09/06 OFP: DR Sound Team Update - Weapons!

[Helios]

Just had yet another nice surprise in my inbox from the Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising Sound Team, who have been kind enough to provide me with yet another update. The topic this time......WEAPONS!



"During the Month of November 2008 on a normally quiet farm in Nashville Tennessee Someone was making a lot of noise all in the name of Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising.

Going back a few months to April of that year I’d contacted Steve Austin of Austin Enterprise to see if he’d like to record some of his personal collection of weapons for our game, needless to say he jumped at the chance to do this. Right from the very first conversations and early planning Steve was totally in tune with what we wanted to achieve, realistic matter of fact recordings of weapons from as many distances as mic leads and audio channels would allow. Many conversations discussing possibilities went back and forth, should we try any Binaural recordings? What Microphones shall we use? How much is all that Ammo going to cost!

Eventually the configuration we went for allowed us to get 2 pairs of matched stereo recordings close to the weapon for a really clear true sound, 1 overhead and and extra 3 microphones placed at various distances below the firing line to pick up the distant gunfire and gunfire tails. From these amazing recordings we have managed to reproduce the characteristics of the weapons, within the game we can use all of our distant recordings to mix between close to medium to a distant crack with seamless transitions.

Steve Austin Managed to get a whole host of very cool weapons, and luckily enough for us Barrett is based In Murfreesboro, Tennessee so getting hold of a 50.cal Rifle was a matter of a few phone calls. The collection covered all sorts of pistols, assault rifles, sub machineguns, Sniper Rifles and some other exotic weapons that whilst not suitable for OFP are certainly great to have in our library just in case. After the recordings were delivered it was up to our sound designers to get them sounding as true as possible, using the mission editor we can make test missions to individually test different weapons in situations such as at distance and firing inside a building, both of which realistically change the way you hear the weapons.

Picking favorite sounding weapons is difficult but when you hear the Suppressed weapons followed by a blast from the Barrett you can’t beat that kind of contrast!

The expertise and enthusiasm that Steve and his team delivered, both in terms of weapon knowledge and recording tech, was really beneficial to our game and we’ll definitely be looking to get a few more noisy days out in Nashville! Please visit his website for the gun shop he runs in Nashville:

http://nashvillearms.com/index.html"


A selection of some of the weapons used on the shoot


Steve Austin Weapon Recordist


The landscape was perfect for recording distant gunfire


Recording an AK47


The Barrett sounds very impressive!


As usual all images are available to view and download at full-res from the Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising Flickr Picture Set

Many thanks once again to the sound team, Oorah!

[[TSH] Kakeshoma]

Very, very, VERY COOL!!! thanks!!

[Sir. Polaris]

Hawt!!!!

E-mailing the masses and updated back backround wallpaper

[Helios]

Two replies and not a "stone-cold" comment in sight, I'm impressed

[Florsi Florsa]

W00t!!! Sound team rulez!

[ZaRiF215]

Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet :d

[-Shifty-]

Very nice! I'm glad to see CM cares so much about perfect weapon sounds. I can't wait to hear the M16A4

Thanks for the update Helios. Any chance we'll be seeing a hardcore mode exclusive screenshot anytime soon? I think we all need it.

[Gr8gam3r]

The guns look nice! Can't wait to hear them in game

[1Mystic-G]

....because stone cold said so!!!

[FCOPZ-illuminator]

Originally Posted by Helios

Steve Austin Weapon Recordist
Oorah!

I like the tattoo on his hand: Das eiserner Kreuz