Peter Canaricas has published a nice article on Variety featuring "The Hurt Locker" and "Avatar" sound, two films nominated to Academy Award for Best Sound Editing, but also two different worlds and different perspectives and ways to treat the sound. Check some excerpts: "We absolutely invented sounds," says Boyes, whose team created aural experiences that don't exist on Earth, … [Read more...]
Audio Implementation Greats #3: Crackdown – Realtime Worlds
One area that has been gaining ground since the early days of EAX on the PC platform, and more recently it's omnipresence in audio middleware toolsets, is Reverb. With the ability to enhance the sounds playing back in the game with reverberant information from the surrounding space, you can effectively communicate to the player a truer approximation of “being there” and help to … [Read more...]
Charles Deenen Special: The Future of Sound Design in Video Games [Part 1]
THE FUTURE OF SOUND DESIGN IN VIDEO GAMES, Part 1 The following article contains excerpts from the “Future of Sound Design” lectures at GDC, VFS and Dutch Film Festival originally presented in 2006. Please note that certain expressions are personal opinions, and cannot be read as “fact”. In our endless passion to make games have a similar, or exceeding sound-scape experience … [Read more...]
Interview with Vance Dylan
George Spanos has published a nice talk he had with Vance Dylan, sound designer with work on titles such as Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age: Origins, and Sonic Chronicles. Vance talks about specific games, his career and how he creates sound. Let's read: Let's start off with the ubiquitous question: when did you decide to pursue a career in sound? Vance Dylan: I was … [Read more...]
The Next Big Steps in Game Sound Design
Some days ago I read this great article on Gamasutra created by my friend Damian Kastbauer, and I just realized that I didn't talk about it on the blog, so if you haven't read it yet, you can do it now: It's a great time in game audio these days. As we move forward in the current console generation, several emerging examples of best practices in audio implementation have been … [Read more...]
Your Questions to Charles Deenen
In the same way I did with the previous specials, you have the opportunity to ask your own questions to the featured sound designers, this time Charles Deenen. There are several ways to do that: Leave a comment on this post Use the contact form Write to designing sound [at] gmail [dot] com … [Read more...]
More "Avatar" Sound: In-Depth Sound Profile with Chris Boyes
New Avatar Sound Profile, this time by SoundWorks Collection, with great information about the sound of the film, given by Chris Boyes from Skywalker Sound. The groundbreaking technical and directorial abilities of Director James Cameron can be experienced in his breathtaking visual world of Pandora in “Avatar”. This never before seen world is filled with landscapes, creatures, … [Read more...]