[Rob Bridgett, audio director on Prototype 2 issues a rallying cry for the mixing of the audio discipline with the rest of the studio, and opening up the closed studio space to collaboration -- perhaps even suggesting a fundamental change in studio structure.]

Read more at Gamasutra

A collection of blog posts, and a special edition of the Game Audio Podcast, have been coordinated by Damian Kastbauer and David Nichols on the dense subject of racing game audio. The remarkably in-depth studies (which feature video examples) rip apart audio techniques for the racing genre, investigating subjects such as tire squeals, surface types, camera perspectives, and of course, the sounds of the engines themselves.

From the Lost Chocolate Blog;

These informal game sound studies aim to expose the technical side of game audio by making an assessment of current generation titles. The assessment is then used as a way to better understand the differences in approach, aesthetics, and progression of techniques across a small sample. By turning the focus onto emerging details that arise during the course of the study we are able to identify area’s of significance and interest that help communicate the current state of the art. These finding are then represented in a content-rich report that includes: videos, article links, and specialized interviews. The goal is to help raise awareness for the technical side of sound design and help in the understanding of what is often not very well represented in current literature.

Check out the study in all it’s glory at the following links:

Vroom Vroom – A Study of Sound in Racing Games ( Introductory article in Game Developer Magazine )

TrackTime Audio blog – Racing Game Sound Study

Lost Chocolate Blog – Racing Game Sound Study

Game Audio Podcast – Racing Game Sound Study (with guests Mike Caviezel, Mike de Belle and Tim Bartlett)

The latest edition of the Game Audio Podcast is out, wrapping up a variety of subjects from GDC 2012 with special guest, Michael Raphael of boutique,royalty-free sound library provider Rabbit Ears Audio. Our  hosts also discuss the GANG awards, FMOD Studio, and newly emerging procedural plug-in formats for audio middleware, such as AudioGaming‘s AudioWeather.

You can check out some of the GDC talks mentioned, plus a wide variety of other GDC audio track content here

Listen to the Game Audio Podcast

Motionographer has published an interview with sound designer John Kassab, talking about his work on the short film “Childhood of a Circle”

As I was being transported back to my youth watching Childhood of a Circle, I noticed a thread lining several recent posts here…

Melbourne-based audio designer & deep sea diver John Kassab has been making a subtle but sound statement through a handful of featured Motionographer articles, notably: Callum Cooper’s Full Circle, Shaun Tan’s The Lost Thing (exerpt + interview), and of course, Kadavre Exquis’ recently released piece above (among others).

As the sculptors of all things aurally beautiful, sound designers are not often given their proper due, so be sure to lend an ear to John & all the other artists here who routinely tickle our cochlea.

Continue reading…

Cool video profile about the work of the guys at Wabi Sabi Sound featuring sound designers Andrew Lackey and Geoffrey Garnett.

A few years ago, we began hearing that there was talk within the Academy about the two sound awards, those of Best Sound Mixing and Best Sound Editing. Firstly we heard rumors that the Academy as a whole wanted to unify the two awards into one. Secondly we heard that there was growing interest from some of the Academy members to move the two sound awards out of the main awards show, and into the technical awards show.

The basis for moving the awards out of the main awards show was probably due simply to the possibility of swapping sound editors for airtime, speeches for high-priced commercial time. It also showed a well-known lack of respect for what sound people actually do. There were great champions for our cause, trying to educate the public and the members of the Academy, that was we do is not purely technical, any more than a cinematographer or picture editor is a technician, employing technology in their respective jobs.

But what about the other discussion about unifying the sound awards? It’s my opinion, and I know this is shared by some, opposed by others, is that is is a shame that this didn’t happen.

People will tell you that the public, and even most members of the Academy can’t tell the difference the two awards, the difference between what they represent. I’ll go one further. Most sound people couldn’t tell you, with any lucidity, why exactly there are two awards. They couldn’t tell you why sound editing / design is a different enough art from mixing to justify a second award. Forget that the forementioned technology is and will continually blur the lines between mixing and editing anyway It is hurting our cause to have two distinct, yet undefined awards.

Of course there are differences between mixing and editing, between the phases of mixing and editing, between editors and mixers. But ultimately, what we do, when it is at its best, as a whole, is to bring together many elements of our art and our craft towards the common goal of creating a motion picture soundtrack. To justify two separate awards, those two crafts must be significantly different. And I don’t believe that they are. Any good editor is always mixing as they go. And the art of mixing include much editing. We are all just sound people.

