Music is something I love and am incredibly passionate about; it comforts and soothes my everyday existence. In this age of proliferating technology, we are fortunate to be able to have music playing, wherever we are (even if it is on inferior ipod headphones). Indeed, I would be totally lost without my ever expanding music collection and Mary Anne Hobbs's experimental electronic show on BBC Radio1. For me composing, playing and mixing music is one of the most satisfying experiences to be had.
Audio aesthetics
Aesthetic audio sense is something that is almost non-existent. With a few exceptions,
subtlety, dynamics, coherence and silence are mysteries that few in the industry are willing to invest in. Not everything can
be fixed with processing or at the mixing or mastering stage. For instance, it's impossible to fix poor
microphone placement after the recording has been done. If too many of the finer details are ignored,
the whole production suffers. I think that with the ever rising standards
the industry will be forced into rediscovering the art of audio excellence.
I highly recommend visiting Sven E Carlsson wonderful www.filmsound.org website or Julian Fraser Standen's Gearslutz.com forums,
for me, they are a invaluable source of inspiration.
I was fourteen when I started experimenting with audio. I spent countless
hours exploring the sound capabilities of my commodore 64 (Sid chip) mainly
coding in basic or using the Musicalc software. I grew up with a piano in the house, later expending
my intrests to: hand percussion, singing and synthesizers. Today I am
involved in various projects: studios, bands, games, theater, installations,
movies and most of all the creation of hardware and software tools.
Audio design and music production
Many call me pedantic but sound production is something I am extremely
passionate about. My aim is to attain the impossible and,
lucky for me, sound and music will be forever trying to accomplish exactly
that. Game audio is an exciting field to work in, with
cross-platform middleware like FMOD and Wwise. Audio interactivity is something
that games can uniquely bring about and this ability opens a new
realm of expression. There are endless possibilities that require an entirely
new way of structuring the creation and delivery of music and soundeffects.
Today, skillful encoding and sampling are the most precious commodities; from Direct-Stream Digital (DSD) to 4000Hz 4bit and every format and samplerate in between. Sometimes it is very hard to retain the original essence, each algorithm processes frequencies differently. At this moment in time I think that our biggest problem is virtual mixing (digital summing) it degrades the sound quality immensely. As it stands there is only one solution: to do summing in analog. Unfortunately when it comes to games analog summing is just something that cannot be done, so attention has to be paid to the bus mixing structure and frequency overlaps.
My equipment list is vast, I work and run two studios/teams, but on a personal
level I would have to say that my Kyma & Capybara are the jewels. Raktor is also something I could not do without. I remember
when I first beta tested Generator it was an inspiringly deep experience (except for the complete OS lockup crashes).
Future of Game Audio
Games are constantly compared to movies. Many say that the film-studio business model is what the game industry needs to adopt. I believe that there are clear similarities between the film and game industries but games can also be like books, music, tutoring and are seldom the passive experiences that movies, books or listening to music are. Actually, the term GAME is less and less correct in describing many 'game' titles. We need to update or expand, very much like Comics expanded into Graphic Novels.
Game audio is far more creative and interactive than the audio in other forms of entertainment. The creativity comes not only from the developer but also from the participator. The fact that the player is also creating an aural experience is almost never scoped into the design. I am foreseeing that new middleware systems will open new possibilities not only for the developers but also for the players. Bringing a whole new level to the sandbox gaming exigence.
Once the game audio technology and terminology are in place, I can see mixing and live tuning environment that will leave even the wildest futuristic dreams in the dust. I see special audio and mixing AI systems that will be literary create music and soundeffect that even the designer or composer did not envision.
I also believe that game reviews and the whole game culture will soon arrive at crossroads. Journalist will need to mirror music and art reviews, if they hope to write a remotely coherent evaluation. Hopefully, at that moment the industry will also initiate a game audio excellence award structure or add an audio category to existing game awards. However, I also hope that games disconnect from existing film and TV awards.
Demos
Please keep in mind that these are just demos and at best are pale reflections
of what is possible, especially when compared to work of well balanced team.
Sound
Textures Demo - this is something I have been developing for over 6 years
now. A soundtexture is something that lives between sound effect and underscore. These examples are somewhat synthetic, but demonstrate the idea. When time permits I always continue
my work on the orchestral and environmental versions.
Sound
Effects Demo – more traditional from sound libraries and
few self-made foleys. One principle that I always try to produce by is tace a musical term for silence or the space between the notes. I think tace it just as valid in sound design. In audio as appose to visual arts silence makes music.
Sound
Processing and Encoding Demo – with a bit of hard work and expensive toys
anything is possible!
Music
Demo – this music is a team effort (best things usually are). My friends Simon Bowley and Phil Pomeroy work on some of them.
