(1/23) This thread is a celebration of my largest task for #TheLastofUsPartII : the Infected sound design. 
(2/23) My task was to conceptualize, prototype, sound design, edit, and implement all vocals and non-vocal sound effects for the Infected in TLOU2, within systemic gameplay, in-game cinematics (IGCs), proper cinematics and player death moments.
(3/23) Instead of talking about sound design, I wanted to make this thread about a critical factor: the voice actors!
(4/23) Rob Krekel (@robkrekel) and I spent a little over two weeks directing the Infected voice talent for #TheLastOfUsPartII. Sound design challenges aside, I want to give credit to the talented voice actor performers who had a VERY difficult job.
(5/23) First and foremost, my Runners, voiced by Alejandro Saab (@KaggyFilms), Jason Liles (@theJasonLiles), Walt Gray IV (@WalterGrayIV007), Chris Parson, Abby Trott (@AbbyTrott), Sarah Elmaleh (@selmaleh), Judy Alice (@JudyAliceLee), and Laila Berzins (@lberzins_voices)...
(6/23) ...brought so much to the table. Our goal for the Runners this game was to establish the base level of turning Infected, which is an unmistakable sound.
It's a cry of agony; sharp hiss of pain. It is a human barely holding on to what makes them human...
It's a cry of agony; sharp hiss of pain. It is a human barely holding on to what makes them human...
(7/23) ...with enough moral cognition left to feel pain and sadness at their mindless destony... but not enough cognition to prevent their desire for killing, feeding and spreading their host. There's a tortuous strain in the vocal that all of these actors absolutely nailed! 🤘
(8/23) Stalkers were super fun to work on this game! These creepy fucks were a blast to get to sound right with Matthew Gallant (@Gangles), Andrew Frost (@crookedspin_), Anthony Newman (@BadData_), and Rob Krekel (@robkrekel) just to name a few!
(9/23) One direction we pushed was the concept that the Stalkers, albeit quiet, had a sporadic shreik-y inhale and prepubescent, higher-pitched clicks to reinforce the idea that they're in the evolutionary phase between Runner and Clicker.
(10/23) Consider them the 'tween' of the Infected classes lol👶
They also needed to be relatively silent when not moving so localizing them was more ambiguous. This dynamic range helped make their jump scares that much scarier!
They also needed to be relatively silent when not moving so localizing them was more ambiguous. This dynamic range helped make their jump scares that much scarier!
(11/23) Thanks to these talented folks for giving us their shrieks and gurgles: Lucien Dodge (@LucienDodge), Crispin Freeman (@CrispinFreeman), Scott Lambright (@ScottLambright_), Molly Daisy (@MollyDaisyVOX), Laila Berzins (@lberzins_voices), & Morla Gorrondona (@actor_morla) ♥️
(12/23) Ahh, the infamous Clicker! These were a super fun class to design, with heavy inspiration from the prior sound-concept Derrick Espino (@derrickespino) and Phil Kovats (@philsound) did on the first game.
(13/23) Click-y, shriek-y hell is the sound I went for in terms of design. Every moment of their vocal had to be designed with terror and ferocity in mind to constantly send chills down the players' spine 👊
(14/23) A lot of the sounds were layered with various wet, gore source recorded at high sample rate with an extended frequency response microphone. This gave the vocals a texture that felt sickening and hyper-real to the listener. (Same technique was used on the Shambler!)
(15/23) Big thanks to the incredibly talented VAs: Phil Kovats (@philsound), Jon Olson, Lani Minella (@LaniMinella), & Misty Lee (@Misty_Lee) for their unique abilities to produce horrifying sounds etched in gaming history!
(16/23) The Bloater was an interesting challenge. We wanted to further convey that, at its core, the Bloater is just a pissed off dude covered in calcified pustules and fungi, which deeply informs the vocal design. This meant a focus on using raw, brutish human vocals.
(17/23) Luckily we had the perfect pairing of VAs in Jon Olson and Kellen Goff (@kellengoff). Jon provided the blood-curdling roar and wails you hear in certain moments like the charge tell, and Kellen provided the ungodly, wet fluttery, snorty content...
(18/23) ...that perfectly melded with Jon's roars and created one helluvuh monster 🙌 A lot of inspiration came from Erick Ocampo's (@OcampoSound) awesome Bloater sound design from the first game, so big props to him!
(19/23) The Shambler is a special class because it was a chance for me to instill my own creativity into the Last of Us universe, as this was a wholly new Infected class this game!
I can't stress the importance of these two VAs who brought this guy to life:
I can't stress the importance of these two VAs who brought this guy to life:
(20/23) Thank you Raul Ceballos (@RaulCeballosVO) for your terrifying vocal and inhuman-sounding, fluttery inhales & Steve Blum (@blumspew) for your gnarly, wet snorts and grunts! It made the Shambler such a breeze to work with!
(21/23) These vocals were of course embellished with some weird shit, so I'm going to do a separate thread on the sound design of the Shambler in the future, as it's near and dear to me! Stay tuned for that!
(22/23) Maybe I'll do a thread on THAT ONE Infected... One day... Maybe?... 👀
(23/23) Big thanks to Rob for steering me in the right direction, Neil (@Neil_Druckmann) for supporting my sonic visions, Becky (@thebeckydodd) for coordinating the talent, & Formosa Interactive (@FormosaInteract) for making the recording process such a treat!
