February...in December?

Came across a little blurb on the old band over at The Sound of Indie

Totally sweet!

Whoosh 101

I came across this quick video, over at this chap's blog:
substation.co.nz

You can see some of his other sound design video's on the toober:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=subbasshead&search=Search

Cool Stuff!

Along time coming

Theremin Orchestra Awesomeness!

Especially good is the wind up toward the first note.

LCL - GAME AUDIO LINK DUMP

Been heavy in the throes of development on Conan, and some other game audio related projects.
In the meantime here's a roundup of a ton of old game noise related articles, and a few off topic sound/ music related ones as well.
Hope yr all doin' well!

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Here's one pimpin' the dynamic duo AKA Julian & Jared over at Bay Area Sound who I've been working with alot lately:
Bay Area Sound - AN INDEPENDENT GAME SOUND COMPANY CHANGES WITH THE INDUSTRY

An old one from Julian:
Julian Kwasneski: Inside Game Audio

A recent one from Jared:
Gabez does Bay Area Sound

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Another prolific local (game) audio talent is none other than Fairfax's unofficial mayor Jory Prum
I case you haven't checked out the articles on Studio Jory you can peep em' here:
What's Your Story, Jory?

From Scarface to Simlish - BAY AREA TALENT TACKLES A SPECTRUM OF GAME SOUND

*Bonus points if you can guess who referred me for the gig out here...hint: JORY!

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A very well done audio dev journal entry by Mark Lampert from right before Oblivion was released:

IT’S QUIET … ALMOST TOO QUIET

Some pics of the Audio Tools, Discussions on VO technique, good good good!

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Just in case y'all havent come across this delicious overview of audio development posted by Steve Kutay @ Radius360 over at gamedev.net:
Bigger Than Big: The Game Audio Explosion

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Samurai Champloo: Sidetracked

Samurai Champloo: Sidetracked
Grasshopper Manufacture/Namco Bandai Games America
PlayStation 2

Samurai Champloo is the latest hit by Cowboy Bebop creator Shinichiro Watanabe, who might well be described as the Sergio Leone or Quentin Tarantino of the anime world. Killer7 developer Grasshopper Manufacture has what might be described as strong aspirations to be the Quentin Tarantino of the videogame world. So this is a sort of clever pairing. The big talking point is the relationship between the underlying music and on-screen action; every attack combo available to the player is timed to the music. The player can choose between two soundtracks for any given level, each of which opens different control possibilities. Bloodletting is hyper-gory by intention, to get a reaction out of the player. It's all... that kind of stuff.

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While not game related per se, I thought I'd drop some King Kong related sound links on this thread for reference for those interested:
Kong is King (Video) Post Production Diary (Search for "sound" and you'll come up with some treats in the foley/field recording, and music/ mixing related categories)

King Kong: Mammoth Post Power Yields Epic Results (Audio post article)

Scans from a book on the making of the Original Kong (With regards to the Sound/Music prodiction/ techniques.)

And re: Game Production
Kong is King Gaming Site

CGWorld - Aping Film

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wow, here's a super fun little location based field recording listening device

Sound Cities

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Sonification of the poetic act of cycling:

RAHMENBEDINGUNG
Direct Video Link

A bycicle equipped with sensors and conected to a sound-computer via
a wireless device, forms the personal musical interface of each
performer. the organic data-stream of parameters like direction,
speed, accelerarion, pedal-speed, pedal-direction etc is bound to the
inner logic of riding a bike - hence we don't want to fall down. the
outer logic is the architectural determination of the space, the
bycicle path, as well as the position of the audience. these general
conditions structure the music, on the other hand we will ride the
bike in a musical way which defines our movements in space and evokes
a choregrafie.

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Made out of people: Games and Sound

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Big Wheels Sound Studio Q&A

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Making the Game: Audio/Sound FX Production
An interview with dSonic's Vincent Stefanelli, Kemal Amarasingham, Simon Amarasingham.

