Posts

What to Look For in a Game Audio Education

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Game audio is a tough subject to teach in a school setting. You have to learn a DAW, design, foley, editing, middleware, game engines, implementation... the list is long, and it's tough to find a way to condense all of that into any kind of regular educational structure. Game audio professionals get questions about where to go and what to look for from prospective students all the time, and I'm hoping to address at least some of those points in this blog post. Thanks to all of my wonderful, Wholesome friends for your brainstorming on this topic with me (and letting me vent...)!  What kind of learner are you? Before we go any farther, I want you to ask yourself HOW you take in information, and what learning style you enjoy. Game audio careers do not necessarily require a degree or diploma , so the way you get yourself educated is more or less up to you.  Are you a self-directed learner? If you know you're good at finding the information you need, and love the idea of googlin...
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Freelance Audio Rates Brainstorm

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 I wrote this up for a conversation in the sound design discord and figured I'd make it into a blog post so it's more easily visible! Someone was asking about how much they would get from a sound designer for a specific budget at junior, mid, and senior levels. I made up a loose demo with some basic ideas in mind.  General assumptions:  -2d adventure game, more cartoony than realistic  -Not implementing or mixing -8 variations for movement, 4 variations for vocalizations and abilities ———————————————— Player Abilities x5: charge, cast, loop, hit, and miss: 2 days  Player Foley: basic single material footsteps, basic cloth movements and swings: 1 day Minor Enemies x5 : spawn, death, 2 attacks each: 3 days Major Bosses x2: spawn, death, 5+ attacks, two phases, Foley, any extra cinematic moments: 4-6 days (2-3 days each). General UI: menu clicks, start, end, inventory browsing: 1 day Ambiences: basic ambience beds for one location: 1 day Total: two weeks' work...
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Thoughts on Naming Conventions in Game Audio

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 Newsflash: Naming is hard.  While the Universal Category System is brilliant for naming and organizing recordings, it's a bit lengthy for naming your sessions and rendered files. And since every project is different, there isn't much of a need for a universal system. While you'll always have unique needs, that doesn't mean it isn't beneficial to have ideas and shortcuts in mind that will make your job easier. I really enjoy thinking up good solutions for naming and organization, and I figured I'd use this blog to talk about it a little bit! 
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Welcome blog

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Sometimes I wonder if I should blog more, and talk about things I see in and around the game audio community.  Now I figured, you know what, there's no harm in throwing a free blog up and seeing what happens. Who knows, maybe one of my rants ends up being useful to someone somewhere.  Welcome to my first blog. I'm unsure what this is going to turn into, if anything, but at the very least I've taken the first steps into writing down more of my thoughts and musings about game audio and its weird, deeply confusing intricacies.
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