[MUSE IN MUSAI ①] The Story of the Assistant Director Moon, the Hidden Heroin for Korean Voice-over of COD Modern Warfare

2020-05-29

Musai Studio has been lucky to meet tons of masterpieces and worked on Korean localization for them last 20 years. Professionality, experienced, and efficiency, etc. There are many factors to make Musai one of the leading localization studio in Korea but the biggest one is the people in Musai, we can say.

The effort and passion from Musai’s staffs brought the best result enough to satisfy Korean gamers for both voiceover and translation. So, we would like to spotlight five inspiring people in Musai and listen to their story through ‘Muse in Musai’ in series. Here is the first story from Moon Hyun-ju, the assistant director and sound engineer at Musai.

Would you introduce yourself?

Assistant director and sound engineer at Musai Studio.

What is the role of your position?

In the process of voiceover, there are three steps briefly; pre-production, recording session and post-production. As an assistant director, I manage all the preparation part such as arrangement of the script, checking the reference files, and setting the schedule with voice-actors and support the artistic director during the recording session. In the post-production, I edit the recorded audio clips to make them sound better for ears.

How did you get started in the game sound industry?

I love games and the music in the games. (My background is classical and contemporary composition, maybe that is why I paid attention to the game sound rather than playing the game.) At first, I was just interested in the sound and music in games, so I had a job in a game company as a music composer. As time goes by, I have learned voiceover is another big part of game sound and having a huge effect on the gameplay. The story and characters in a game can be totally different according to the artistic directing and voice acting. That was very fascinating to me and reason for me to be here.

What are the pros and cons of your job at Musai?

The biggest perk of working at Musai is that there are lot of chances to experience the localization process of big titles. AAA titles usually have a great story and various characters. It was very lucky for me to be a part of the projects and I could learn and experience many things to be an artistic director. At the same time, sometimes I have to be involved in several big projects and get really busy. (Once we start a big project, it normally takes several months without a break.) It’s really important to maintain a good condition physically before getting exhausted.

What is the most memorable project you have done at Musai?

I would like to say ‘Call of Duty: Modern Warfare’. The project has been from June to September last year and it was the biggest project I ever had at Musai. The title itself was a famous series among the gamers and the expectation for the Korean voiceover was very high. As for a project, there are many characters and audio script to be recorded. So I really focus on each process. I checked to-do-list tightly day by day and prepared the recording session carefully even the temperature of the booth and the font size of the script to provide the best environment for the voice-actors. When the project was finished, the summer was already passed. The whole team was almost exhausted but it couldn’t be happier when we saw the quality of cinematics and the favorable feedback from media and the players.

What do you like about Musai?

If I have to pick only one, that will be ‘people’. Wherever you are working at, it’s hard to avoid the stress from work. I think it’s more important how to handle the stress than how to avoid it, in terms of that, working with people at Musai is really helpful. All staffs are positive, humorous, and cooperative. They are very hard workers and professional for their responsibilities but never lose a laugh. Even though I come to work with worries and concerns, those thoughts are all gone after having a coffee with teammates. We love funny and silly things which are the necessary qualification to work in the gaming industry. Don’t you agree with that?

What is your dream?

My goal is being a CEO of a game company or animation company. I have experienced in a game company and ad agency for few years and came to Musai to learn more about the game sound. When I look back the journey I have walked, I’m surprised how far I made compared to the first time I started to join this field (and at the same time, how far I have to go). I believe the experience at Musai will be the important asset for me to achieve my dream.

Here is the whole interveiw. (Korean Only) https://youtu.be/-LTGWat_5Ek

** Did you enjoy the news of Musai? Please click subscribe and share the story.

BOOST YOUR PLAY! Musai Studio