There are plenty of Trade Journals to look, with easy access and packed full of information on the gaming industry. Whether it be visuals, audio, genres, new releases the job lot. There are some links to some I have looked so far. Some link straight to articles that I feel are packed full of information, hints and tips related to the work I am setting myself
http://www.develop-online.net/search/audio
https://www.develop-online.net/analysis/heard-about-artistic-expression-in-game-audio/0117739
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/193616/advanced_audio_streaming_in_unity.php
Youtube Videos
To be able to fully understand the role of an audio designer, you can gain more information physically talking to one and asking questions on how they approach they work and how they solves problems. Obviously, a lot of audio designers are ncredibly busy and haven’t got time to be interviewed by a student so I took the time to search Youtube and try gather as much information and note down how they approach work and how they solved any problems they encountered.
All links are to the direct video I watched and have taken notes on. Video name, Person/group who uploaded it, and who is being interviewed and what game the worked on:
Youtube video – what is game audio and sound design?
by Pinnacle College
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dY8VwJc0lw0
This video supplied me with information on the overall on how audio has changed in the gaming industry and what tasks are included in being an audio designer for games. Tasks included in creating the overall audio are music, sound effects, and vocals or characters voices within the game. A lot of audio designers believe that the audio within the game tells the story. Which that provides the play with an interactive experience. As games became more and more popular, the treatment of sound grew and had to heavily influenced on technology enhancing the game play (which has mainly happened within the last 30 years) especially as gaming has become the main entertainment choice in 21st century. However, the constant drive to raise the bar with every game released the production of audio has become a heavily pressured aspect of the overall process and expectations from players are becoming incredibly very high.
When the gaming industry was first introduced the audio was programmed in to the microchips and was mainly used to enhance the notion of winning or losing. This means that programmers themselves were applying the audio to very game released and that is why the audio was incredibly limited, due to the lack of audio technology being applied to the industry.
The development of audio within games is directly influenced by technology as they could only create what technology allowed them to create. As games were hitting PC’s and new audio technology was being developed, the way audio was then applied to the game had to changed. Audio was created and programmed and then applied to the visuals a little bit like the the audio post production in film and television productions.
With this new technology the audio began to play a different role within the game itself. Instead of enhancing whether the player had won or lost it influenced the content of the game allowing the player choice and producing adaptive sound (and interactive term that adapts to the players moves and decisions throughout the game).
Now, 30 years later, game music can be sold as soundtracks to audiences and the interactive aspect of sound increases the appreciation from the consumer causing the industry to constantly expand and allow new technology to create amazing soundtracks. Audio has such an impact in the game industries many companies hold in house audio studios and hire audio designers to work on the on going projects, flowing from one game to the next. On the other hand, smaller companies have a wide choice of freelancing audio designers that be hired temporarily depending on the type of game.
The sound design of battlefield 3 – game informer
by game informer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vc8WQsIxhro
Stefan Strandberg Interview
After gaining information from the last youtube video and articles from the list of trade journals listed above I moved on to interviews with other audio designers that have worked on big and popular games to gain understanding on their approach and learn tips on how to make the project easier for you. Stefan Strandberg, the audio designer on Battlefield 3, explained how he used his knowledge of Battlefield 2 to help him approach the third game in the series. He stated how he wanted to over exaggerate each sound without making it too noise for the visuals. He believed that the audio had to be more accurate and had to understand that some players will be online for 100’s of hours. Meaning that audio could become too much and too noisy. With lots of research about the soundscape of a war zone they could rewrite the audio to create an accurate soundscape for the imagery. They did this by entering a military base who managed to recreate what a war zone sounded like and placed microphones in various places to capture a wider sound area. He explained that he believed it needed to sound like the team were documenting the sounds not making the game sound like Hollywood cinema.