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Making Those Games Sound Right
Foley and Game Sound at Skywalker Ranch

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Audio Director Heather Sowards Talks About the Sound Design of EverQuest II

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Skillset - Games: Audio Engineer - Computer Games

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IGDA - Breaking In/ Audio

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Titan Quest run down from Scotticus

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Smearing Discontinuity::In-Game Sound

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An article I wrote up on Sonification & SotC:
Shadow of The Colossus - A Sonification Case Study

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I came across this interesting Radiant Slab: Field Recording Repository with lots of great field recordings uploaded by various, and encourages like minded sharing. (email address contact)

Possibly a good source to share sounds in addition to the already excellent Freesound, SoundTransit, and Sound Cities.

From the site:

This field recording repository is an extension of the eGroup disscussion list Phonography. Although this is primarily for the Phonography readers, others are welcome and encouraged to upload their recordings.

Share your field recordings through the web form below. Any file format is accepted, though MP3 is preffered.

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Some deep thinking on the theory behind all of the Beatles' Music...with some interesting studio discourse and extreme dissection:

Allan Pollack's Notes On Series - The Beatles

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Until next time true believers!
-dk

Conan - Game Project Announced

It's recently been announced that the title i've been working on since making the jump to California will be a new game from the CONAN universe. I'll feed some more details as they become available, but it's exciting to have it out in the open. I'm sitting in a pleasant position suggesting audio tech, plugging in sfx/music content, and making the game sound as good as possible. Hopefully i'll be able to share some of the cooler implementation aspects and specialized audio systems as time goes by.

I'm headed off to GDC again this year and look forward to hearing all the geeks get their game on. If you're on the fence about going, feel free to read my wrap-up from last year.

If you're on your way, i'll see you there!

Avalon Audio Redux

I was looking back on the last year with a bit of nostalgia for some of the sound work I was able to be a part of, and thought I would put up a google video of a clip from a game inspired movie called Avalon, that I redid the sound for as part of a collaborative throw-down where a few of us noise makers would attack a short video clip and overhaul the audio for it.


Hope 2007 finds you all safely tucked into your beds this year!

Diversity and Non-Standard Randomization

The limitless potential of diversity and non-standard randomization.

We've all been there, several hours into a game and we just can't take it anymore. The same gunshot over and over, a signature spell or power-up...whatever the case, we've all been bitten by the repetition bug at some point in our gaming marathons. Some of these cases seem to have been deliberately crafted to impart their sonic signature on your brain in no uncertain terms, others were simply due to space and budget constraints. For example; the famous Zelda chime, Pac-Man's gobble, super Mario's jump...all have left a lasting & pleasurable impression in my mind as the quintessential sound of each action they represent, whereas the same four footsteps looping for several hours in any RPG have not.

It is now becoming standard to introduce randomization and weighted prioritization of sounds of the same type in order to introduce an amount of further believability.

The case for the use of these techniques should not be underestimated as the savvy gamer will quickly be pulled out of the moment by the ceaseless repetition of the exact same sound over and over. Unless this repetition is meant as a sonic-branding of the sound in order to promote its singularity, the sound will quickly grow tiring in a game that uses it often.

Another way to combat repetition is though the randomization of adjustable parameters such as volume and pitch. Most audio engines support this ability, and if a sound is assigned an acceptable range within which to randomize, you will get a large variable of potential sounds playing back with a high degree of diversity.

Figure out a way to turn four footsteps into forty, or multiply the number of different explosions by ten. Build a system that uses and recycles layers of sound that are combined in-engine, resulting in a random selection of sounds in each layer. Break down your ambiance into a combination of long loops and randomized stingers, instead of settling for a stereo mix.

In todays game design culture it is often taken for granted the large number of assets needed to create an appealing world that remains interesting throughout the course of game play. Even as available space continues to grow on todays consoles, it still remains a necessary task to do as much with as little as possible. As sound designers, we can plan for, and extend the use of sound using implementation tools in order to diversify the audio landscape of the game world.

Brilliance...Pending

Well, maybe not brilliance per se...but I do hope to have some frantic musings on this world of audio I've been submersed in lately.

There is an article waiting to happen that involves several building systems, a portable computer, and a microphone. A multitude of sound samples to accompany pictures of said noise making devices, and a slew of anecdotes about what it's like inside the belly of a beast.

Until then let randomization be your guide in the world!