2014 was such a wonderful year for us. Among the many, many wonderful projects, The Chris McDonald Jazz Orchestra’s No Pews Required and two big album releases in Latin music, Oscar d’Leon’s Classicos de Big Band and Ricardo Arjona’s Viaje were especially fun to contribute to. (more…)
Tag: Game Audio
Gundam Wing – Suiting Up For The Mix
At last I can share the latest video game release I worked on, Namco’s Gundam Wing: Blue Destiny, the newest side story remake in the Mobile Suit game set for PS3. The Gundams are mechanized battle suits (much as seen in Pacific Rim) which, along with their pilots, were made popular in Japanese comics, video and games. As you can imagine, there can be some pretty intense battles… I’d want to blow stuff up if I had a suit like that.
I mixed the score which includes some new orchestrations of the original themes as well as all new material all done by New York based composer/ orchestrator Zac Zinger (www.zaczingermusic.com). While most of the score is synthesrated (created with sampled orchestral instruments and sections,) Zac played all the winds live and added some live violin passes for enhanced phrasing. As the score is mostly battle music, the game directors wanted lots of percussion, lots of brass and lots of punch. The result is huge.
Below is the trailer for the game which, while it’s occasionally buried a bit beneath the sound design, features one of the cues from the new score. And while I’m working steadily on my Japanese, I have little idea what they are saying!
GDC 2012 – Experienced
Each year, the GDC in San Francisco offers an incredible array of information, networking opportunities and chances to see friends old and new. GDC 2012 was certainly no different! Since the experience is so overwhelmingly broad, here are just a few highlights from my trip this year.
First off, there were a few stand-out presentations on Game Audio. The game audio community is comprised of some of the finest composers, engineers and sound designers working today and a few of those were on hand to share some experience in a presentation. (more…)
Nashville Film, TV and Game Music Production Survey
Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world’s leading questionnaire tool.
If survey does not appear above, you can take the survey here
Are You Leading or Following?
How to make useful tempo maps for recording sessions, Part 2
Click tracks are often used in music recording, keeping ensembles playing tightly together and helping ensure that specific musical events happen exactly when they need to, as when scoring to picture. As discussed in part 1, a good tempo map will generate an audio click track that leads musicians easily and musically through performing a piece of music. (more…)
Lose Weight While You Sleep!
A first-timer’s GDC take-away
Not a particularly hefty guy, I was truly surprised to find that I’d lost 3 pounds while attending the Game Developers Conference (GDC 2010) in San Francisco. 3 pounds in 6 days. As many people would kill to know how to do that (and I don’t much like killing), I thought I’d elucidate the three steps of my accidental accomplishment.
(more…)
Rock Band Network goes live
Happy to pass along the announcement that on March 4th, 2010 the Rock Band Network went live on Xbox in these regions: US, Canada, UK, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Sweden and Singapore.
RBN is a great example of a community rising around an idea and a passion, then becoming bigger than the idea itself; shaping and refing that original vision.
(more…)
How To Never Work (And Still Be Working)
“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” — Confucius
Musicgamestudio.com is off to a great start. As of today we have 10 confirmed songs to author for MTV/ Viacom’s new Rock Band Network®. It is difficult work requiring many man hours for each song authored, but we are still having a great time doing it!
2010: how to sell your music
I have started a Rock Band authoring team to create game playable versions of your music for the Rock Band Network.
Rock Band Network, whose official launch date is expected 1st quarter 2010, allows artists and labels to sell their own songs (you must have copyright and mechanical ownership to participate) as Rock Band playable tracks for online download to game consoles via Xbox Live, Wii Ware and Sony’s Playstation Network. (more…)
GameSoundCon 2009, San Francisco
Who wants to work in game audio? Well, I do.
Game audio (every sound and musical element in a video game) has grown exponentially from its humble beginnings just a couple of short decades ago. It has become the area of the audio industry that is most driving technological innovation, consumer electronics development and attracting some of the most talented people working in audio today.
(more…)