Jesse James Allen, Audio Director at EA Sports Tiburon, delivered an hour-long presentation to the Advaced Interactive Audio students at Full Sail University on ‘Top Ten Game Audio Mistakes’, addressing misconception such as ‘audio being a one person job’, ‘Audio is easy to integrate ‘ and ‘Video game audio cliches’

The Irrational Games Insider Blog has posted parts two and three of their Audio team’s experience of recording firearms for BioShock Infinite. In part two, the team discuss the sensations of firing live weaponry that they were aiming to capture, and in part three, briefly touch upon the designing/editing process.

Part one of the blog can be viewed here

In the latest episode of the Game Audio Podcast, the panel (which includes guests Shannon Potter [Sounddelux DMG], Kristen Quebe [Microsoft Games Studios] and Fryda Wolff [Turtle Rock Studios] ) discuss the varied entry routes taken by audio designers getting into the Games Industry, as well as discussion on the diversity in games studios.

Listen to the podcast, or download it here

Support for Android, PlayStation Vita and WiiU

Altiverb “Outdoor and More” Impulse Response package

Keyboard Shortcut Manager

Fades and automation for Music Clips

Some changes to Music Transitions:

• Transition: Cue names can be used to specify precisely where to jump in to a destination music segment.

• Stingers: Cue names can be used to specify at which custom cue exactly the stinger should be triggered.

• Callbacks: Callbacks return the name of the cues to the game which opens up new gameplay possibilities.

LFE control merged with main volume control

Wwise Gain Effect

These new features, plus bug fixes and other information on the update are included in the Wwise 2011.3.1 release notes

Rob Bridgett has released a digital ePub version his book “From the Shadows of Film Sound“. It’s available now at $9,99.

As a practitioner in video game development, Rob Bridgett has explored and written about the connective tissue between film sound production and a newly emerging video game audio production culture. This new volume brings together, for the first time, freshly edited writings with many previously unpublished articles, documenting his work and thinking over the past ten years. This book is equally suited to film sound designers intrigued by game sound production as much as those in game sound wishing to further explore the meaning of cinematic sound. A fresh, insightful, and long overdue volume offering nourishment for students of sound as well as ammunition for sound artists working on the front line of development.

Buy it here. Printed version is available at Blurb.

You can also check the interview we did in 2010 when the book was released.

The episode #14 of the game audio podcast is available for download now.

In this episode we discuss story telling techniques and development, get our geek on with control surfaces and try to solve some music challenges. Anton & Damian are joined by our special guests:

Mike Morasky – Valve
Emily Ridgway – Emily Industries
Lucas van Tol –  Guerrilla Games

Listen

New article at AudioMedia magazine about the sound of “Uncharted: 3″. John Broomhall talks with audio lead Bruce Swanson and senior sound designer Derrick Espino.

Read it online

Audiokinetik has announced a new partnership with Audio Ease. Altiverb IR packages on Wwise.

Audiokinetic Inc. and Audio Ease B.V. announce a partnership where Audiokinetic will distribute award winning Altiverb Impulse Response packages for the Wwise convolution reverb plug-in. The first package will be available before the end of this year and will contain 49 impulse responses mostly oriented for the reproduction of outdoor environments. Reproducing outdoor environments is probably one of the most difficult tasks for sound designers today and this package arrives at the right moment for professionals seeking quality and realism in their games.

“At the design phase of our convolution reverb, we set a very challenging goal that we could have the best technology from the post-production world running in games, said Simon Ashby, VP Products at Audiokinetic. Given that our convolution reverb operates with high performance and that we proudly partner with Audio Ease, which is certainly the most respected player in this field, I think we can say that we have achieved our goal”.

“Convolution reverb approaches the real world so much better than synthetic reverb that it had no trouble taking over Hollywood film sound. I hope this set of movie post-pro Altiverb IR’s will help convolution reverb do the same in game sound, added Arjen van der Schoot, Co-owner of Audio Ease. We had been waiting for the right opportunity to start applying our IR’s in real time in games. When Audiokinetic came along, we did not hesitate. I believe we have chosen to partner with a company as devoted to impressive sounding audio as we are.”

Audiokinetik | Audio Ease

Game Informer has published several videos about the sound of “Transformers: Fall of Cybertron”.

When we decided upon Transformers as a cover story, I started asking around the office looking for ideas for our video coverage. Without a second of hesitation, Game Informer’s own Jeff Cork demanded to learn how the team at High Moon Studios recreates the iconic sounds of the transformations. We are happy to say that we captured the process on video along with many other glimpses inside the creation of audio for Transformers: Fall of Cybertron. Three separate videos each capture an element of the audio work being done for the game, from the fun of foley sound capturing, to working with the inimitable voice of Optimus Prime, Peter Cullen.

Full article

As far as sound in these two industries, both film and game sound brings us into the picture and stirs up our emotions.  It also helps make the images come alive. In film as the story evolves the sound is used to back up the story, and helps make us feel a certain way about the images. There are usually longer and more elaborate sequences to take the viewer through a story with film, and with game sound there is a far greater variety of generally short sounds.  Unlike films, these sounds elicit an immediate, active, reaction from the player.

I think whereas more time goes into pre-production sound work on games than most films, unfortunately for freelancers, an awful lot of this time can be spent dealing with contracts and legal issues instead of being creative. Though sometimes on high budget films there is a fair bit of legal back and forth that is needed, I find that there are way more contract negations with game companies over licensing.

You’ve mentioned previously that game audio is more complicated than film in some ways. Can you go into a little more detail?

