People have asked where certain older blogs are kept. Do a Search in Search box for whatever I may have published.

NASCAR HEAT 4 game I worked on

/

Today is the release day for NASCAR HEAT 4 game, made by 704 Games. We were hired to multi-track record Onboard and External sounds of a NASCAR race car with the Roush Team. The session was at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California.

Buy the game and enjoy our racing sounds!!

BTS Video from our NASCAR recording session!

Gameplay of NASCAR Heat 4

Driver Jeff Gordon

Driver Jeff Gordon

Driver Kevin Harvick

Driver Kevin Harvick

RECORDING ONBOARD SOUNDS (SOUNDS FROM DRIVER’S PERSPECTIVE)

RECORDING ONBOARD SOUNDS (SOUNDS FROM DRIVER’S PERSPECTIVE)

I was in charge of the Onboard sounds while Aaron Marks was tasked to take care of the external high speed passbys.

Onboard Sounds:
I very carefully placed 3 mics inside the engine compartment, 2 in the cab (for left & right stereo), and 3 for the exhausts. Because no one but the race car driver can ride inside a moving NASCAR, I zip tied my Sound Devices 788T-SSD recorder (housed in a K-Tek Stingray Junior audio bag) just inside where the passenger door would be. Race cars by the way don’t have doors. All mic cables and recorder had to stay off of the floor area because that’s where the super hot exhaust is located. With this scenario I typically hit record and let the car go away. Every time the car came back to the garage, I would hit stop and switch out the Compact Flash memory card. With my laptop nearby I was able to review my recording levels then adjust the settings on the recorder. I had to often clean the recorder and bag because brake debris kept getting over the gear. This recording and swapping of memory cards kept repeating through the long day until I was satisfied with the quality of the recordings.

SOUND DESIGNERS WATSON WU & AARON MARKS (IN CHARGE OF EXTERNAL PASSBYS)

SOUND DESIGNERS WATSON WU & AARON MARKS (IN CHARGE OF EXTERNAL PASSBYS)

External Sounds:
Three XY Stereo mics were setup up where the fans sit (with 1st mic being 600ft away from the 3rd mic). These were to capture the exhaust tones of the high speed passbys (at 190mph, 9,000 RPM). I tasked Aaron Marks for this because he has great ears, can work alone, and is ultra dependable.

SOUND DESIGNER AARON MARKS, SOUND DESIGNER WATSON WU, AND 704 GAMES PRODUCER SEAN WILSON AT FONTANA RACEWAY, CALIFORNIA

SOUND DESIGNER AARON MARKS, SOUND DESIGNER WATSON WU, AND 704 GAMES PRODUCER SEAN WILSON AT FONTANA RACEWAY, CALIFORNIA

 
ROUSH FORD MUSTANG NASCAR

ROUSH FORD MUSTANG NASCAR

ROUSH FORD MUSTANG NASCAR

ROUSH FORD MUSTANG NASCAR

Audio Director - Mark Knight head shot.jpg

Mark Knight

Audio Director

Special thanks to:
NASCAR, Roush Race Team, Brian Harrison, 704 Games, Producer Sean Wilson, Matt Lewis, Audio Director Mark Knight, Sound Effects Recordist Aaron Marks, Auto Club Race track staff, etc.

Click HERE to see Borderlands 3 game release info