So much deep space; so few habitable planets. This picture approximates the mental image I held while composing for Camp Dune.
NERF ACTION XPERIENCE (2019)
SOUND DESIGN & MUSIC COMPOSITION
MARINA SQUARE, SINGAPORE
MUSIC FOR CAMP DUNE
At Camp Dune, teams battle for control of a dusty planet alternative to overcrowded Earth. There’s something extra dystopian about fighting over a new planet, as if the universe could not expand enough to accommodate Man’s belligerent streak. On the bright side of things, these visitors are just simulating war, not waging the real deal.
Teams battling for planetary supremacy in purple DMX-controlled lighting, the helpful substitute for amethyst sunsets everywhere.
Instead of relentless chest-thumping dance music or canned heavy metal that might have also drowned team communication, I composed music I hoped would set the stage for thoughtful teamwork, coordinated rescues, and heroic gambits. Sci-fi space opera stuff.
ZOMBIE VOCALISATIONS AND SOUND DESIGN
When probing the limits of what the creative team felt would be suitable for young audiences, I overreached immediately — these first draft zombie vocalisations were deemed too scary. But the approach holds promise perhaps for some other zombie project.
I recorded two types of performances:
a moan, snarl or growl for emotional valence
gnarly vocal tract noises like hissing, gurgling and sputtering
The latter was to evoke a sense of the zombies’ abnormal physiology — breath escaping from a windpipe, or some mucosal membrane flapping like a flag in a gale.
These two layers were then structurally spliced together with Zynaptiq’s Morph to make the breathing interact with the growling, as we might find in a real vocal tract, as opposed to two independent layers casually slapped together.
It’s subtle, and artefact-y in this draft, but it’s there.
The final zombie voices and sounds were closer to gruff, drunk humans. The wife’s lilt makes a cameo appearance here, disguised by the judicious use of pitch and spectral processing.
It was a blast getting all the vocalisations to sync up with the animations, and creating foley for the limps and awkward gaits.
MUSIC & AMBIENCES FOR ZOMBIE CITY
The zombies I voiced belong in Zombie City — another large themed section at NAX. Teams must race to disable zombies (they get shot but I don’t know if they die) and secure the vaccine that will treat the zombifying virus and save the world.
Getting the background music right took four versions, each dramatically different from the previous.
The first version included urban sounds — kitschy and cheesy on hindight — and made liberal use of that flatted 5th in writing a motif.
Version two was an attempt at being childlike and fun. Inspired by a beloved computer game — if you know which, we could probably be friends. On hindsight, it sounds too Middle Eastern.
Version three tries at cinematic action before devolving/ramping up into a pulsing noir chase.
Version four is also when I was informed the track had to be 5-minutes long. The second half is a four-on-the-floor dance affair with moonlit brass swells and other atmospheric gestures.
There is a version five, but I’m saving it for an album of my favourite outtakes.
This zombie is standing guard over the cure for his zombiehood. Wait, what?