Here’s Sophia Tong’s interview with DICE audio director Stefan Strandberg:

GS: What kind of research needs to be done before approaching a big project like Battlefield?

 

SS: I believe we, as in the sound team at DICE, are quite scientific in the initial stages of the production of a game. We listen and we analyze, and I have said this before, but I really believe in keeping identities from the real world. And we are very careful and aware when breaking those rules. The rules of real-world sounds. Especially in the case of a game that portrays something real. Real hardware, real worlds, real people. Personally, I like to exaggerate things, but it is not always needed since the real world provides so many layers of legibility and recognizable sounds. Once you start manipulating what we as humans know to be true in sounds, you cater to a second layer that only exists within your “made-up universe.” And it is much trickier to stay true to that “new reality” once you’ve established it. We always try [to] create a consistent audio world when we go about making a Battlefield game.

 
Read the full interview with Battlefield 3 audio director Stefan Strandberg here.