Chris de la Pena is an Orange County based sound designer with deep music and gaming roots. He was exposed to both at a young age, but it took a while for Chris to realise that he could actually combine his interests and start creating the sounds he was hearing in the games he loved to play. Getting better and better at his craft over time, Chris now works with a company that would rank high on the list of preferred employers for most geeks - Blizzard Studios. Chris was extraordinarily kind enough to spare an hour after a long work day to chat to us about all manner of things including: - how he planted his gaming roots quite early when he inherited an early Atari model with a stack of games - how his family's muscial background getting him started, at age 8, on the path of writing music (a tip of the hat to Slash from Guns N Roses to the guitar interest) - and we get to take a peek behind the curtain regarding how sound designers go about planning their sounds and music for the best effect, including how to best use low frequency sounds. Plus, he helps us figure out exactly how you would mic a bagpipe for studio recording ... and the logic behind it is pretty simple.