A Sound Effect just put out a fantastic article about the magnificent sound of Mafia III. Check it out here. Be sure to check out our interview with Jesse Harlin about how he scored Mafia III.
The Mafia franchise is one of my absolute favorite game series, so I’m very excited to present this exclusive, in-depth A Sound Effect interview with Mafia III audio director Matt Bauer.
Here, he covers everything from capturing the sound of 1968, intense car recordings and creative technical achievements, to designing the sound of a living, breathing – and fictional – city from the ground up. Written by Jennifer Walden, images courtesy of 2K / Hangar 13
Hangar 13 is 2K’s newest game development studio. Helmed by Haden Blackman — known for the LucasArts/EA MMORPG Star Wars Galaxies, Hangar 13 is focused on designing and delivering top-shelf gaming experiences. Their first release is Mafia III, the latest member of 2K’s well established Mafia family of games. Fans of the series will feel at home in Mafia III’s fictional city of New Bordeaux, an open-world, detail-rich environment modeled after New Orleans in the 1960s.
In addition to keeping with the historical city theme, this latest Mafia release (available now on PS4, Xbox One, and Steam) offers familiar gameplay, wherein a player takes on the role of a central character who completes organized crime missions to move through the story.
Leading the Mafia III sound team is audio director Matt Bauer, who’s spent over 17 years in the audio industry, racking up experience for a variety of skills like field recording, surround mixing, Foley, ADR, casting, sound design for both linear and non-linear projects, audio implementation, and game audio system design. In terms of game studio experience, his former job titles include audio lead at LucasArts, and audio director for THQ, and Midway Games. Here, Bauer shares details of his ground-up approach to Mafia III’s soundscape…
More at A Sound Effect.com.