Voices in the walls: how we cast HUM
Half of HUM is sound. Here’s how the PA girl, the tapes and the things on the other side of the drywall found their voices.
One of HUM’s design pillars is written in capital letters on the wall above the desk: sound is half the game. The hum itself, the room tone, the drip of something you can’t see — and above all, voices.
The girl on the PA
The hardest role to get right was the one you hear most. She has to sound helpful. Then a little too helpful. Then like someone doing an impression of helpful. We recorded every line in three intensities and the game’s horror director picks between them based on how lost you are.
Tapes and the Lamplighters
Scattered through the building are cassette tapes left by people who fell in before you. Each one is processed through a model of a cheap dictaphone — wow, flutter, hiss, a little room — so they sound found, not produced.
Mixing for headphones
Everything in HUM is positioned in 3D and mixed for headphones first. Lines duck the music, never the hum. If you hear your name somewhere behind you, it really is behind you.
Posted by the Solo Frogs studio
