The Art of Sound. A Chat with Sound Designer Duncan Soo
The sound design in games has an array of awards to acknowledge creativity and excellence. But nobody really peeks behind the metaphorical soundproof curtain to see what goes on back there.
If you want to know how to get your start and succeed in any field, it is extremely insightful to learn how others have navigated their career paths.
Over the last 2 years, Duncan’s works can be heard mostly on local Malaysian films like Kabus (2020, Ceroboh (2021) and Can You Love Me Most (2021). And recently, he ventured into the Malaysian games scene through “Dying Flame”.
In this interview, Duncan generously offered to share his perspective, experience, and insight for emerging sound designers.
Can you talk a bit about your background and how you got into Sound Design for gaming?
I’m a sound designer for film and games. I’ve graduated from Full Sail University with a degree in Music Production. From there, I’ve worked my way up into sound editorial and found myself in various interactive and linear media projects. The responsibilities vary depending on what medium but as a whole, they are:
- Spotting/planning what the auditory experience we’d like to create for the listener.
- Then, it’s creating (recording, editing, and designing) the sounds.
- Finally, it’s marrying all the sound elements to create the world of the film/game.
What technical skill sets do you think are essential in terms of entry-level sound designer positions?
Referencing materials and getting to the reference materials as close as possible. Lots of sound design work is mostly being able to recreate about 80% of what the client provided as a reference and 20% is where you’ll be able to put your flair in.
Equally important is to work with what you have. They say the best camera is in your pocket — and that rings true to audio recorders as well. A lot of sounds that we create are usually obtainable using our phones as they happen when we don’t have our gear (try bringing a sound blimp into a night market and you’ll probably have people making unwanted sounds).
What project are you the proudest of so far?
Every new project is my proudest as they build on my previous learnings on what works and what doesn’t, doesn’t. But if I had to choose one game-wise, it would be Dying Flame as it has given me the freedom and the time flexibility to create.
Is there a sound/piece of audio you have created that will always stick with you?
Can I suggest two? First, it was a whirlpool formed at a drainpipe after a heavy rain pour. It was during a shoot for KABUS and it was shot during August, which was pretty close to the rainy season. The whirlpool sounded well, like a whirlpool since it has a suction effect but the quality of the sound took me by surprise. You can find the sound effect on my Twitter here.
The second one is definitely the 150cc motorbikes that I have to record for a racing game for a game company. It was during practice day we were invited down to gather audio recordings of the bikes as they ran around the track and wow did they sound crazy in person! Way different than those modified “kapcais” you hear on the streets of Malaysia at night.
These were lower, fuller, and louder. In addition to that, we had some 600cc motorbikes doing their laps too and I’d say they sounded better than the current F1 hybrid era cars.
There seems to be a lot of secrecy in the gaming world. Is that based more on technical issues or is it more about plot lines and content?
There really isn’t much secrecy within the game audio world. On Twitter (#gameaudio), you’ll find lots of audio people sharing their workflows, their discoveries, and how they implement the sounds into their game. Here are some people that I look up to and are all equally approachable:
● @7thbeat — Creator of Rhythm Doctor
● @gy_gwen — Imba Interactive co-founder, No Straight Roads
● @Darshan_Li_Nair — GAMY co-organizer, sound designer
● @maizewallin — composer/sound designer for Wayward Strand, advocate at NonBinary.Zone
● @markkilborn — Call of Duty, Full Sail Alumni
● @oscar_coen — sound designer on Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
How do you talk about what you do for a living? We are surrounded by sounds in our daily lives, and music is everywhere, to the point that you take it for granted. How difficult is it to convey the complexity of what you do on these productions?
I would start with, “I make sounds and attach it to things and make it sound pretty.” and go from there.
Do you sometimes get disappointed by the invisibility of sound in a game?
Nope, I think that’s where the magic comes from. The visual element provides the audience a conscious state of mind and the audio moves the audience in a subconscious way. And people have been noticing how sound has provided something that people can latch on to.
For example, I’ve been listening to lots of Japanese jazz fusion and in the comments section, I can see that lots of people relate this to a Gran Tourismo soundtrack as it evokes that feeling.
You mentioned Dying Flame earlier, made by a local indie dev RoundTable Games Studio. So, let’s deep dive a bit into making sound for a horror game, especially this one. One of the unique features of this game was the near-total absence of light, elevating the importance of sound. From start to finish, what was the creative process behind creating the sound?
Crystal (Project Manager @RoundTable) would provide me with a sound asset sheet list with references for what it would be in-game and that would be my starting point. From there, I would keep in mind what is the function of each specific sound, say this low hum drone would be the bed for the ambiance or this would be a one-shot for the monster when the player aggravates the monster.
At one point there is a musical element to it too so I had to crosstalk with the composer (Ms. Joanna Khoo — her Twitter here) to make sure that my sound effects are in the same (or relative) key so that I don’t create a disjoint between the music and sound effects. Then there’s a lot of going back and forth with the team to make sure it plays well.
Did you have to change the sounds in any way to fit the art?
The aesthetic is 2D RPG Maker style and while the sound effects are exported at professional standard quality, there wasn’t a need to apply any dirt or reduce the quality at the export.
This is because the audio engine plays audio files at a lower quality — that provides enough context for the player to feel like the sound is part of the world. Like how a doom audio engine would playthings at a lower sampling rate.
What was the most challenging sound you had to create/modify for this game, and how did you solve/do it?
Based on the number of revisions, definitely the monster. We had to get that right as it’s the main mechanic of the game. As I wasn’t able to playtest as the audio was being implemented, I had to rely on Justin and Crystal’s feedback to make sure that we were in the right direction.
In the beginning, we had referenced the witch from Left of Dead but then that didn’t work as it was too clean. So we took animal snarls, eventually, a baby wheezing, and then superimposed Mary’s dialogue into it. From there on there are a lot of minute revisions to properly transition between the states that the monster was in.
What do you think is the future of game audio in your opinion?
I’ve never thought of it globally but as for Southeast Asia, there is a push for inclusivity and representation of our culture in games. So the audio counterpart would also need to serve that direction. That means creating sound libraries that are localized, casting, and hiring local talents.
What lies in the future for you now?
There is another game that I am closely working with RTGS at the moment. I can’t say much about it but I can’t wait for everyone to play it. I also hope that the COVID situation improves so we can all see each other again for game meetups.
Any final words?
Thanks for having me and have fun discovering audio gems in games! I’m active on Twitter (@szxduncanv2) and Instagram (@szxduncanv2) if you want to give me a holla.
Many Thanks to Duncan for finding time in his busy schedule to answer a few questions about sound design. Dying Flame by RoundTable Games Studio is available on Steam.
