Factory Studios Expands Immersive Sound Design Team for Launch of ‘House of the Dragon’ AR App

Factory, London’s multi award-winning sound design and recording studio, have expanded their immersive and experiential team to further develop their audio offering to clients. With a focus on utilising Factory’s use of high-end sound design talent and 3D mixing, the team aim to bring immersive soundscapes alive for location-based experiences (LBEs) and game-engine projects. Kicking things off with a ‘ROAR‘, the immersive team embarked on a fantasy driven journey to bring a vast array of dragons to life in HBO’s new flagship AR app; ‘House of the Dragon: DracARys’. 

With production led by The Mill, the app is powered by Niantic Lightship and allows fans to find and hatch a dragon egg which they can then raise at home. The app launched during San Diego’s Comic-Con and will run alongside the highly anticipated HBO Original drama from the world of 'Game of Thrones', premiering on August 21st.

Lead sound designer on the project, James Utting, embraced the new workflow of designing sound for a non-linear platform, “This project was a powerful creative collaboration of artists and developers from both Factory and The Mill and really highlights what can be achieved when bringing together such prestigious talent. I’m sure most sound designers would agree that being able to create dragon sounds from scratch is a dream project and I thoroughly relished the opportunity to bring the dragon’s personalities to life".

Curating beautifully unique dragon sounds and integrating these into an interactive environment through FMOD and Unity was an exciting challenge that see’s Factory Studios bringing their world-renowned cinematic sound design to an increasing number of immersive briefs. Mike Hill has recently joined Factory Studios to lead this new offering and is hugely excited by the potential of his new team and the prospect of what they can create.

“Factory has such a rich history in creating some of the most revered pieces of work of all time within our industry. When I came on board last year it seemed only right to help push their skills and expertise into newfound areas. With their 25 years' experience in sound, alongside new talent offering technical audio design for LBEs and audio integration into Unity and Unreal, we can bring that award-winning talent and fully weave it into the workflow of experiential projects. We can’t wait for further new opportunities that will arise from this new skillset in-house. Next up? The sound for a brand-new exhibition at the Science Museum going live in October! Who’s up for a trip to space?!”

Not only does Mike’s immersive team pull on the rich talent base of Factory’s award-winning sound designers and producers, but the offering also gives clients access to the wider skills of the Factory Family group of companies; including bespoke music composition and supervision with SIREN and original content creation through Factory Originals. For further information on immersive opportunities with Factory, email here.