Sumo Digital and Gun Interactive have released new behind-the-scenes footage explaining their upcoming title The Texas Chain Saw Massacre‘s sound design process. The development team sought to recreate the distinct sound profile of Leatherface’s infamous chainsaw from the classic 1974 movie, and recruited the services of veteran SFX Recording Artist Watson Wu to aid them in the process.
Check out The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’s sound design journey in the video below:
1974’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre has enjoyed an evergreen position in the American cultural zeitgeist in the five decades since its release. The Leatherface character and his bloody chainsaw are emblematic of horror cinema, and Sumo Digital’s upcoming game took pains to recreate the chainsaw’s terrifying roar in its full gory glory.
Wes Keltner, CEO & President of Gun Interactive spoke about the process of finding the right chainsaw to record:
Dealing with a nearly 50-year-old set of chainsaws comes with its own problems. Yes, we could have gotten a modern chainsaw, but that’s not the correct chainsaw (for the game): it doesn’t have the same sound profile. To us, we think that matters.
Thus, the original chainsaw from the movie was painstakingly recorded in both active and passive scenarios with several microphones placed at different distances from the chainsaw. Veteran SFX Recording Artist Watson Wu supervised the process and ensured the chainsaw was recorded in extraordinary detail:
To capture the sound of Leatherface (using the chainsaw) – he’s moving through the field, running through the field – I’ve had a lot of different microphones; different types of microphones, around Jason (FX Artist) and on his body. So we have close microphones, medium-distance microphones, far(-away) microphones, to capture the entire experience of what you and I hear.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre will release on PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox One at an unspecified time during 2023. You can wishlist the game on Steam here.