A Mini Interview With Dreadnoise!

We recently got the chance to have a quick catch up with our friend Liam from Dreadnoise to see how things are going with his new company!

Hi Liam. Thank you for taking the time to talk to us. I guess my first question would be could you tell everyone a little bit about yourself and Dreadnoise?

Pleasure to chat! Dreadnoise is an immersive technologies company that creates new tools for attractions/performers to give their experience that little extra something. I have been performing as a scare actor for a number of years now, and just love everything about the immersive industry.

I know you showcased your first product at Scarecon 2022, Audio Armor. Can you tell us a bit about it and where the idea started?

Audio Armor is a wearable, motion-controlled audio system, designed to bring costumed characters sound to life. This all came about a couple years ago while I was in attraction that featured these big nasty creature costumes. This thing was terrifying, and when it appeared in front of guests it gave a great scare. But as the day went on, I noticed something was a little off. after that initial scare, some guests seemed to lose their fear of this creature. I thought maybe it was something to do with the actor, but from what I could see they were doing everything right. Something was missing, and that thing was sound.

When you saw this creature, you’d expect flesh ripping/bone cracking sounds with every movement, big brutal footsteps, and a heart stopping shriek. But, because it was just a costume with a human underneath, that wasn't exactly possible. I realised that no matter how impressive your visuals are, unless you have the sound to back it up, you're only getting half the picture, like watching a horror movie on mute.

This was during my master’s degree in sound design, and for my project I decided to try and create a tool that would fix this issue and allow actors to express the sound of their character through their performance. 3 years later and Audio Armor is ready to go!

It sounds like You really put your heart and soul into it. I hope you got your degree. I know you showcased it at ScareCon, how did it go down with everyone?

The response was really positive both this year and last. I had some people staring in amazement which warmed my heart. I've always wanted to create something that would leave people of all ages in awe, and it looks like I have managed that.

That’s awesome! Have you already got any ideas for future projects?

I do indeed! I’m keeping it a secret for now, but research is already underway and I’m hoping I will have it ready to showcase next year! Beware the creatures that you cannot see…

Thank you for reading this little mini interview. If you want to know more about Dreadnoise and the incredible Audio Armor than why not give them a like on Facebook.