As the capabilities of technology expand, we are seeing a migration of the methods in which people consume their entertainment. The once standard form for our generation, linear multimedia, has exploded into a multitude of niche markets. From in-home chatbots or consumer grade robots to VR, AR, and MR, people are finding new ways to have fun. And for the content creators behind … [Read more...]
The Volunteer Labor Behind DesigningSound.org
To those reading this in the U.S., Happy Labor Day! To those elsewhere, happy Monday. Coming from the UK where we have generic "bank holidays", I've still been getting to grasp with the many varied holidays celebrated here in the United States. Today is one such day, Labor Day. [perfectpullquote align="full" cite="United States Department of Labor" … [Read more...]
Sunday Sound Thought #85 – Always There For You?
As has come before; many of these posts will be philosophical in nature. Some will be in contradiction to previous postings. These are not intended as truths or assertions, they’re merely thoughts…ideas. Think of this as stream of consciousness over a wide span…Please bare with us as we traverse the abstract canals of audio musings. The lifecycle of all things seems … [Read more...]
Monthly Theme: Fun
[perfectpullquote align="full" cite="Steve Smith" link="" color="" class="" size=""]We're not curing cancer. We're barely curing boredom.[/perfectpullquote] Art is hard. Creativity is hard. Ditto clients, technical challenges, deadlines, impostor syndrome, repetitive strain injury, and burnout. The realist's manual on the hazards of professional sound design runs many miles … [Read more...]
“Burnout” – a sound design retrospective with Ben Minto
To end this month of "Burnout", I thought it might be fun to reinterpret the theme title and take a look at the sound design for a classic series of racing games that bear the same name. So allow me if you will, to take you... back in time! The year was 2001. It was the year the gaming world debuted the gruff yet dulcet tones of Max Payne. It was the … [Read more...]
Preventing Burnout
We are in highly creative, highly competitive, deadline-driven fields, and as such, over-exertion and long hours are often the norm. I'm been through the delirium of long crunches dozens of times and have unfortunately seen amazingly talented people fall victim to the stresses and exhaustion, ending their careers and leaving the creative field far too young. There is plenty of … [Read more...]
Re-Igniting a College Burnout
This is a guest submission from Nate Flaks. Nate is a soon-to-be-LA-based Sound Editor and half of the electronic duo Sleeping Lion. He is an alumni of Berklee College of music where he studied Film Scoring and Electronic Production & Design. In hindsight, it was arrogant to believe that I’d somehow know what “too much” was before I took on too much. … [Read more...]