I started at breakfast by slicing up and stabbing some fruit to go with my morning oatmeal. I got some nice squishy bits from this, and as I stirred the fruit in, I realized that I could use the oatmeal itself for blood drips and squishy guts, especially after thickening it up with protein powder.

Dinner came and provided the opportunity to record some vegetable abuse. A bell peppers and an onion were my next victims.

And finally, since the game deals with the undead, I wanted something a bit more leathery and dry to add into the mix for the sound effects. I sliced, stabbed, and eventually tore apart a rotisserie chicken to give me some zombie flesh sounds.

For your listening pleasure, some examples.

Caustic Revere’s sixteenth album is entitled Bones of the Earth. Click here for more info on the release and where it can be obtained.

Like a moth to a flamethrower
I find myself inexorably drawn
And if self-immolation’s not what I’m after
Why can’t I change this damned course that I’m on?

I wish that I could say
What it is that drives me to my fate
But as soon as I open my mouth
A thousand treacherous words scurry away

(leaving me with)
Dum Spiro Spero
Dum Spiro Spero
Dum Spiro Spero
My silent refrain
When there’s no words to say
I’ll be inwardly singing
Dum Spiro Spero
To the end of my days

The state of euphoria that comes with good company
Is a likely scapegoat for the state that I’m in
My rationale’s flown south from the discontent winter
And left this poor fool with a skeleton crew

My cynical optimism
Can bring me disappointment and pain
Though my glass is half-empty, I’m watching the skies;
It could rain.

(and I’ll sing)
Dum Spiro Spero
Dum Spiro Spero
Dum Spiro Spero
My silent refrain
Ask me again
And I’ll sadly smile singing
Dum Spiro Spero
To the end of my days

Once I had assembled the palette of splintering wood, screaming hinges, and the furious fists of the undead, it was time to assemble the bits and pieces into sound events.

Below are a few examples from that session. The first sound is a wooden door taking heavy damage, which is followed by a barricade board being broken, a heavily damaged metal door, and finally the player pulling the barricade tool out of their inventory.

The barricade hammer is not only used for defense and can be used as a weapon in a pinch. I had recorded some swings with a claw hammer but it just didn’t sound dangerous enough or big enough in the Hollywood sense. Enter the racket!

I was able to get a wide variety of swooshes and swishes from the racket by altering the speed of the swing, and the angle relative to the microphone to get more or less of wooshing of air over the strings. This example has one of the better sounds that came from the claw hammer session followed by one made by a tennis racket.

Look for an update to No More Room In Hell in he near future.

My radio shows Go Long and The Eleventh Hour are no longer on the air on Sun-FM. I had a good run with both and am very grateful of the people I’ve met while doing them, not to mention the musicians that were kind enough to be interviewed for the show. Have a peek at the Interview Archive and you can hear most of the interviews.

I’ve joined the team for the zombie survival HL2 mod No More Room In Hell. This game is brutally hard and oppressive and I’m trying to help make it even scarier with sound design and music.

I have been recording some songs with Washed In Blood for a demo/self-released album.

A few tracks I’ve done for the NMRIH soundtrack are available on my Soundcloud page. These aren’t currently in-game and may end up in a different form eventually, but I’m proud of these versions. Torch Her, Grieve Not Soon, Untitled Sketch.

Check it out here.