PUBG Corporation released the brand new last-man-standing battle game “PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS” with vehicle sourcing, recording, editing, mixing & mastering by Dynamedion.

For the past months, “PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS” has taken Steam by storm and has already sold over 2.8 million copies on Steam. The principle is simple: Up to 100 players parachute out of an airplane onto an island where they must immediately arm themselves with any weapons they can scavenge from its abandoned towns, factories and military bases. The aim of the game is simply to survive, which is exactly what makes it so appealing.

We’re delighted to be part of this highly successful online survival game. Read on as our sound designer and project manager Patrice Börding reveals some insights:

WHAT WAS THE EXACT TASK AND AIM OF THIS PROJECT?

“Our task was to find the vehicles (sourcing), record them (recording) and create the final sounds (post production incl. mixing & mastering). Our aim: to create as realistic and detailed sounds of the original vehicles as possible.”

HOW DID YOU APPROACH THE MATTER?

“First of all, I tried to gather as much information as possible about the vehicles I was looking for and watch videos on the internet. This makes sourcing easier (especially in forums) and I get to know how the vehicles should sound. Then I reserved the dates for the acoustically optimized testing site and started looking for the vehicles. I first asked in our own network and then searched for vehicle owners on the internet, in forums and so on.”

WHICH CHALLENGES HAD TO BE MASTERED?

“The most difficult thing is always to get all the vehicles together in the same place at the same time. So in this case to get 7 vehicles organized on two consecutive days in a suitable order.”

HOW DID THE RECORDINGS GO?

“The recordings went well, except for one small mishap. With the Renault R12, fluid suddenly leaked out and we had to interrupt the recording. Fortunately, only the lid of the cooling water had risen. Otherwise, everything went without a hitch.”

WHAT WAS SO SPECIAL ABOUT THIS PROJECT?

“Some of the vehicles requested for this project were very special. For example the van, the UAZ and the Dacia have an older year of construction and are therefore not driven as much and are more difficult to find. The military truck and the buggy are also not everyday vehicles. But working with these vehicles was very relaxed. One of the reasons for this was the fact that they had virtually no electronics installed and therefore there were no problems with the roller (dyno) on the test bench. For example, more modern vehicles notice directly that they do not drive on normal roads, so that warning signals sound or even make the vehicle stop. The older models don’t really care in that regard.”

ARE YOU SATISFIED WITH THE RESULT?

“Yes, very much so. It is always exciting how the recorded vehicle sounds will sound in the game. REV from Crankcase Audio is an incredibly good tool for integrating engine sounds into games. However, the result of granular synthesis depends on the audio material and therefore the synthesis works better for some vehicles and worse for others. Fortunately, this time there were no problems and all vehicles sound great.”

ARE THERE ANY FUN FACTS TO REPORT? 🙂

The van was anything but in its original condition (i.e. old and slow). The car was extremely tuned and had a brute sound with a lot of backfire from the exhaust. The UAZ 469 still had the original tires on it, which were about 39 years old. We’ve been a little worried about that, but apparently these things are indestructible.”

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Patrice Börding

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