Gordon Hempton is one of the world's foremost nature sound recordists. He's won an Emmy, been the subject of a documentary, is an activist for acoustic ecology, and...in what many may deem a tragic irony...is also losing his hearing. Our focus on field recording this month is the perfect opportunity add his voice to our little community here. DS: How did you get into field … [Read more...]
Interview with Raymond Usher
Guest Contribution by Neil Cullen Raymond Usher started work in the games industry in 1992 as a sound designer at DMA Design, working on a number of titles, most notably the original Grand Theft Auto games. He became the company's senior audio programmer and through the release of GTA III, was part of the metamorphosis into Rockstar North. Raymond stayed at Rockstar until … [Read more...]
Spectral Analysis: Interview with Saki Kaskamanidis
Many thanks to Brad Dyck for contributing this interview. You can follow Brad on Twitter @Brad_Dyck BD: How did you get involved in game audio? SK: It all started back in 1995. I was in a band and our keyboard/synth player, Jeff Van Dyck, was working for EA. He was working on the soundtrack for NHL 96 and needed a guitarist to lay down all the riffs, so he hired me. … [Read more...]
An Interview – Ira Greenberg
Ira Greenberg is director of the Center of Creative Computation and is a professor at SMU. He's had a career as a painter, animator, designer, programmer, arts director, professor and author. In addition to having lectured at universities across the world, he's authored three books on creative coding, including the first major reference for Processing. His current research … [Read more...]
“Cicadas” – Sound Installation
"Cicadas" is an installation with a difference. Bringing together sound design, technology and natural science, Berlin-based sound artist Bob Meanza has created sonic robots which emulate some of the resonance and timbral qualities of the cicada. These robots are in fact tinyAVR microcontrollers, programmed using Arduino software to emit sounds that are determined by their … [Read more...]
Interview – Peter Brinkmann & libpd
Pure Data (Pd) is one of the most powerful and commonly used open source softwares for music and sound creation. Spearheaded by Miller Puckette, it is completely free. About three years ago libpd was released – a library of Pd Vanilla (the basic version of Pd) that makes it possible to run Pd pretty much anywhere. Since then there have been an explosion of applications for PC, … [Read more...]
Interview: Rob Bridgett and Game Audio Culture
Rob Bridgett is no stranger to us here at Designing Sound. Constantly writing and engaging in community discussion; Rob has put out a new book called "Game Audio Culture". Here are some questions Damian Kastbauer and I put together for Rob. Can you tell the few Designing Sound readers who don't know who you are a bit about your background in sound design, game … [Read more...]