Predator

Maker Series E4: Ricky’s Wonderful World of Sound – Monsters

Tracy Harwood Podcast Episodes October 30, 2025 Leave a reply

🎃 Halloween Special | Ricky’s Wonderful World of Sounds: MONSTERS! 👹

This Halloween, step into the dark side of Ricky’s Wonderful World of Sounds — where we explore the terrifying art of monster sound design! 🧟‍♂️

What do monsters really sound like? From the primal screeches that haunted early humans to the eerie, unearthly noises that send chills down modern audiences’ spines — this episode reveals how sound designers craft the perfect scare.

Discover:
 🔊 Why you should hear the monster before you see it
🦴 How altered animal and environmental sounds create fear
🧬 The science of sound that taps into our instinctive fight-or-flight response
🎥 Classic monster sound examples from “Them!”, Godzilla, Predator, The Exorcist, and more

Whether you’re a filmmaker, sound designer, or just a Halloween horror fan, this episode will make you listen to fear in a whole new way.

Ricky Grove shares his expert insights on using ambient sound to bring machinima to life, offering practical tips and creative ideas you can apply to your own projects. Whether you’re crafting your first indie animation or refining your cinematic game scenes, you’ll be inspired and better equipped to design unforgettable soundscapes.

About Ricky Grove
Ricky Grove is an award-winning actor, director, voice artist, and sound designer with decades of experience in stage, film, and virtual production. After earning his BFA in Directing from Arizona State University and a Master’s in Acting from the Yale School of Drama, Ricky built a rich career in theatre and television, appearing in works such as Army of Darkness and ER.

In the late 1990s, he became a pioneer in the machinima community, collaborating with trailblazers like Hugh Hancock, Phil Rice, and Jason Choi. His contributions as a voice director, actor, and sound designer have shaped many award-winning early machinima films. He’s hosted festivals, championed the art form, and continues to share his passion as co-host of the Completely Machinima Podcast.

The first episodes of Ricky’s Wonderful World of Sound were originally created for the early-2000s machinima podcast The Overcast. This updated series expands his original teachings, offering timeless advice for creating powerful sound in machinima.

🎧 Tip: For the best experience, close your eyes and immerse yourself in Ricky’s words.

Credits

  • Speaker / Producer / Sound Editor: Ricky Grove
  • Visuals, Monsters & Music: Phil Rice

#Machinima #SoundDesign #Filmmaking #3DAnimation #GameEngines #MonsterSounds #HorrorMovies #IndieFilm #VoiceActing 

Links here –

Audio only



Youtube version

Notes

darkstreets_loop_120bpm_by_OnlyTheGhosts.wav by OnlyTheGhosts — https://freesound.org/s/251802/ — License: Attribution 4.0

S5 E187 Machinima News Omnibus (June 2025)

Tracy Harwood Podcast Episodes June 25, 2025 Leave a reply

Another packed month of updates – lots of projects, a few games releases, the usual genAI avalanche and Predator, the world’s first BIG BUDGET machinima! Click the links, check out our comments and do add your own.


https://dashboard.transistor.fm/shows/and-now-for-something-completely-machinima/episodes/s5-e187-machinima-news-omnibus-june-2025/edit

YouTube Version of This Episode

Show Notes & Links

Machinima projects –

I spent 30 days in a dead game by Globert –

The GTA6 trailer but made in GTA5 by Gu1maz –

I Modded Fast Traffic Into RDR2. Now It’s a Horror Game by Blurbs –

Cyberpunk 2077: POV Hyper-Realistic Motorbike Ride on RTX 5090 with DreamPunk 3.1.1 Graphics in 8K by NextGen Dreams –

Haruki made in UE5 by Bad Decisions Studio –

IMicky Mouse by Mickey Mouse, made by J C Thornton –

Not machinima

Solstice 5: Forgotten archives by Paul Chadeisson –

generative AI projects

Corporation War by Solo Films –

Purely artistic using an aesthetic of origami by Kelly Boesch AI Art –

Where’s Alice by Aaron Sims Creative –

On genAI developments

Eleven Labs launched v3, check out the video update –

v3: 70+ languages from 33 with coverage from 60% to 90% of the world’s population; Dialogue Mode: Handles natural interruptions, tone shifts, and emotional flow across multiple speakers; Audio tags: Guide delivery with tags like [whispers], [angry], [laughs], or [door creaks]—controlling performance in fine detail. Its impressive stuff!

Veo3 about here and demo vid here –

A bit of Game News

The Elden Ring Nightreign DLC came out in the last month and was downloaded a record 3.5M times in 5 days… I wonder how many of those were Ricky? And, what’s the verdict on it?

007 First Light put out a first trailer –

A big budget machinima?

Predator: Killer of Killers, released June 2025 –

and discussion at State of Unreal 2025 –