I found this information useful as he explains the importance of understanding how accurate audio to the visuals can create a realistic soundscape for the player. Games shouldn’t be treated like a Hollywood film, the audio should document the visuals because the sounds can not be too loud otherwise it ruins the illusion of the game being an interactive realm that create escapism for the player
Skyrims sound design
the game informer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DwJTPNvSKU
Mark Lampert interview
In this interview, Mark Lampert explains his approach to Skyrim. His team decided to gather as many field recordings as possible as the visuals included a lot of woodland and open country. When it came to editing the sounds together he added value to his sound by giving more bass to the low frequency sounds and within those sounds add small hints of high frequency sounds giving the impression that the clip of audio is full of depth, providing the image with a 3D aspect. Mark Lampert also explains that a lot of audio is just trail and error to see whether it fits with the visuals and which is the best way to imbed it in. With this information and knowledge, you can go ahead and learn how field recordings can effect the depth of an image and gain knowledge on how to imbed the audio for it to sound natural through trail and error.
The sound design for mass effect 3
By game informer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHo1Z913QsY
Rob Blake Interview
The team Rob Blake worked with used the sounds originally included in the final draft for Mass Effect 2. They used the technology available to make the audio sound better by cleaning them up and making them sound more punchier and add more bass to sounds that needed that little bit more depth. Having a large team means that they had the workforce to focus on certain sounds and still hit the deadline. In the video he plays examples of audio from Mass Effect 2 and compared it to sounds from Mass Effect 3, and explains that by using the same sounds and cleaning them up makes it easier for the team as well as creating iconic sounds of the characters for the players. He also explain the importance of creating a better experience which he explained as making sure the audio doesn’t stand out from the visuals as they can detach the player from the game meaning a less interactive experience.
Becoming an Audio Designer within the Game Industry
James Magee
As well as understanding how many audio designers treat their projects, I need to understand what an audio designer for the gaming industry will do in an average day.
James Magee is a free-lancing audio designer for the Game Industry. Many free lancers can be contracted to work by bigger companies, which prevents them from working with any smaller companies for the time being. James Magee has spent 5 years working freelance in the game industry, however he has been contracted with Sony Computer Entertainment since 2012.
His normal working day consists of attending a short meeting in the morning with his team members to discuss the project they are currently working on, then start on any tasks which have been scheduled to be finished by the production team. This work can be incredibly varied, he could be working on character foley for in-game animation, gameplay sound effects to creating a 5.1 ambiences to reflect or provoke the mood of the game.
When creating audio for game, there are many interactive aspects and therefore has a non-linear consistency. Magee has to dedicate the majority of his working day to technical implementation. “Interactive audio is incredibly useful in creating immersive and engaging experiences for the player, but it brings unique challenges.”
Even through designing audio provides a chance to create a full, exciting soundscape that emerges the player in to a more realistic environment, there is only so much memory (within the gaming device) that is left for the audio so implementation of sounds has to be carefully thought about and not just throw everything for a full on soundscape. “Thinking about implementation helps shape the way in which I approach sound design, whether it be a randomised one-shot sounds or a series of looping layers, and deciding how it will play back during the gameplay really helps the creative process.”
Being an audio designer, who specialises in the gaming industry, can be a very demanding and energy draining career, as well as being a very hard career to kick start. Audio departments in a gaming company tend to be very small so jobs may seem hard to come by. Magee was employed as an assistant studio engineer, after he got his Music Technology degree, were he recorded music and dialogue at his local studio. Magee then went and bought entry level recording equipment to help with local film and animation students. Magee contacted many audio designers who had managed to build their careers and received advice and tips for approaching this career choice and took on further education in 2007, gaining an MA in Sound Design at Bournemouth University. After 18 months of persistent job apply he worked on a few small indie projects and was noticed by Sony in 2010.
Gamesounddesign.com
This website has many interesting articles providing tips and advice on becoming a better designer, or even what problems to avoid and how to deal with them. As audio designers are pressured to deliver high quality sounds in a timely matter, having to produce the final product within tight schedules and deadlines many problems can occur.
One problem may be revising a sound to get it sound perfect. However, with this comes sound fatigue as eventually you will get tired of hearing the same sound over and over, once you have reached this point the sound will never be perfect. Tip: get a fresh set of ears in on the project and have them listen to the sound and try tweak it, or just simply use the original version of the sound and leave it as that.
