The Witcher Developer Blog #4

CD Projekt has added a fourth entry to their blog on IGN, this time telling us about the processes involved with creating the game’s music and sound effects.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention all those poor monsters, which somehow have this inexplicable attraction to Geralt’s sword. Each and every such monster needs to be individually (screamed out) into the microphone. It’s actually quite fun to record your own shouts, cries, yells and yelps. The trick is to keep a straight face, as you discover all sorts of sounds you didn’t know you were capable of making. Nevertheless, the fun turns to torture after a couple of hours of abuse to your vocal chords. Thankfully, it’s surprising how many of your friends are willing to shout their lungs out just for kicks. However, when the screaming part’s over, it’s time for the painstaking post-production phase, where various programs and contraptions come into play to turn the recorded shouts into really convincing, demonic-sounding (statements,) if you will. I even take sounds of animals and mix them into the recordings, thus achieving really inhuman-sounding effects. Or, conversely, the sound of a roaring engine or power drill can also do the trick it all depends on the final effect you want to achieve.