Game Audio Reel
email: jamesreeve20@gmail.com
JAMES D REEVE
Audio Designer Based in London
I am currently working as an Audio Designer at Lighthouse Games working on a new AAA unannounced IP alongside industry veterans. I also work alongside Altered FX as a Cinematic Audio designer on IP’s such as Call of Duty Warzone & Black Ops 6.
My introduction to the world of sound design began during the first year of my degree. With a lifelong love for video games, I swiftly grasped the pivotal role of audio in enhancing gameplay experiences. Immersing myself in the local game dev community, I actively engaged in indie game projects and regularly attended industry networking events.
I'm deeply passionate about creative audio, storytelling, and immersive design, and I consider myself a game audio generalist, equally devoted to the creative, technical, and collaborative aspects of our craft. My journey into the world of audio was rooted in bands, leading me to become a touring muscian and tutor. I have a deep interest in player-focused sound design, and how audio can build great narratives.
Outside of Game Audio I love to write about games and have a passion for Journalism, automotives and autosport.
Main Skills
Wwise, Unreal Engine, Reaper, FMOD, Unity, Linear & Cinematic Sound Design.
Addional Skills
Basic C++, Jira, Excel, DaVinci Resolve 16 & Blender
My Favourite Games for Sound
Alien: Isolation
BATTLEFIELD 1
Tunic
Red Dead Redemption 2
Hitman WOA
My Favourite Games Lately
Return of the Obra Dinn
HITMAN WOA
Disco Elysium
Mass Effect Legendary Edition
Red Dead Redemption II
I'm Looking Forward To
ROUTINE
Mass Effect
MARATHON
007 IOI
MARATHON | REDESIGN
CINEMATIC
This clip was great to practise more abstract sound design, combining FM Synthesis, movement foley and my own voice.
GOD OF WAR | REDESIGN
GAMEPLAY
Short Gameplay snippet of Santa Monica’s God of War Ragnarök. This game is an absolute treat for sound design practise, stretched my vocal design chops aswell as adding weight to movement without causing the mix to become “Wooley”
SPIDER-MAN 2 | REDESIGN
GAMEPLAY
Great practise doing monster vocals for sandman. Lot's going on so a fun challenge to keep it focused and dynamic!
MODERN WARFARE 2|REDESIGN
Infinity Ward do such a stellar job with their use of saturation and mix priority so I've given it a shot here! Carving out key moments and keeping the mix dynamic
CINEMATIC
Shredded my vocal chords abit recording the infected sounds; also really enjoyed recording foley for this, old backpack worked a treat.
LAST OF US 2 | REDESIGN
WEAPONS AND WARSCAPE DESIGN
Spent most of my time making sure the ambiences and explosions were just right. Also learnt that WW1 shells were ceremic so yes that’s a broken plate you can hear!
POWERS, MOVEMENT AND WEAPONS
Had to find a lot of creative solutions for this one, fun challenge to create something uniquely different to the source material. Spent alot of time trying to get the authentic sound of Karnaca and creating impactful, viseral sounds for the powers.
HORIZON 5 | AUDIO REDESIGN
I had the opportunity to source a Bentley Continental GT so I spent the whole day recording everything I could; from the whole rev range to the unique sound of its forged aluminium Paddle Shifters!
I've had a ton of fun working on this, a clip like this is a goldmine for sound designers and I learnt a ton from trying to carve cinematic moments in the mix whilst keeping it detailed and dynamic throughout.
CINEMATIC AUDIO REDESIGN
Role: Audio Designer
Developer: Party for Introverts
“Cabernet is a story like no other, with an incredible art style, great game mechanics, and superb sound design.”
Overclockers UK
Cabernet is a 2D narrative RPG set in 19th century Eastern Europe. Guide Liza, a young vampire struggling with her morality and the supernatural world she has been pulled into. Beware, the taste of Cabernet is not for the faint of heart – prepare to explore themes of social conflict, alcoholism, and corruption.
Bat Transformation
SFX
The audio direction was inspired by Anton Chekhov’s play’s at the Royal Opera House so the large majority of the sound design relies on Self-Recorded material with very little processing, with a focus on a more Rustic, Naturalic sound.
