Halo Infinite will sound like a smashed piano

The latest Inside Infinite blog post has delved into the soundtrack and audio work that is being done for Halo Infinite, Microsoft’s tentpole Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and PC exclusive that is expected to release in Fall 2021.

It’s a fascinating look behind the curtain at the efforts that goes into creating all manner of otherworldly sounds and how 343 Industries are looking to enhance the atmosphere and tone of the Zeta Halo where the game takes place. This includes a discussion of the soundtrack’s creation by Gareth Coker, Curtis Schweitzer and Joel Corelitz, the ambient noise, audio spatialisation that takes obstruction and reverberation into account, and smashing pianos.

Yes, 343 battered a piano in every way imaginable to capture some rather interesting sounds for the game. Lead Sound Designer Kyle Fraser said, “This was something I had been eager to do for some time, taking inspiration from the likes of John Cage’s prepared piano with finding ways to interact the instrument with various objects.” This included smacking it with a hammer, channelling resonant frequencies through the piano with a subwoofer, snapping its strings, using dry ice on it and more. 343 has previously talked about capturing the electromagnetic signals of an Xbox One to feed into the soundtrack, so they’re clearly up for some unusual audio sampling.

Some of that will be fed into the game’s ambient sounds, most likely in the Forerunner installations that dot the Halo ring.

There’s also some discussion of how dozens of sounds are layered to create the distinctive noise for the Skewer, a new Banished weapon that will be found in the game.

Here’s a Halo Infinite sound FX track for more of how that comes together.

All of that audio will be processed with space and priority in mind. Spatial sound will mean that every sound source is affected and processed through the environment. That’s done by calculating the shortest unobstructed path that a sound can take from its point of origin using a voxel map of the world (seen below), and then modifying the direction that the audio comes toward your ears to match. If a sound is made on the other side of the wall, it won’t pass directly through the wall to you, but will instead emanate from a nearby doorway, modified with reverb depending on the location to blend more realistically. This is the first Halo game that will feature virtual surround sound via Dolby Atmost, Windows Sonic and DTS Headphone:X.

Another factor, however, is how easy the cacophony of sounds is easy for the player to parse. Halo Infinite will feature a threat detection system through the audio engine. This analyses active weapon sounds frame-by-frame and then prioritises them “in threat order”.

Sotaro Tojima, Audio Director explains, ” In our past Halo titles, we handled each gun-fire’s listening-volume purely by distance. So, all gun sound volumes were exactly the same if they’re originating from the same distance. As a result, we had too many loud gun sounds constantly overwhelming a player which made it very difficult to detect true threat position.

“The new Halo Infinite audio system detects all gun sounds frame by frame, and prioritizes them in a threat order to decide output sound volume for each gun. With this mechanic, if a gunshot is aimed at player, the sound will be louder and if it’s not aimed at player or if it’s a teammate’s gunfire, the sound is still audible but quieter. then you could hear only threat sounds clear. With the cleaner audio feedback, player can ascertain the appropriate threat to make the right action quicker and more accurately, which results in a more immersive and exciting combat experience in Halo Infinite.”

An example given from the campaign is that, with the player driving through the environment a couple of marines in the Warthog with them and ambient wildlife sounds and music playing, that cuts out as one marine calls a warning and the directional sound of a SPNKR rocket comes to the fore.

343 Industries has been a lot more open about Halo Infinite’s development since the turn of the year. They’ve committed to posting monthly updates through the game’s final year of development – February’s Halo Infinite blog dove into the graphical and world building side of things, and there was a lengthy #Ask343 video earlier this month filled with game details and explanation – and are building up to Halo Infinite’s release window in Fall 2021.

Source: Halo Waypoint