What does it mean to be a good Sound Designer? Does it mean being able to find interesting sounds and simply record them? Maybe. Sometimes if we come across these sounds in a fleeting moment, we are forced to record them with whatever means we have at the time. And hey, a poorly recorded sound is better than a not-recorded sound. But more often than … [Read more...]
Sunday Sound Thought #62 – GDC Wrap Up: What Was Your Takeaway?
In reflecting on GDC last week, I find several themes coming to mind. I can talk about attending Sightglass coffee at the crack of dawn, where I was able to appreciate the openness of the audio community and their willingness to share experiences, advice, or knowledge. Or, I can muse about the talks themselves, wrapping up in a conclusion-like statement an overview of the kind … [Read more...]
Sound for Radio: An Interview with Audio Designer and Creative Director Jeff Schmidt
When we talk about the audio industry and the areas in which its lives, we tend to think about it in two ways: linear and nonlinear format. And within these categories, the dominant players seem to be films, games, and television. But how is it that we’ve forgotten about radio? The oldest medium of them all, radio is more than just a linear or nonlinear format. … [Read more...]
Sunday Sound Thought 54 – The Proof of Concept
Last year, I was working on a project to redesign the audio experience of an existing IP that was trying to rebrand itself. At the time, if you had asked me if I thought it would be valuable to build a proof of concept for my ideas, I probably would have said "no." I thought I didn't need it, because I believed I knew what would work for the experience I was building and the … [Read more...]
Sound with Benefits: A Look at Sounds that Hurt and Help our Health
As members of the audio industry, sound is our livelihood. Whether we’re cutting dialog, recording, editing, composing, or engaging in any other part of our field, we expose ourselves to sound everyday. And while sound is informative and emotionally moving, it is nevertheless a fatiguing experience for our body. Most of us have heard at one point or another the concept of … [Read more...]
Sound for Robots: An Interview with Sr. Sound Designer Ben Gabaldon
When we think of dynamic sound, we don’t often include robots as a category worthy of attention. In the past, interactive robots were a thing of science fiction. Any sound or voice they made was a linear experience of bloops and bleeps or maybe a monotone voice with fuzzy distortion. These days, with the tech industry booming, consumer grade robots are becoming more and more … [Read more...]
Break a Leg, Sound Designer
An Interview with San Francisco Bay Area theater Sound Designer, Jake Rodriguez As someone who deals mainly in game audio, you can probably understand why sound for theater isn’t something that I’m a resident expert on. Luckily, for this month’s Sound for Live Theater theme, I was able to catch up with someone who has made a name for himself as a Sound Designer for the San … [Read more...]