Vampire Transformation
SFX
An example of our Vampire Transformation SFX from an early build. This project has been excellent to learn and develop with as it was a totally new challenge with an unfamilar aestetic.
Distance Modelling, Explosions & Shockwaves | Wwise & Unreal Walkthrough
Implementation
Polar Facility | Wwise/Unreal Walkthrough
Implementation
PROCESS
The main goal for this project was to implement realistic Sound Propogation in UE5 through the use of the Wwise Spatial Audio tools.
The first step is to make sure that all audio you want to be propagated has the “Game-Defined Aux Sends” settings checked
To initially test whether our Spatial Audio is functional, I’ve set up a weapon fire “One-Shot” That I’ll trigger in seperate rooms to see if the propogation paths are being created correctly
Next up we’ll create an Attenuation ShareSet that can be used for these oneshots and other Spot Ambiances down the line, i’ve set the distance to 2500; Wwise uses Metres and Unreal uses CM.
In this ShareSet, I’ve also added an attenuation curve for spread, so that the sound is more positional when at distance, but fully envelopes when in proximity; this will be useful for our ambiances later on.
Be sure to enable transmission and diffraction. With this, Wwise will create diffraction paths and attentuate with the obstruction. We can also set the transmission loss of Individual geometry by using AkGeometryComponents.
Now that we’re in Unreal, we must quickly touch on Working with Listeners in Third-Person Games
AudioKinetic have a great article on this that I’ve linked below but the general problem is where should the listener be placed.
To combat this, I’ve gone ahead and implemented a Distance Probe which does alot of the legwork on Deciding where the Listener should be
“Despite having different positions, both the camera and the character controlled by the player are in some ways “you”, the player.”
Once we’re in Unreal, the next step will be to Place in our AkSpatialVolumes and our Acoustic Portals, the width of the portals will determine the crossfade distance
Once these are in place, we can test with the profiler, using weapon fire oneshots. Sound propagation paths are now diffracting on the edges of portals and going through walls with accociated transmission loss values.
Once this is in place, we can set up Appropriate Aux Buses for each of our spaces: Frontroom, Backroom & Outdoors; For this I’ve used the in-built Effects “RoomVerb” and “MatrixReverb”. Now when sounds propogate in the enviroment, it should pass through the relevant reverbs of each space.
The final step is to attach some Ambiant beds to the Spatial Volumes so that each room feels different, I’ve also added some spot ambiances in the Back Room for Sparks, burst pipes and wind gusts through openings.
VEHICLE AUDIO | Wwise & Unreal Engine
Implementation & Recording
PROCESS
The main goal for this project was to record a vehicle and Implement it into a functional driving demo in Unreal using Wwise.
I used Wwise to set up a Switch Container that would change between Exterior and Interior Blend tracks.
I recorded the cars engine at different intervals across the rev range and crossfaded them in the blend track.
Next up was to set up Game Syncs to control the Engine and Ambiences.
Engine_Rotation would be used to cycle through the blend track and Speed would be used for ducking ambience and tire sound.
During this process I learnt alot about UE5.1 and its Blueprint system and Editor.
The goal was still to have a First and Third Person perspective.
I set up the new camera within the RS6 Pawn and set up this blueprint to switch between the two cameras.
This blueprint also Sets the state of the View switch, allowing the player to switch between first and third person Audio Systems.
One of the largest challenges with this project was managing the relationship between the Engine and transmissions setup’s and the Wwise Blend tracks.
As the Blend tracks were being controlled by an RTPC linked to the RPM of the engine, if there gear ratios were incorrect or the torque inaccurate; it would lead to an unconvincing and artificial sounding game.
Once the Audi RS6 model was rigged up and the demo was functional, I began building the blueprints for the Wwise/UE5 intergration.
I set up a system for the Engine_Rotation RTPC recieve its value from the Engine Rotation Speed interger. A second system follows on for Speed to recieve its value from Vehicle Speed.
The next step was to set up a simple blueprint to post the Switch, Ambience and Tire Sounds.
