Game Audio Education Comes of Age and Gets Funky!

There are two things that are really exciting me today. One: Game Development as an academic pursuit is finally being taken seriously. That means Game Audio is going to get a big boost in the halls of music departments and post-production programs across the campuses of the world. The vast amounts of dialogue recording sessions, multiple versions of music cues, and interactive control schemes that constantly need to be worked out will now have a developing methodology; meaning, nobody will need to start from scratch!

When the average player experiences the sound of a typical game title on the typical game console, the sound that comes out is taken for granted. For those of us in music and audio for games, we hear the countless hours of sound effect cue lists, music file conversions, and working out how it will all perform with the game engine. With academic formalization, we are now coming into an age where the mystery of game audio can actually be studied, analyzed, critiqued, and taught as a craft. No more starting from square one. With many of the game program environments seen popping up around the country (and the world), the opportunities to integrate these fresh new game tracks are found with the classes in animation, software prototyping and post-production.

This brings me to the other thing that excites me today: new methods of accessing old material. You can teach technical methodology all you want, but where does one get the inspiration to be creative? Where does one find that rich content to add engaging audio texture to an otherwise sterile digital environment? The analog domain! I’m not just talking about going out and recording Mother Nature with your USB microphones. I’m looking at the new line of products from Ion Audio.

Originally targeted at the dance and re-mix scene, Ion has come up with a number of USB turntables for converting vast phonograph collections into digital goldmines of sound. Fair license given its due, the sounds, beats and scratches of “turntablism” could very well be the salvation of game audio! Another one of their products allows mixing and beat matching of MP3s. And to top it off, these guys also offer a USB cassette deck! How cool is that? Now you can repurpose every single cool sound that was ever generated from your old garage band tapes. Now THAT is advancement in entertainment technology!