For the last few weeks I've been pouring through the second edition of Aaron Mark's Complete Guide to Game Audio. This book is an absolutely incredible resource for anyone considering working in game audio. It lays out skills and tools necessary in the business, creating music, sound effects, and mixing the audio experience of a game, and also goes into great detail about business expections: where to find jobs, how to negotiate contracts and what standard rates are, branding/marketing an audio business, preparing a demo portfolio, etc. Reading this book was an amazing experience that I've been enjoying for the last month or so-- and completely worthwhile. From a historical standpoint, it's wonderful to have everything written down so clearly from an insider perspective working in the business; from a practical standpoint, it's exciting to have everything presented so clearly as steps that can be completed. Reading the book even made me think that I could create some game audio! Maybe I'll start getting my game audio portfolio ready...
Undoubtedly, the coolest features for me are the audio examples on the accompanying disc that comes with the book. I knew early on in my video game music class that I wanted to have the students create some examples of video game music, but I was only thinking of it as a fun, creative exercise. I hadn't considered (until I read this book) that creating game audio examples was actually practical too; it's the starting of a portfolio-- or at least getting students thinking about making one. All the exercises suggested in the book, like making your own audio for a video of gameplay, or looking at artwork or having text descriptions of game situations and creating audio, are exactly the kind of final project exercises I'm going to have in my class. It's awesome reinforcement to hear from a game audio expert that these are practical, worthwhile steps for those interested in game audio.
I'd definitely say this book is inspirational... It made me contemplate if I could compose game audio! Anyone serious about getting into the industry, or who just wants to see the profession from an insider perspective should give this book a read. It's definitely one of the best books I've read on this journey so far.
Here are a few other thoughts I had as I read the book:
I mentioned earlier when that I bought The Last Story primarily because the music was by Nobuo Uematsu. Here I learned that Bobby Prince also enjoys that distinction on box covers. I'm interested to learn who was the first game composer to be featured in that way. Did s/he negotiate that? Was it part of the marketing of the game?
Many of the books I've read focus on creating audio for big, blockbuster games. This book does have a blend and mentions some portable gaming, but still, it seems that the focus is on the high end. Early on, Aaron mentions that the current trend in game music composing is orchestral, but that's probably not the case on iPhone games, for instance. I'm interested in learning more about composing for mobile devices because there isn't much written about that yet and it that might be an easy (and quickly evolving) way to get into the field.
I also particularly liked the section of the book about "getting in the mood" and "setting the scene" when composing game audio. All the advice about watching similar movies, playing games in the same genre, etc for inspiration... I loved to get this practical advice. The idea of creating a sound palette was very interesting... one I wouldn't have necessarily thought of right out the gate, but that's the point of all the tips in the book!
One of the coolest aspects of the book is the list of composers, software, hardware, instruments, sound libraries, techniques, etc. that are sprinkled through the book. I've recently been grappling with the idea that most music is organized by composer, and have been wondering how that might be possible in the game medium, where genre, platform, and game title have (perhaps) more weight than organization by composer. Thus, in my attempt to become familiar with more of the folks working in the field, here's an interactive version of Aaron Mark's featured/interviewed composers:
Lennie Moore
Mike Brassell
Jamie Lendino
Richard Jacques
Alexander Brandon
Fernando Arce
Eric Doggett-- had trouble finding a great link, so here's a link to Moondog Media, he co-owns
Mark Scholl
Tom Salta
Watson Wu
Adam DiTroia
Darryl Duncan
Chris Rickwood
Henning Nugel
Jon Holland
George "The Fat Man" Sanger
Tim Larkin
Tom Graczkowski
Aaron Marks
Ron Jones
Keith Arem
Kristopher Larson
Will Davis
Nathan Madsen
Chance Thomas
Matt Piersall
Tim Rideout
It's cool to see that many of these musicians are also conductors, teachers, film composers, etc.... Game composing is just a part of what some of them do! This list is also all US or UK composers. Hopefully soon the language barrier will be broken and allow for more composers from outside of the English speaking part of the world to be in a collection like this with similar interview questions answered.
Magazines he suggests subscribing to (that are still in publication):
PC Gamer, Game Informer Magazine
Great websites:
gamesindustry.biz
gamasutra.com
gamedev.net
music4games.net
gamespot.com
gameindustrymap.com
ign.com
gamespy.com
gamejobs.com
audiogang.org
gameaudioforum.com
Best game audio conferences:
GDC (Game Developers Conference)
Project Bar-B-Q
Audio Engineering Society
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