish – showing how he chooses material, layers & levels sounds, makes creative decisions, mixes and more.
Follow along as he designs the scene in real-time, breaking down the different mechanical components and walking us through his process for each:
00:00 — Intro
00:38 — Clip Watch Through
01:43 — Exploring the Library
04:15 — Ableton Session
05:13 — Robot/Machine Sound Design
07:59 —Digital Elements Sound Design
10:40 — Pre Master Mix
13:16 — Final Design
13:36 — Conclusion
McGee begins his process by analyzing the elements within his clip classifying them into three categories:
1. Mechanical
2. Digital
3. Ambiences
His first step is searching through CORE 2 Standard for elements with the right textures to emphasize what you can see on screen. He tackles the ambiences first, making sure to watch for the space of the environment and making sure the reverb is appropriate to the space. Once he's satisfied with the sound bed he's created, he then concentrates on the mechanical and digital elements, reminding us you can mess around with your audio files — pitch shifting them and expanding & contracting the time — to create new unique sounds.
Most importantly, McGee reminds us that you should always continue to practice your craft even if you're already a seasoned professional. Re-doing previous work allows you the opportunity to find new techniques and personalize your style, you never know what you can create next!
McGee designed this scene using sounds entirely from CORE 2 Standard — a powerful, go-to general library featuring over 80,000 sounds. Explore CORE to bundle and save on our highest quality libraries from Academy Award®-winners and world-class recordists – so you can deliver your best on any project.
Thanks to Marshall McGee for putting this tutorial together! Subscribe to his YouTube channel for more incredible sound design videos, and follow him on Twitter to keep up with his work.
What other sound design tutorials would you like to see? Let us know in the comments!
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