I know I’ve been a but slow with updates recently, but I’m in the final week of my summer work and that means show season. The last two nights have been performances of different shows I’ve been music directing and playing, so that’s a lot of time an energy consumed in a different portion of my musical life. This week, I pick up new shows where I play supplemental keyboards or percussion, so that’s learning music in a hurry and working on the fly. I love it! Anyhow, I’m wrapping up things here and will be back home in about a week and then plan to spend a lot more of my energy burying myself back in game audio as I enter final preparations for my game music course in the fall.
Today I finished watching some of the supplemental videos for the Game Audio Tutorial. Watching these videos has reinforced for me how much I’m interested in working through the exercises in the GAT. Part of the problem I’m up against is that I own a Mac and Unreal runs on PC... but, I’m supposed to be getting a new computer from the University in the fall, so I’m planning to ask them to split the hard drive so that I can work some of the GAT exercises in Windows throughout the semester. I’m actually thinking of proposing a second game audio level course to the university as a joint offering between the SMTD and the Engineering School that uses this book as a text.
These video tutorials are incredible. One of the ideas I remember encountering in Aaron Marks book is the importance of learning from experts. Of course, we say the same in the Music Tech course I teach; the recording specialists who come in and give interviews always emphasize that you learn from being around experts. Just watching people who have great experience work can teach a tremendous amount, and fast! These videos are just over three hours of exactly that. It’s as if you’re in an audio studio watching an expert implement audio into a game as he explains why he’s doing it.
Some of the most vivid memories I have from these movies are simply watching the first ambient room tone being implemented, triggering a proximity alarm, seeing the number of cues needed to create a varied rainy outdoor ambience, the work with gunshot reverb, and the ducking of ambient outside noises in a building. And these are just considering sound effects! The mixing section toward the end of the videos was a bit beyond what I’m used to, but I can appreciate how specific a skill it is to change the program and allow for interactive mixing and the situations where that needs to arise. I also appreciate more than ever how precise of an ear is needed for great game audio work. I had to rewind and relisten to some sections of the videos to hear how minuet the audio changes were at times. I can definitely hear them, but I better understand that the game audio ear needs to be highly skilled and experienced to know what to listen for.
Considering my focus on game music, I found the most interesting videos to be 11-15, and the final video so far, 21, all of which outline some of the problems and solutions for interactive audio in games. I understand conceptually and musically how stems must be composed and looped, building or muting certain tracks depending on the game conditions; what I learned from watching these videos is how that actually works implementing them in a real game setting. Now more than ever, I can appreciate why game composers need to understand this implementation process. To understand this step in the game audio process certainly influences the composition stage. Further, seeing these implementations made me consider more deeply how game music works for the player. I don’t know if I had ever considered how building music cues can help a player navigate through a maze, but I’ve probably experienced it and similar game audio functions. I’ve not actually heard the difference between music being triggered with a hard cut versus music that changes at a certain musical beat in a game until now. Many of these tasks I understand and have encountered from other musical/audio/sound work I’ve done, but it’s different to see them in a game setting.
Basically, like many of the things I’ve read, listened to, and watched, this behind the scene glimpse really helped me to know what to listen for as I study and encounter game audio. While all the work in the GAT is focused on major console audio considerations, not so much more simple mobile game considerations, this knowledge will help me as I encounter major games in my work. I’m probably a fair while away from encountering a game this advanced in My Gaming Audio History, but I’ve got my ear more open for these scenarios. These videos rock! I’d love to know where I can find more videos of game audio experts at work. Leave me a link if you know of one.
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