Past Issues
Dialogue is Simply a Sound Among Other Sounds. Or Is It?
Games have always relied on words and ideas to conceive their worlds and animate them with life. Dialogue needs to be not only aware of the narrative in the overarching story but also what is happening in the nearby area. We speak to Fred Proud of SIDE Audio, James Stant and Robert Mann of Frontier Developments and Rhys Young of Hoot Studios about the main challenges of creating dialogue for games.
Creating Tools that Don’t Exist… Yet!
Like many things in life, we are led by passion and chance. This is exactly how Audiokids was formed and Undertone released. Audiokids, known as Davide Favargiotti, Fabrizio Cheloni and Mattia Persico, began because as sound editors, they needed certain tools to be able to do their job better, only they didn’t exist.
A Very Particular Set of Skills
Gemma Nicholson, post supervisor and founder of Post Super, talks about how she got started in the industry and why she started the worldwide platform for film and TV post production managers.
Bringing Developer Stories to the World
Anthony Hales, Technical Director of SIDE, oversees the entire technical output from the studio through post production and editorial. Hales has worked on “AAA” game titles including Cyberpunk 2077, Assassins Creed Valhalla and Hitman III amongst others. Hales talks about his work at SIDE.
Outspoken Audio Delivers Better Dialogue, Faster.
It is incredibly rare to see new dialogue recording software emerge into the audio world, especially into such a tight niche as gameaudio where proprietary pipelines are the norm; but this might just be the first of a kind commercially available software toolset aimed directly at benefitting gameaudio processes, and slowly smouldering away on some of the largest franchises you can think of.
A Tale from the Galaxy's Edge
Star Wars has one of the most influential scores of all time so composing for Tales from the Galaxy’s Edge was no mean feat. We speak to Bear McCreary, Danny Piccione and Joseph Trapanese, the composers who created the score for the immersive VR experience
Addressing Diversity
We’ve had a few years of big movements like #MeToo and the BLM protests with people saying the right things and having good intentions but those words and intentions do not appear to have materialised to real change. Emma Butt discusses how we can address the diversity issues within our industry.
One Size does not fit all
The studio needs to be comfortable space conducive to collaboration and fully supports the creativity but there are some differences when designing audio mixing studios for video games and music production.
Acoustician Eddie Veale discusses how multipurpose spaces come with specific challenges
Bam-boozling Immersive Audio
The last few years have seen many new formats and platforms start to push the boundaries of VR and AR technologies. Scott Marshall, discusses the challenges of working in Virtual and Augmented Reality
AudioPro Network
Audio Pro Network is more than the average networking platform, it offers a hand holding mentorship programme for students who have finished University and are ready to take that all important step into the world of professional audio. Joseph Miuccio talks about how the network is supporting upcoming engineers
Featuring in this issue:
Cinematic Sound
The Dark Pictures Anthology Series is known for being dramatically different in terms of horror and audio-style. Barney Pratt, Director of audio, discusses how Supermassive Games present a cinematic experience, developed in a full 3D environment for the series.
Immersive Soundscapes
Immersive sound is nothing new but the world of technology moves very fast. Disney actually experimented with surround sound at some select screenings of Fantasia as early as the 1940s. Since the appearance of Dolby surround sound, we have seen the development of Dolby Atmos and VR gaming technology as immersive audio continues to grow. One of the biggest challenges with immersive VR is designing a realistic soundscape. We speak to Fenton Hutson, Felipe Milano, David Garcia and Luan Santiago about how they create that all important soundscape.
Pros & Cons of Mixing on Headphones
As with pretty much anything, there are pros and cons to working on headphones and the debate will continue to rumble on. Some of us love it and others prefer to be in a professional studio. Wes Maebe, Andy Morgan-Davies and Mark Angus share their thoughts.
Krotos Plugins
We catch up with Matt Collings, General Manger of Krotos about how he got into sound, his role at one of the leading plugin companies and how Krotos meets the creative demands of the industry.
Public Disorder
Scott Marshall talks about building an immersive audio training experience to help journalists in dealing with extreme situations and hostile situations that they may find themselves in when reporting.