There are far more sounds needed in a game than a film, and many more variations on the same theme. Take for example a film and a game that has monsters in it. In a film a creature dies once and the designer only has to create vocals for that one event.  In a game there can be many different possibilities of how and when that creature dies and a variety of subtly different death cries that need to be created. It’s often that way in a game with many many different creatures and emotions that need to be represented. Also, in a game there is more dimension to a scene, like when a player moves and sounds need to change as the image changes.

There are starting to be opportunities for creating new sound styles in 3D movies, but so far I think game sound designers are further ahead in that area.

What types of sounds have you been contracted to provide? And do you provide finished designs/assets, or are you providing component elements for the developers’ sound teams to work with?

With games I’ve been mostly asked to provide creature vocals. I have a huge collection of animal sounds that I, and to some extent my late husband, Alan Splet, recorded over decades. I’ve captured animals that have expressed a panoply of emotions across the globe.  Sometimes I’m also asked for nature sounds such as jungle, desert, and arctic backgrounds or city ambiances in exotic locals, but so far not as much as expressive animals. Once in awhile I’ll get contacted for my large collection of vintage cars, planes and weapons.

What are some of the questions you ask when you are approached to work on a game?

After signing an NDA, I try to find out as much information as possible about the nature of the game and what kinds of sounds they are looking for to enhance their project. I tell them about sounds in my library and generally what I have that can help.

My process of coming up with really useful sounds for the game evolves as I talk with the designer, send material, get feedback, and enhance the package as the process progresses. I choose material based on this collaboration and through suggestions of ways that it can be layered in various combinations, or slowed or sped up, and processed to get the effect needed.

Bears, horses, wolves, whales, lions, leopards, monkeys and alligators just to name a few animals that happen to come to mind, can be used in surprising and endless combinations. Sometimes I’ll find material from my library that isn’t an animal but has the right effect. For example, I have some amazing dry ice recordings that David Lynch and Alan created many years ago for Eraserhead.  Some of it sounds like wounded or angry animals and can be really useful in sweetening real animal vocals.

What reference materials do you commonly work with from developers?

Stills, video clips from the game and descriptions and explanations from the sound designer.

Are there any particular characteristics that help you define the sonic palette for a game asset? What structural and visual aspects help you connect a specific sound to a given game element?

The more information I can get and visuals I can see, the more I am able to come up with interesting and nuanced varieties of sounds.  Sometimes I find sounds that you wouldn’t think of for a particular image but really add an extra flavor or exciting dimension to it.

How does the overall look and tone of the game affect your decisions?

Just as in film the look and tone of the images in a game has a huge effect on what sorts of sounds are needed. For example, the sound needs to create threatening monsters for Hellgate London was very different from the adorable, young cats or bears that the guys working on Kinectimals were wanting.

You provided sounds for Spore, which was a rather unpredictable game. Players designed their creatures/races from the ground up, watching them evolve as the game progressed. I imagine that presented a very unique set of considerations when developing sounds for the game. Care to comment?

Spore is an incredible game! I worked with the local sound developers in the East Bay of San Francisco, for several months on the game. They were a great team and I enjoyed the communication, but I think I could have been much more helpful to them during the initial development if the nature of the game had been more clear. The problem was that they hadn’t received enough information themselves about the look of the creatures. We initially thought that the creatures were much more menacing than they actually were when the first images finally came in. I had helped them develop a whole vocabulary that we had thought would be appropriate given the information we had, but needed to be dramatically different once the images started coming in.  It was at that time that a different sound designer took charge, brought in new people, and took the sound in a different direction. I would have loved to be involved in that as well but alas, it wasn’t in the cards.

What is the feedback process like when working with the in-house audio teams?

I tend to get terrific feedback. I develop an understanding and rapport with my clients that evolves over time. I like talking with them on the phone (or Skype) if we’re in different locales. Sometimes I’ll play sounds over a speakerphone just to show them what I’m thinking and that’s an instant way to find out if we’re on the same track or where I need to go.

What’s one of your favorite moments from working on some of these games?

One delightful experience I had was last year when I recorded new animal vocals for Kinectimals. I spent a week at a big cat preserve in the Mojave Desert. I really got to know the kitties while I was there. I fell in love with a magnificent Tiger named Caesar that would come over to me and tell me his woes. He’d look into my eyes and talk right into my microphone. One day he put the back of his head against the fence and wanted me to pet him. I told him I wasn’t allowed and he was very incensed.  He like most of cats there seemed to understand that I was trying to capture their voices with those big mics. Once I convinced them not to be afraid, and showed I was interested in what they had to say, they were wonderfully vocal with me.  There was an adorable leopard cub that would hiss and snarl at the mic and then pull back, sit and smile at me.  I called him “tuff stuff”.  He was so proud of showing me how tuff he was. Then there were other cats that would grumble, and chuff, howl, hiss and sing.

One night I went out to capture a primal chuffing sound that the cats do in a group at night.  They evidently won’t do this around people so I set my rig up at the edge of Caesar. the tiger’s large compound. hoping that maybe I could capture him making that sound.  I turned the recorder on and walked away with my guide. We sat back under the trees and could hear a group of leopards start their chorus and it sounded like Caesar started to chime in.  When I listened to the tape, after the leopards provided the background vocals Caesar had walked right up to the mic and like a great jazz singer sang a wonderfully expressive solo. It took everything in me to keep from going over and hugging him.

You come from a very unique background within the audio industry; having worked on some of the most revered soundtracks for film, and now contributing to some of the largest game franchises in existence. Do you have any comments to the game audio industry?

It seems like there is a general feeling that film is where the most creative and serious sound work is being done, but games are now so much more imaginative and sophisticated than what they used to be. There are more resources and development time being put into game sound than there is on an average film, and the innovations being made are well… awesome.