Overwatch 2: Creating Sound for Support Hero Juno That is Out of this World
Summary
- Check out Juno, the newest support hero in Overwatch 2
- Find out about Juno’s abilities, and how the audio helps brings them to life
- Learn the stories behind the sounds with insight from Juno’s design team
Hello Overwatch 2 fans and fellow sound engineers! Recently, we welcomed the newest hero and Martian colonist Juno to Earth and into the Overwatch mission in Season 12. As the senior sound designer for her, I thought I’d share a bit about creating the sound identity for Juno, and how my journey through the world of sound design led me there.
Discovering My Passion
Like Juno finding her footing on Earth, my path to designing her sound profile began at Berklee, where I initially went to study electric bass. Music has always been my first love, but as I immersed myself in different aspects of audio production, I discovered a fascination with sound design. Ultimately this led to a decision to chase a career in sound design. Unfortunately, life events led to the tough decision to leave Berklee, but I still wanted to break into the industry and begin making connections. Since I was just starting out, I began creating sound design music and shared it with anyone who would listen. It was a hustle that paid off when I landed a few gigs making sample packs for large sample pack companies. These jobs may have been small potatoes, but they were incredibly educational and helped me build a solid starter reel of work.
Joining the Overwatch 2 Team
With a growing portfolio, I found a job at a third-party audio company, where I worked up to a senior role, gaining experience and refining my skills. It wasn’t long before I felt ready to take on a more significant challenge—a position in an AAA work environment. My opportunity came when I applied for a position on the Overwatch 2 team. The application process was intense—I interviewed and tested while battling my first case of COVID—but despite the hurdles, I was accepted for the role of Senior Heroes Designer. Within the first year, I was entrusted with designing Juno, my first hero.
Designing Juno
Juno uses her space-age technology to solve any problem that enters her orbit, and her spunky and energetic personality called for a sound design that was lighthearted and fun. Her primary fire and torpedoes are quick burst weapons, so they needed to be punchy and concise, clean and satisfying. One of the challenges was in balancing her primary fire to fit both a medical healing device and a laser gun. The team went back and forth on this element, tweaking it until we found the perfect equilibrium that felt right for Juno.
For her cosmic abilities, I experimented with some unconventional techniques. To capture some otherworldly effects, I used de-noising plugins on tonal sounds like bass synths and glassy textures. This was one of the most fun parts of the process because it allowed for a lot of creative freedom.
Juno’s retro aesthetic meant I could lean into a more cliche “pew pew” gun style. I took modern sounding shots and blasts and processed them with quick filter and pitch sweeps to give them that vintage “pew” quality.
Creating the sounds for her mech and foley provided another interesting challenge. I wanted them to sound minimal yet authentic, while avoiding anything too plastic or toy-like. So, I took a trip to Home Depot and found various items I could experiment with to add a unique layer of authenticity to her mechanical sounds. The objective was to find rubber and soft plastic items that could be mixed, so I ended up using some plumbing supplies, a plastic paint bucket, and a plastic plunger. I also took a trip to a local sporting goods store and found some great sounds using a catcher’s mitt and a collapsing camping bucket.
All in all, Juno’s sound identity is plucky future-retro. Keep an ear out for Juno’s unique sounds—knowing the story behind them might just make your next game even more enjoyable!
An Experience to Cherish
Designing Juno has been a rewarding experience, both professionally and personally, and seeing the positive feedback from the Overwatch community has been the cherry on top. My journey from Berklee dropout to creating sounds for a beloved game like Overwatch 2 has been filled with twists, turns, and invaluable lessons.
Check out my latest character designs in the World of Warcraft x Overwatch collab, where I added sound to bring to life the iconic Widowmaker/Sylvanas skin!
If you’re an aspiring sound designer or simply curious about the process, I hope this window into my experience inspires you to follow your passion, no matter the obstacles. Until next time, happy gaming and noise-making!
If you enjoyed this post, consider joining our community forum where we discuss all things Overwatch 2 and sound design. Your thoughts and feedback are always welcome!
Juno is available now in Overwatch 2 – play for free on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and PC now.
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