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
Web site
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
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
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.
