Japanese video game composers and musicians get a good bit of coverage and acclaim over in the West, but the people making the booms and whoosh sounds don't seem to get much visibility. To that end I reached out to Tomoya Kishi, who is the Audio Director and Senior Manager of Audio Design and Production at Capcom: "Tomoya Kishi joined Capcom in 2001, beginning his career as … [Read more...]
Rewind…Audio Implementation Greats #3: Crackdown – Realtime Worlds
In the run-up to this month's reverb theme, former contributor Damian Kastbauer suggested we re-run this article he put together discussing the game Crackdown for XBOX. The article may be two years old, but the content remains undeniably relevant. Never one to ignore good suggestions, here we are... One area that has been gaining ground since the early days of EAX on the PC … [Read more...]
Ariel Gross Interview
This is an interview with our guest poster for November - Ariel Gross, Audio Director of game development studio Volition Inc, which produces such PC and console titles as the Saint's Row and Red Faction series. Check out Ariel's introduction post, and his blog 'I Feel Like a Fraud and So Can You!' Can you tell us a little about how you got into audio, and your audio career … [Read more...]
Room Tone = Emotional Tone: The Importance of Hearing Ambience
am·bi·ence noun /ˈambēəns/ ambiances, plural; ambiences, plural The character and atmosphere of a place - the relaxed ambience of the cocktail lounge is popular with guests Background noise added to a musical recording to give the impression that it was recorded live Wherever you may be reading this article, stop whatever you are doing, and … [Read more...]
Guest Poster Introduction: Ariel Gross
Editors note: This series of articles by Ariel were initially planned to be for the 'Featured Sound Designer', but due to recent changes to Designing Sound they will simply be posted each Wednesday over the month of November. And now, please allow Ariel Gross, Studio Audio Director at Volition to introduce himself in his own words. The year is 1991. Ariel Gross is 12 years … [Read more...]
Video Games and Loudness Standards: Interview with Sony’s Garry Taylor
The issues of loudness and dynamic range are common across all audio/visual media, but recently this conversation has been gaining traction within the game audio community. Following his presentation 'Fighting the Loudness War' at the Develop conference in early July, I contacted Sony Computer Entertainment Europe's Audio Director Garry Taylor to discuss the subject … [Read more...]
Interview with Leonard J. Paul, of the School of Video Game Audio
With the rise in popularity of sound design, and game audio as a career choice among audio engineers, there is a growing call for formal training and education courses that will prepare prospective professionals accordingly. Last week, I posted this open call for students to enrol in the School of Video Game Audio. The co-founder of the School, Leonard J. Paul, has been kind … [Read more...]