We asked Juliet Rascon, sound designer for Playstation, about creating sounds, what techniques and processes she uses and how she got into the game audio industry.

Whilst studying culinary arts at the Art Institute of San Diego, CA, her college friends and teachers suggested she change majors because she would spend more time hanging out with the audio kids and signing up to all of their clubs. “I guess it had never occurred to me that I could do something artistic and make a living out of it. It was the post-production and field recording classes that really made me realize I could be a Sound Designer for a living. I still wake up some days and can’t believe the titles I’m working on. It never seems real.”

Creating sounds can be quite consuming we asked what techniques and processes she uses.   

“Lately I’ve been trying to get into the habit of creating, implementing and testing one sound. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve worked endlessly on a set of sounds that ended up having to be reworked because they didn’t fit the game stylistically speaking. It’s important also to make quick decisions when designing sounds that are big, heavy, or bright. There’s only so much you can do before your ears get tired and then you sort of fall into this audio void where your decisions only make the mix worse. Take a break and drink some water, your ears will be happy.”

When creating sfx sounds sound designers face a myriad of challenges daily. “Some days you go to work and you’re a master of sound that cannot be reckoned with, and other days you wake up and it’s as if you’ve never even used your ears before. Sometimes there are a lot of sound variations required but there are memory constraints, sometimes the finalized sound is wanted but the scene hasn’t been delivered, other times you did all the work and the work never made it into the game.”

As for kit, Rascon has a mixed bag. “Sometimes we’ll use proprietary tools; sometimes we’ll use Pro Tools, Reaper, Nuendo, etc. I think one of the advantages of working with PDSG is that we get to work with a lot of different people who have different approaches to their work pipeline. It’s exciting to experience all of these different environments because you really take the best bits from each one and create your own.”

When designing audio its valuable to keep the player in mind at all times. “Part of creating a great experience is providing the player with sonic feedback. To show the player that the actions and choices they make impact that world. From upgrading a vehicle and making it sound bigger to acknowledging and celebrating the player when they get through a challenging part of the game. Providing audio for all of those situations to enrich the player’s experience is exciting and fun. I often use a combination of sounds that I’ve personally recorded with libraries. I’m a huge fan of making sounds from scratch, especially when you end up discovering new ways to record something. Once you get the ball rolling on a session things start getting weird and that’s when you capture your best work in my opinion.”

We asked how much foley she uses in sound creation and if she prefers to do foley over the use of library sounds. “I did a talk last week focusing on Foley for video games. One of my main goals was to inspire people to record more often rather than reach for their libraries. I think it’s so important to learn how to record sound in general. When I was a student I didn’t have access to any sort of sound library but I had access to a studio, and that was enough. Sure my first recordings were terrible but learning how my equipment worked, how to properly use different microphones, and understanding what works and what doesn’t, was incredibly valuable. I’ve had days where I spent 40 minutes looking for source that could help me complete a task. That precious time spent on mindlessly scrolling through a library, could have been spent refining my skills as an engineer and as a Foley performer. 20 minutes to record the sound I need and 20 minutes to experiment with other interesting ideas, not only that but reaching for that recording years down the line.”

As for projects, working on God of War was probably the most fun she has had on a project. “There was so much work to do that oftentimes we would all dogpile our team on a single gigantic task. It was putting all of our pieces together to see the final product that felt so special. It was so surreal to import all of our work into one giant cinematic and see how our sound design styles were perfectly in tune with each other. It was like a magic audio hivemind. It was also one of the first times I had free reign to work on whatever cinematic I wanted. We were told “pick a scene and get it done.” It was a really important moment for me, I got to showcase my skills as a Sound Designer to my teammates and boss. I needed the team to know that they could count on me should they ever feel overwhelmed, and oh boy does that happen a lot, right?”

As for career challenges Rascon has an obstacle that sounds a bit out of the ordinary. “I’m probably my biggest obstacle. I get in my way a lot but it’s steadily getting better. When I was younger I always felt like I had something to prove, or that I had to act a certain way to fit in. The reality of it all is that people just want to work and relate with other people, especially other audio people. We’re all just as weird you know? Like, look at what we do for a living, look at the things that we stress over. SINE WAVES!”

She is inspired by the like of Rob Burns and Mike Nierdequell who are absolute legends in the industry and still hold humility close to their heart but is most inspired by the people who gave her a shot at being a Sound Designer. “I’m inspired by people who have been in the industry for decades and don’t think it’s beneath them to edit Foley once in a while. People like Rodney Gates who constantly do everything in their power to help women succeed in the industry. I feel incredibly lucky to be surrounded by people in the industry who day after day show up ready to fix things, to work hard, and get the job done.”

As for how she sees the game industry in the next 5 years she thinks that games will only keep getting better. “We'll get to explore crazy, weird worlds, and meet the awesome characters that live in them. It’s exciting to witness the industry push the boundaries in terms of how we tell stories, how we interact with the worlds they build, and see how audio can contribute to that push.”

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