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Between Two Turrets - Come chat with Utora! [COMPLETED]

RiotA Small Man·1/26/2016, 9:01:03 PM·18 votes·66,857 views


Welcome to the latest installment of Between Two Turrets, a Q&A series through which we connect you with various Rioters to chat about League, life, and anything in between. You can expect an installment every two weeks or so, with Rioters from all over jumping in to spend some time with you on the Boards.

This week, we’ve got Champion Audio Designer Kyle “Utora” Vande Slunt!


EDIT - Gonna take a quick break for some food and then come back and answer more questions. I’ve asked to keep this Q&A open for awhile because I intend to answer everyone’s questions. See you back in a little bit!

~ootay~ Friends!

My name is Kyle, also know as Utora. I'm an Audio Designer on the Audio Team here at Riot, and I mostly work with the Champ Team making new champions for League of Legends. And yes, Bard's meeps are saying my name along with other audio guys on the team who helped make him. In my almost two years here I've had the incredible fortune to design the sounds and voices for Rek'sai, Bard, Tahm Kench, Kindred, and now Jhin. I strive to create memorable, resonant, and iconic experiences for players (and myself) with my audio work. It's what I demand of myself and what the Riot Audio team demands of all it's members, which is why it's such an amazing team to be on!

Before Riot, I was an Audio Designer at the game company Volition, where I worked on Saints Row: The Third, Saints Row IV, a little bit of Red Faction, and a yet to be announced next gen title. Before I got my start in the game industry, I worked freelance on all kinds of projects including television, theater, and dabbled in the advertising post production world. I also do audio work for fun short films that I make with my friends.

Outside of work I love spending time with my amazing wife and my soon to be born baby boy! I love games, art, music, esports - anything that can transport me into another world and immerse me there. I am also a self-appointed padawan of technology, the law of accelerating returns, and how we're going to be living our lives 4, 10, 20 years from now.

Back in May of 2013 I started my sound design a day project. Everyday I create a sound design / music piece from scratch and upload it to soundcloud. Today actually marks 1000 straight days! Yowsers. I started this project almost three years ago to accomplish a few things: 1. become a better sound designer 2. create an expansive sound and music library 3. become a better field recordist and finally 4. to get better at calling things done. Not "I still need to add this thing and that thing," but being DONE and DONE. I also just started learning how to program/script using the python language. It's really hard and I feel really dumb. Any other coders out there with advice?! :P

I'm really looking forward to chatting with you guys about anything at all. Lets do this ~kasuma!~

223 Comments

Awkward Couch1/26/2016, 9:50:40 PM5 votes

  1. How did you get into audio design?

  2. Did you get a college education for this?

  3. How good was Star Wars VII?

  4. IIRC you are actually the voice for Jihn (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong), what was your inspiration for his voice?

  5. Favorite game outside of LOL?

  6. Best movie score of all time?

Thanks for looking at this, I'm actually about to head back into work and run sound for a concert. So from one sound geek to another, Have a fantastic rest of your day! XD

RedWedding1/26/2016, 9:14:44 PM5 votes

So the meeps are saying your name as well as some others... have you put in other such "easter eggs?"

Who has been your favorite champion to work on so far- and why?

Adamas211/26/2016, 9:18:25 PM5 votes

Do you play the game yourself? Casually or avidly?

ItzBongoz1/26/2016, 9:08:54 PM5 votes

First

Haha

Original joke

PLS HELP ME

TBO Cade1/26/2016, 9:36:45 PM4 votes

Who do you think the cutest champion is? In my opinion, I REALLY love bard. He's so majestic in everything he does.

K0zmonaut1/26/2016, 9:32:23 PM4 votes

First off Rek'sai, and Bard are the two champs who have my favorite audio profiles they don't really say much, but have beautiful sound design. So i just want to say your doing a great job Keep up the good work.

GanjaGhost4201/26/2016, 11:33:00 PM4 votes

Lets all be honest here, Rammus has by far the best sound design and voice over

Oswald Mandus1/27/2016, 12:06:06 AM4 votes

Hey Utora,

nice to meet you here! I really appreciate your work and I hope you will be able to continue it for a long time. Especially the alien sounds of Rek'Sai and Bard are amazing. :)

I would like to ask you the following:

Are you satisfied with the current VO of Rumble in general? I know this VO was not created by you, but I wonder if you ever thought about this champion. It is a pity that his Bilgerat-Skin doesn't got an own "pirate-style" voiceover :D Do you consider to add some new melodies to Super Galaxy Rumble's VO at some point in the future? It is kinda boring to listen to the same "melody" everytime when he spawns in my base (but this is just my opinion) :p

I'm looking forward to listen to Jhin's VO as soon as he gets released!