Studio Profile- The Record Shop
We take a trip across the pond to Nashville to catch up with Sean Giovanni at The Record Shop to chat about his philosophy for production and starting his studio.
Learn by Doing
Ensuring that the studios confidently navigate the ever-changing market, especially during the ongoing Covid challenges, Cara Sheppard talks to us about how she will ensure Twickenham Studios are positioned to continue to lead the way as one of the most important Film and TV studios in the world.
Diversity in Post Sound
Emma Butt discusses the findings of her research into diversity in the sound industry that she undertook for the Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity. Expecting her findings to be disappointing, she was not prepared for just how disappointing they were. This report is just the first step in her aim to make the scheme a reality through investment and helping people from all diverse backgrounds have a successful and sustainable career in post production sound.
Communication between Disciplines
Having worked 12 years in the games industry, Grace Docksey tells us why one of the most difficult parts of the job is communication. Whether it’s talking to a programmer about designing a system to replicate car engines, getting stuck into a brainstorming session for a brand-new character or even deciding where to go for location recordings, communication is key to the process.
It’s all Elementary
Sarah Sherlock, composer and sound designer and known for her work on None but Myself, and Sneaky Bears VR, talks to us about how she got into game audio and developing her first person indie horror game - AmpHead.
Women Who are Sound
Women Who Are Sound is a voluntary group set up by Anna Sulley and Anna Bertmark as a network for women and gender minorities who are working in, or studying, sound for Film, TV and Interactive Media. WWAS encourages collaborations and sharing resources which benefit those who work across, film, TV production and post sound, broadcast and games.
Studio Profile - 5A Studios
Nestled amongst Camden's historic pubs, hip cafes, and cocktail bars and global eateries sits 5A Studios. Founded 16 years ago to offer sound post production services, we speak to its owner Cris Aragón about her journey of building the business.
Featuring in this issue:
Extreme Audio - We caught up with Watson Wu, award winning American composer, sound designer, and sound effects recordist. Known for recording power boats, high end sports cars, motor bikes, military vehicles and guns he talks to us about capturing extreme sounds for film, T.V. and games.
Creating Sound Effects for Games - Paul Boechler, Sound designer at E.A. Games and Ashton Mills, Audio Designer at Jagex discuss creating sound effects for games.
Studio Profile - We take a look around Brown Bear Audio and find out why its one of the most successful remotely set up post production houses.
My First SFX Library - Paul Stoughton, Audio Lead in the Immersive Audio department at Skywalker Sound talks about his first SFX library and creating something that would stand out as unique and useful amidst the overwhelming array of libraries that already exist.
FaceCap and VoCap - Keith Arem, CEO of PCB Productions, discusses how facial animation has historically been a challenge for games. Since dialogue often comes late in game development we find out how he has pioneered FaceCap and VoCap to take the pain out of the process.
WFH, What Have We Really Learnt? - We have all been working from home but what have we actually learnt and what new ways of working will we continue to use going forward? We caught up with David Robinson Head of Audio at Creative Outpost, Voice Over Artist Paul Rose and Thomas Dalton owner of Brown Bear Audio to find out.
Featuring in this issue:
Cinematic Audio - With a shift towards hyper-realism and delivering cinematic experiences in games we speak to Supermassive Games and Frontier Developments about creating cinematic audio for game play.
Pushing the Boundaries of Creativity - We catch up with award winning composer Nainita Desai about the challenges she encountered during lockdown and her new found ways of working.
Studio Profile - We take a look around Creative Outpost and find out why its one of Soho's most successful post production houses.
Mixing More Immersive Soundtracks - Mark Angus, award winning Sound Designer and owner of Gladestock Studios, tells us more about mixing immersive audio for games.
Transferable Skills - Robert Mann, Sound Designer at Supermassive Games gives us his insight into taking the leap from post production to game audio.
Keeping it Real - Tim Nielsen, Supervising Sound Editor, Sound Designer and Re-recording Mixer at Skywalker Sound discusses his approach to sound design for film and games.
