A PAIR of music technology students have seen their skills used on the latest American football video game series.

Niall Coates and Kurtis Brudenell, who studied at Middlesbrough College on a Teesside University degree programme, now appear on the credits of Madden NFL 17.

Niall, 22, and Kurtis, 25, both from Middlesbrough, edited most of the key sound effects in the title which was released on major consoles by international gaming giant EA Games.

They were recruited by Will Morton, who oversaw sound development on the Grand Theft Auto games, on the strength of their enthusiasm and degree experience.

The Middlesbrough students were responsible for editing some of the game’s “Foley” – an industry term that refers to the reproduction of everyday sounds such as the swish of clothing, the bounce of a ball on turf or the howl of wind.

Mr Coates said: “We were fresh off the degree course at Middlesbrough College, and didn’t have portfolios at the time but we’d got ourselves a DigitalCity Fellowship. It gave us some funding and networking opportunities to begin building our portfolios. And through that we met Will, who has a lot of experience in sound design, and it just took off from there.”

The sound of players crashing into one another was created using cheap suitcases stuffed with clothes, the sound of helmets clashing was grills hit with metal spoons and the “clack” of shoulder pads was created using plastic Tupperware boxes.