Tamuut1/26/2016, 11:49:47 PM4 votes

You deserve an award for Tahm Kench, that is some amazing work.

SaltySoop1/29/2016, 5:28:42 AM3 votes

Is Riot part of the illuminati? {{summoner:2}} Riot = Rito. Braum's shied is a door. Door + Rito = Doorito = Dorito. Doritos have 3 sides. The illuminati has three sides. Clairvoyance summoner spell has an eye, like velkoz. 3 sides of a triangle + an eye = ILLUMINATI. RITO PLS

Yewfellee1/26/2016, 9:12:52 PM3 votes

As a sound designer, how do you go on about deciding what bodily sounds a character should make, and what is the process of figuring out how to make those sounds?

Thales1/26/2016, 9:15:51 PM3 votes

Hello, Utora. Nice job with those recent champions! I do have a few questions:

  • For Snow Day Bard, I was really hoping that his soundtrack override on collecting chimes would be something seasonal, rendered in Bard's usual instrumentation. I recall hearing that this was the plan, but it proved too challenging to do within the scope of the skin. Would there be any prospect of this happening for future Bard skins?
  • I really like the river gurgling noises while Tahm Kench is channeling his ult. How were those created?
  • Your post on Reddit about the design of the choral effects on Jhin's VO was really interesting. I haven't heard of anything like that being done before. Was there precedent, or is this a novel new trick in audio design?
  • One of the better future-looking books I've read recently was Vernor Vinge's Rainbows End. Have you read it? What did you think?
Decrit1/26/2016, 9:17:58 PM3 votes

First of all - i love the heck out of Rek' sai! Love the jumpscare of a spamming /taunt!

This said, can you share with us some weird stories about the making some effects, either the practical execution or the ideation process? Not necessarily Zac level stuff but... yeah, guess you got it >:D

Imnoris1/27/2016, 12:07:08 AM3 votes

Your work on kindred's voice is incredible I have no words to describe my first reaction it's just too perfect

Mokney1/26/2016, 9:19:10 PM2 votes

Hello Utora, Jinx Just dropping in to say hi.

not a shaco main1/28/2016, 12:56:56 AM2 votes

how many hours do you play in one day? and what role do you main if you have one

PrettyPoison 1051/26/2016, 11:38:29 PM2 votes

What are your thoughts on full AD crit roaming Bard with first item Guinsoo's? As someone who has actually played with a group with said Bard, the meep damage is real and it can work really well if you make sure to type /all THE LEGEND every time Bard gets a kill, but I wanted to know your take on it.

BetaDude401/27/2016, 12:39:17 AM2 votes

What is, in your opinion, the weirdest thing you've had to do to produce a sound for a champion. For example, I remember hearing once that Zac's floppy-splat noises were made from someone slapping around a condom filled with water and dog food.

Testicle Tots1/27/2016, 12:40:34 AM2 votes

Ao Shin m8? Are you working on the voice of Ao Shin m8? Please release Ao Shin m8.[zombie-nunu-tears]

RackThor1/27/2016, 3:32:35 AM2 votes

Evening Utora,

Two questions.

In your experience what do you feel are the most beneficial steps a person could take after college to get involved with Riot Games? Especially, if their not a graphical, audio/visual, or tech kind of student.

Secondly, is there a champion or type of being you have always dreamed of making for Riot games. Do you have your own personal dream creation that you feel would be great conceptually at least?

MrBaIloonHands1/27/2016, 12:29:38 AM1 votes

Utora, awesome to see you on here. I'm curious about a few things, but one thing in particular is very important to me. I'm currently studying to be an audio engineer. I do a lot of work with both music and sound design in both film and games. I would love to have a job as a video game sound designer right out of the gate and I'm already looking to apply to quite a few game studios that have entry level and associate sound designer positions. So my question for you is what advice would you give to a prospective sound designer like me? Is there anything that you would change about your early years in the industry?

How did you guys make the voices for nonhuman champs like Rek'sai?, what kind of post processing effects do you use for nonhuman champions? Do you guys ever pull and manipulate sounds from the general library or is everything done from scratch?

Riot is actually on the list of studios that I'd love to join, what other members on your team could I get in touch with to learn more about your operations within Riot? I'd love to know the process of how you guys get such killer voice actors and how you go about post processing voices for non-human champions. I'm just so curious about all this stuff!

Thanks for taking the time to do this, Utora, I can't wait to play Jhin and hear all of his quirky remarks. ootay

deathskiller1/27/2016, 1:45:06 AM1 votes

Hey Utora,

i was wondering which champion you worked on has the best sound effects, ability affects, Voice, Etc... And what type of challenges you faced while trying to make this champion. Thanks! :D