Driven to Perfection - Game Audio Design

Game Audio Sound Design at Codemasters Chris Jojo Senior Sound Designer at Codemasters Software talks to us about the unique and demanding fieldcraft of vehicle recording, shedding light on his work in the games industry and the methods behind sound capture for acclaimed rallying title DiRT4.

Chris Jojo Senior Sound Designer | Codemasters

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Tell us a bit about yourself and your work as a sound designer in the games industry. I'm Senior Sound Designer and Principal Sound Recording Engineer at Codemasters Software Ltd: a BAFTA-Award-winning developer of next-gen console games specialising in motorsports titles such as Formula 1, GRID, Micro Machines and DiRT Rally.

I've been working in game audio production for the past 22 years. Prior to this, I worked in film and television post-production. My work has encompassed field and foley recording, sound design, music composition and production, IR authoring and surround mixing.

I'm very fortunate to have worked alongside many talented people and to have been involved in a variety of projects across a diverse range of gaming genres. With the exponential advancement in game platform audio capabilities and associated tech, each new console generation presents a fresh host of challenges, calling for new kinds of learning and a greater appreciation of the ongoing process of sound design (integral to which is the recording of source audio assets).

As a long-standing user of Rycote products, it's a pleasure to be able to talk about my work here alongside renowned industry professionals.

My interest in sound recording and my awareness of sound design was initially sparked way back in the summer of 1977, when as a wide eyed nine-year-old I witnessed Star Wars for the first time.

How did you start out in sound? My interest in sound recording and my awareness of sound design was initially sparked way back in the summer of 1977, when as a wide eyed nine-year-old I witnessed Star Wars for the first time in a packed-out Odeon cinema in Manchester. I was completely awestruck: utterly captivated by the sensory spectacle unfolding before my eyes and resounding in my ears.

It was sound editor/recordist Ben Burtt's innovative work on the film, his subsequent output with Skywalker Sound and the inspiring work of contemporaries such as Frank Serafine, Randy Thom, Gary Rydstrom and Walter Murch that set me on a path of discovery which ultimately lead to a career in the games industry as a sound designer.

My first steps working in professional audio came about while I was still at college. I'd taken a course in Sound Engineering and Music Production, and through my involvement with fellow students most of whom were musicians I became involved in engineering sessions for bands around a few local recording studios, as well as producing my own music. It proved an invaluable practical experience; I was able to apply what I'd learnt and experiment with microphone set-ups, processing and production techniques whilst also benefitting from the mentorship of the studios' resident engineers.

From college, I went on to study at Manchester University of Art and Design, graduating with a BA in Design for Communications Media. After a brief stint with Palace Pictures working as a storyboard artist for film producer Joanne Seller, I landed a job at a film and television post-production company based in Hong Kong.

It was during this time that I became aware of the burgeoning computer games industry: the 4th generation of 16-bit games platforms driven by Nintendo, Sega and NEC were becoming hugely popular worldwide with software development studios starting to emerge in the UK. I'd bought a Super Nintendo (Famicom) console while in Hong Kong, and I quickly became an avid gamer and fan of the creative talent responsible for some of my favourite titles. (Most notably, game designer Shigeru Miyamoto and sound designer/composer Koji Kondo.)

The notion of working as a sound designer and composer in such a creative, fledgling industry really appealed to me. By pure serendipity, I was contacted out of the blue by a friend from my college days who was working for the UK-based games developer Software Creations, enquiring if I was interested in such a role. Needless to say, I accepted. Some 10 platform generations later, it's the industry I'm still working in and passionate about.

What are you up to at the moment? Any exciting projects in the pipeline for Codemasters? We recently completed work on DiRT4: Codemasters' latest release in the DiRT canon of award-winning, off-road motor racing games. Following off the back of the PC-only, early access DiRT Rally, it's the company's purest expression of a rally simulation to date and a project I'm extremely proud of. My fellow audio team members and I consider it to be amongst the best sounding titles in Codemasters' canon.

DiRT4 marked a significant departure from Codemasters' previous releases in terms of its developmental approach in conveying a more realistic simulation of off-road racing. It's somewhat leaner in scope than its predecessors, delivering a far more focused and authentic representation of rallying. In the game, the player attempts to master the minutiae of motorsports driving, with constant input and concentration required in order to clear a car across some very challenging, iconic rally stages and rallycross circuits.

The shift towards a more realistic sounding game was a boon for the audio team. We were all in agreement that we wanted to distance ourselves from an over-stylised, hyper-real Hollywood' approach (a style co-opted by many racing titles on the market) in favor of a more natural sounding, accurate representation of the rally experience, preserving both dynamics and headroom at output.

Pivotal to DiRT4

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