Speaking Engagement: The Annual DigiPen Audio Symposium

April 9th, 2015 | By Lance Hayes

Update: I’ve re-posted the original Keyboard Magazine article retitled “A Career In Audio” LinkedIn.

I’m looking forward to joining the stellar line up of speakers for DigiPen’s annual Audio Symposium held on Saturday May 9th on the DigiPen Redmond campus.

From the site, here’s more about the event:

DigiPen is pleased to host the third annual Audio Symposium, which is being jointly sponsored by the Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G.). Talks will cover a mix of topics related to sound engineering research, interactive music, and game audio.

This event is free and open to the public. Please register online if you plan to attend.

Come join Marty O’Donnell, Prof. Edgar Choueiri, Greg Dixon, Christopher Mael and myself as we talk about the business, technologies, techniques and the future of audio.

Here’s more about my talk:

Lance Hayes: A Career in Audio
“Taking his cue from a popular blog he wrote for Keyboard Magazine in 2011 featuring career advice from various composers, Lance digs in and shares what it takes to work professionally in sound. Looking back over his two decades in audio, Lance shares insights and lessons learned from his experiences working as a composer, studio owner, studio manager, game audio blogger, sound designer, educator and more.”

What Can We Do For You?

January 27th, 2015 | By Lance Hayes

Over the years I’ve had the good fortune to work on projects of all sizes for developers and publishers such as Microsoft, Activision and Nintendo. To assist me I’ve assembled a crack team of audio professionals and contractors. I’ve worked with the best on projects ranging from composing 8bit to orchestral soundtracks, creating original sound design and field recordings to implementation and more.

As an independent contractor I’ve spent years crafting audio that fits perfectly into titles so my team and I are focused on delivering great audio experiences. With award winning talent from projects that span next gen consoles, handheld and PC titles our skills range across the entire spectrum of audio disciplines, (a list of some of the titles we’ve worked can be found here). We specialize in bringing the sound of the games we work on to life.

We’re available for new projects, no game is too big or too small, Indie to Fortune 500. Please contact djdm at djdm.com for more information to make your project’s audio stand out!

For the latest updates about the studio please see our Twitter and Facebook pages.

Complete Video of AES Lecture Available Online

January 12th, 2015 | By Lance Hayes

Lance Hayes Speaking at Microsoft Research

Update: The PNW AES Section report featuring notes about my Forza 5 presentation is live on the national AES site.

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My session from last weeks PNW AES section January meeting at Microsoft Research was a lot of fun with great questions from the audience. The meeting was well attended by AES members, game audio pros and students. Thanks to everyone that came out!

The video of the talk billed as, “a detailed look at how the soundtrack to the one of the first next gen video game soundtracks for the Xbox One was conceived and executed” is now online here. And, thanks to Microsoft Research, it’s free to view.

This session was lively as well as a little bittersweet as its likely my last public Forza 5 talk. I discuss my work as the lead composer on on the launch title for the Xbox One as well as the cross country recording process so there are audio and video examples and a live demo of the game. I cover composing, adaptive audio, how the soundtrack was prototyped and wrap up by taking questions from the audience.

So if you have an interest in my work on the Forza franchise, next gen game scores and or game audio this talk is for you. Enjoy!

(Special thanks to Gary Louie, Rick Chinn and Ivan Tashev from PNW AES for hosting and coordinating this special event)

Microsoft Research recently reorganized their lecture library, moving all of the talks to YouTube. Here is the new link to the video:

Lance talking about FM5 at the PNW AES meeting