#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