Sound designer Scott Morton faces a massive task to capture the iconic sounds of the Star Wars universe in Bioware's laterst MMO The Old Republic.
Som esounds are so familiar and ingrained, they are the audio equivalent of household names; when we hear Chewbacca's roar or C-Threepio's irritating English chattering they are just as familiar as anything we hear in our lives.
Sounds like Jabba the Hutt's filthy, sleazy mumbling, the roar of a Snowbeast on Hoth, or even the death rattle of an Imperial Stormtrooper must be perfectly executed if we are to be immersed in the Star Wars universe.
This part of the game experience will play a large part in whether serious Star Wars fans and serious gamers really take the game as seriously as they might the game to engage with. Since I was 5 years old, leaving the cinema after Star Wars in 1978, I have wanted my lightsaber. So even if I can't take it to work with me just yet, it better sound great.
Incredibly, the sound of Tie Fighters from the movies was achieved with analogue technology. Today it is hard to imagine creating music for films without digital synthesisers and processing, but none of this existed then. Tie-fighting attacks were actually created with cable, elephants and motor engines all layered together to make the scream we all know and love.
It will remain a mystery for now, which elements of the game sounds date from the seventies, which ones are royalty-free sfx, and which were specially created. But at the end of the day we just need them to sound and feel exactly right.
Author Gertrude Blunt loves Audio Network production music in her sound designs.
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