As we all know, the last ten years have seen the technology of what we do change quite a bit. With all sound now being edited digitally, mixed digitally, and now even recorded right into a DAW such as ProTools, the ability to both mix and edit is available at nearly every stage, from the first days of cutting through to the final print master. A sound editor can adjust pan, volume, EQ etc. He or she can sum, route, and mix just as easily, maybe easier, than on a console. Arguably, the technology then at least of mixing is available to an editor. Most stages I’ve been on now have a ProTools terminal right now to the mixer, so that he or she can also easily make adjustments, mute, cut sounds, etc. So again, the technology of editing is available, let’s say, to a mixer as well.

So perhaps we need some clarity to what mixing and editing are, beyond their respective technologies. Let’s dumb it down to it’s most basic level. Perhaps we could say that editing is simply the creative placement of sound elements against picture in preparation for a sound mix, and that mixing is the creative combing of those elements using volume, EQ, reverb, panning to create the final soundtrack? While that would certainly be true, it’s certainly much too narrow a definition. Because of course most current editors are also using volume, layering, panning, EQ to accomplish their job. And a good mixer is constantly evaluating placement of sound to accomplish their job too.

See here is the problem. Even as I try, I have a hard time elucidating just what the difference is. And it’s not based on the blurring of the technology. It’s based on the blurring of the art and craft. It’s that every great editor I know is also to some degree a great mixer, simply by what it is that they do. And I would say that even the best mixers I have worked with are also great editors.

A unified sound award would present to the Acamedy and public a unified sound communtiy. It would also reinforce to our own community that while there are differences in what we do, they are all complimentary to each other. Two sound awards presents to the public a divided sound community. It gives them ammunition for the other discussions, like moving our awards to the technical awards. In my opinion it gives them the message that we ourselves aren’t quite sure what it is that we do.

What would a single sound award look like?

The BAFTA is a single award. Until a few years ago, it allowed I believe for up to seven nominations: Four mixers, two supervising sound editors, and one sound sound designer. This seem to me a pretty good representation of the sound crew, and I would love to see the Academy adopt something like this. The award should simply be called Best Sound. If you want to limit the acceptance speech to one person, fine. Let the nominees sort that out amongst themselves. If there are three supervising sound editors, or five mixers, let the producers decide who gets the nomination.

But standing up on stage should be a single representation of the crew as a whole, mixers and editors alike.

I’m sure we haven’t seen the end of this discussion. I highly suspect that in the coming years the two awards will indeed be unified. I think it will become increasingly difficult to convince the Academy, and even ourselves, that the awards are distinct enough to warrant there being two of them.

I would honestly love to hear what other people think.

Tim Nielsen

An interview with sound designer Randy Thom at VIEW Conference 2011.

Thanks to Matteo for the link!

Spectrasonics has uploaded the full sound design panel that Eric Persing, Diego Stocco, Richard Devine and Scott Gershin gave at the 2011 Moogfest in Asheville, North Carolina. Maybe you remember that we shared several video recordings from the panel a couple of weeks ago, but this one has much better quality and contains more stuff, almost an hour. Inspiring!

(via synthtopia)

In this SoundWorks Collection exclusive we talk with Composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, Sound Re-recording Mixer Michael Semanick, and Re-recording Mixer, Sound Designer, and Supervising Sound Editor Ren Klyce.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a 2011 English-language drama/thriller film. It is the second film to be adapted from the Swedish novel of the same name by Stieg Larsson. The first was a 2009 Swedish-language/English dubbed film. The 2011 film was written by Steven Zaillian and directed by David Fincher. Daniel Craig stars as Mikael Blomkvist, and Rooney Mara stars as Lisbeth Salander. In essence, the film follows a man’s mission to find out what has happened to a girl who has been missing for 36 years, and may have been murdered.

SoundWorks Collection

Pro Sound Effects is hosting a webinar called “Why Sound Matters” (part 2), presented by sound designer Stephan Schütze. It’s tomorrow, no cost.

After high demand, Stephan Schutze of the Foundation Sound Effectst Libraies and PSE are hosting a second webinar about the importance of sound in education. This webinar will focus on sound production in the field, and is geared towards educators in media production. However, anyone interested in sound recording techniques will learn a great deal as well.

Register