One article, George Spanos, consists of 10 tips to become a better sound designer. The list starts of incredibly simple, buy a recorded and have it on you at all times. “You never know when sound inspiration will strike”. With the technology available to everyone, portable recorders are small and cheap. I used the H4N Zoom (one of the recorders they recommend purchasing) so I had the freedom to run around the garage just making noise and being able to have the recorder ready in less than a minute to record what I liked. Secondly, Spanos suggest an investment into education. “A background into audio from a college or university will be a define asset when looking for that first gig”. The next few tips are more technical than using common sense. Spanos also recommends learning script, as you will look more valuable to companies and be able to think like a programmer for certain task, and often you be able to script in audio events that a programmer may not have time for. Developing a strategy, by listening to other games, movies and music and actually hear instead of passively listening. This way you can start to think of how you are going to approach your mix. Focus on everything creative for inspiration don’t just listen, gain a mentor or study a masters, practise, try stay clear of sound libraries as repeated sounds become distinguishable and boring, just buy the tools you need – more technology does;t make you a better sound designer. Don’t build up an ego as there is always something else to learn, and make mistakes.
Heard About: Artistic expression in game audio
by John Broomhall
This article consists of Chanel Summers notion of thinking sounds are not just assets for game audio. “Over the past decade or two, we’ve taken huge evolutionary leaps forward when measured by quality of execution and advancements in technology,” says Summers, who currently stands as a Syndicate 17 co-founder and adjunct professor at USC School of Cinematic Arts’ Interactive Media Division. Just because technology has advanced through the years it will always take real innovation to inspire sound as an art form, creativity and experiment is needed to develop an auditory art form. “The mar of superior sound design, like many art forms – painting, sculpture, theatre, cinema – is one that you don’t consciously notice. It works on a person’s subconscious, playing with silence, subtlety and tension, manipulating the mood and drawing the player in to the game world. It takes advantage of the basic elements of audio aesthetics and utilises devices such as ambiguity, juxtaposition, counter-functional sounds and misdirection.” states Summers.
Summers argues that artistic audio should be used to craft the story elements of the given game, controlling pace of the gameplay, supporting the narrative, eliciting and influencing emotion, creating mood, shaping perception and reinforcing the experience of the players.
How do you engineer and manipulate a meaningful and dynamic emotional state, while remaining flexible enough to follow where the user chooses to take the action? The idea is that when sound works as an art form, it is open to multiple meanings or interpretation. “In video games, sound is usually a vehicle for game creators to project their own interpretation of their game in such a way that it cannot easily be misinterpreted. The best works of art however – whether they are films, paintings, pieces of misc, stage plays, novels or whatever – create a relatively large canvas on which the audience can – or in some cases must – fill in many of details themselves through interpretation.”
Interpretations can be influenced by the players own experiences and memories, triggering associations that no artist could have foreseen, ambiguity is just one weapon in sound psychology’s armoury of ideas and techniques, which also include silence and the suspension of sound, subtlety, exploitation of subjective perception, acoustic audio, emphatic and an empathic sound, resonance and entrainment, habituate and so on.
The complete guide to game audio: for composers, musicians, sound designers
By Aaron Marks, Taylor and Francis 2009
The industry now has technology that can provider sound designers/composers the creative freedom that will enhance the players experience, whether it be from manipulating the mood and the visual environments. Limitations now only being the limits of the creative mind and no longer the technology. However, the technical aspect is becoming ever more demanding “ Scoring and designer audio for games can often be much more challenging than motion pictures. this is due to simple fact that games are, by nature, nonlinear.” A game creates a 3D world, a car passing by in a movie/television programme it moves form one end of the camera to the other whereas in gameplay the player has the choice to view the car entering and exiting the car from multiple angles, therefore the visuals need to be able to create a 3D surround sound not just panning left to right.
Every aspect of sound needs to be created as the game plays along, the player has multiple choices on where they can go and how that effects the story and the overall experience, the designers need to create an overall 3D and real time experience.