#112 - Clark Wen Interview (Metroid Prime, Sound Design, Kenji Yamamoto, Mixing, SFX, Game Audio etc. )

Clark Wen is a sound designer who owns the sound studios Exile
Sound. He has worked on game franchises such as Guitar Hero and
Call Of Duty. He is most well known for being Audio Director on
Metroid Prime 1 & 2.


Thanks to  @SynaMax  for the assistance on the mixing
of this episode.


#metroidprime #metroid #metroidvania


 


SOCIAL MEDIA


WEBSITE - exilesound.com


TWITTER - @exile5ound


 


TIMESTAMPS


 


00:00 - Intro


01:23 - Influences On Metroid Prime’s Sound Design


05:22 - Most Of Metroid Prime’s Sound Design Was Made Via
Synthesizers


06:21 - Morph Ball SFX Was Based On Magnets/Layering Sounds


08:59 - Echo Visor SFX


11:26 - Screw Attack SFX


12:15 - Clark’s Saying “Fail Often And Fail Early”/Iterations Of
Refining A Sound


13:22 - Space Pirates SFX Evolution


16:47 - Metroid Prime Music Pitch Was Rock Based/Iterations Of
The Prime Music


19:24 - Original Composers Retro Pitched To Nintendo/Prime Music
Done In Last 3 Months Of Development


21:00 - Most Of Kenji Yamamoto’s Music Submitted Didn’t Need
Revisions


22:05 - Implementation Of The Prime Music


23:40 - Implementation Of Music In Prime 2 Was Refined


24:20 - Kenji Yamamoto Made Clark Make Changes To Prime 1 On The
Day Before Going Gold


26:24 - Trying To Keep The Audio Quality Intact Despite Ear
Fatigue From Prime 1 Crunch


28:00 - Prime 1 Was A Passion Project For Clark


28:38 - Clark’s Experience With Shigeru Miyamoto


30:26 - Yoshi Sakamoto Was There To Ensure Lore Stayed Intact


31:02 - Nintendo Is Very Strict When It Comes To Voice Acting


32:44 - Clark Is Unsure If Jennifer Hale Is The Voice Actress For
Samus/Death Scream Was Different Actress


34:20 - How Metroid Prime Influenced Clark’s Sound Design Going
Forward


36:15 - Sound Designers Should Learn To Create Sounds Before
Learning Implementation


38:49 - Good Websites/Channels To Learn About Sound Design


40:31 - Using Multiple Speaker Systems Well Mixing Sounds


41:27 - Clark’s Process To Mixing A Sound Effect


42:35 - Clark Likes Recording Original Sound Source Material


43:50 - Clark Takes His Recording Rig When He Goes Travelling


44:20 - Tokyo Is Clark’s Favourite City


44:54 - Meeting Kenji Yamamoto In Person


46:26 - Languages Clark Can Speak


47:09 - Clark Loves Chernobyl OST/Where Clark Would Like Prime 4
Music To Go


49:15 - Blurring The Line With Phazon Being Music & A Sound
Effect


49:58 - Trying To Ensure A Sound Effect And Music Blend Well/Game
Mixing


52:22 - Clark Automatically Critiques Any Game’s Audio & SFX
When He Plays


53:20 - Clark Doesn’t Critique Film Audio & SFX As Much As
Games/Clark Gets Inspired By Films SFX


54:22 - Clark is Playing Through Metroid Dread/Initially
Critiqued Dread’s Audio


55:40 - Where To Follow Clark Wen