For Release: September 2, 2014
Game Audio to Be a Major Focus at 137th Audio Engineering Society Convention
— Game Audio Track sessions at the 137th AES Convention in Los Angeles will take a practical approach, looking at key topics including career development, dynamic content and mixing, as well as audio for mobile gaming and much more —
— Marty O'Donnell, acclaimed game audio director and composer for Halo and other hits, to give Convention’s Heyser Memorial Lecture —
The 137th Audio Engineering Society Convention (October 9-12, 2014, at the Los Angeles Convention Center in downtown Los Angeles) is set to feature a comprehensive set of Game Audio Track programs and events focusing on audio trends and issues in the gaming industry. Game Audio Track Chairman Steve Martz has assembled a compelling and highly inclusive series of panels, sessions and presentations that address the many dimensions of this complex sector of professional audio, this year with a particular emphasis on the practical aspects of the industry. Additionally, Marty O'Donnell, award-winning audio director and composer for Halo and other hits, has also been chosen to give this year’s Heyser Memorial Lecture, entitled "The Ear Doesn’t Blink: Creating Culture With Adaptive Audio."
A special highlight will be “Diablo III: Reaper of Souls, The Devil Is In The Details,” a panel that will closely examine how the audio team behind the Blizzard Entertainment hit title Diablo III: Reaper of Souls created the entire audio soundscape for the game, including sound design, music and dialog. Other sessions will include the following: “Effective Interactive Music Systems: The Nuts and Bolts of Dynamic Musical Content” (led by Winifred Phillips, Composer, Generations Productions LLC), which will examine key aspects of assembling game audio, from horizontal resequencing and vertical layering techniques for the interactive implementation of music recordings, to MIDI and generative systems for the manipulation of music data; “Dynamic Mixing for Games” (led by Simon Ashby, VP Product Strategy and Co-founder at Audiokinetic), which will look comprehensively at the challenges of mixing game audio, including performance constraints and the non-linear event based triggering of in-game sounds – using real-game practical audio examples, this session will demonstrate the many positive benefits that dynamic audio mixing can have on modern sound design; and “Yes, your mobile game can have awesome audio!” (led by Stephan Schütze; Audio Director Sound Librarian- Melbourne, Australia), which will look at the wide range of tools available that, when utilized properly, support the creation of dynamic, high quality audio for nearly every platform available.
The Game Audio Track will also include an entire career development session: “Game Audio Careers 101 - How to jump start your career,” and a session on the state of game audio education that will bring together entrepreneurs from some of the top private instructional institutions to discuss the latest educational models and best practices in audio for interactive game media. Attendees will get a fantastic overview of what is being offered inside and outside of the traditional education system through the “Next Gen-Game Audio Education” session, chaired by Steve Horowitz (Co-Founder, Game Audio Institute, and Audio Director, Nickelodeon Digital), who is also leading the “Game Audio Careers 101” panel. This will be a must for students and teachers alike.
“Attendees to this year’s Game Audio Track will find some very different and very compelling content,” observes Martz. “We’ve strived to include some very practical sessions, ones that will provide career and learning guidance, in addition to the kind of in-depth technical sessions this Track has become known for.”
“Overall, this is going to be a fantastic Game Audio Track,” says Martz. “It takes place at a time when the game industry is undergoing change, when mobile is becoming the new frontier in game platforms and audio is taking on a more significant role in games than ever. We’ve addressed all of that and more in this year’s agenda. This could be our best game audio track yet!”
For information on how you can get your FREE Exhibits-Plus badge (pre-registration required) and detailed information on the Game Audio Track at the AES137 Convention, as well as further Registration, Hotel, and Technical Program information, visit the AES137 webpage at www.aes.org/events/1....
