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Articles Tagged with: game audio

Beep: A Documentary History of Game Sound!

August 2nd, 2016 | By Lance Hayes

Beep poster

I‘m very proud to be featured in the new book Beep: A Documentary History of Game Sound! A labor of love for Karen Collins and Chris Greening that has spanned half a decade of work and dozens of interviews with the top game audio talent of this and previous generations. Here’s more info from the Beep site:

The Beep Book is transcripts of interviews with over 100 game audio professionals from a range of areas of game sound’s history. The majority of the interviews were conducted as part of the Beep documentary film project by director and author Karen Collins. These are supplemented by interviews done for Video Game Music Online by Chris Greening. The book is ~410,000 words in length–a huge volume of material spanning decades of video game and pinball audio history. Interviews include artists such as Marty O’Donnell (Halo), George “The Fat Man” Sanger (7th Guest), Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy), Yoko Shimomura (Kingdom Hearts), and many, many more. The interviews aim to explore the changing nature of game audio over time. Interviews are with people from all over the world, including Japan, USA, Canada & Europe, and took place from October 2014 to July 2016. They cover a range of expertise and experience levels, and include composers, sound designers, voice actors and directors, record labels, conductor, orchestrators, chip musicians, hardware and software creators, and more. 

If you’d like to check out my input, head over to Volume 1 page 215. Truthfully the whole thing is a marvel of deep dives and forward thinking that spans the entire history of games. A worthwhile read for the game audio enthusiast as well as students and anyone interested in hearing from a unique perspective on the development of the video games that have shaped our lives.

Beep is currently available on Amazon.

Speaking Engagement: The Annual DigiPen Audio Symposium

April 9th, 2015 | By Lance Hayes

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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.”

About DigiPen Institute of Technology:

DigiPen Institute of Technology is a dedicated leader in education and research in computer interactive technologies. DigiPen is committed to fostering academic growth and inspiring creativity in all its students. More about DigiPen here.

Speaking at GameSoundCon 2014

July 7th, 2014 | By Lance Hayes

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I’m excited to be part of this year’s GameSoundCon in downtown LA, Oct 7-8 at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel. I’ll be discussing composing for AAA games, my work on the Forza series as well as participating in roundtable events. I’m looking forward to catching up with fellow lecturers and game audio maestros of music, sound and VO including the legendary Marty O’Donnell, Guy Whitmore, Paul Lipson, Austin Wintory, Penka Kouneva, Brian Schmidt and Austin Wintory, to name but a few. Anyone identifying as a sound designer or composer should attend GameSoundCon and, as luck would have it, early bird registration is still available. See you in LA!GameSoundCon2014Peeps

Speaking Engagement: PAX Dev 2014

June 18th, 2014 | By Lance Hayes

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07/23/14 Update: Our panel has been scheduled in the Fifth Avenue Room on Thursday, August 28th at 11:30am and the description has been posted here.

Now back to the original post:

I’m looking forward to speaking at this years PAX Dev. Our session titled “Game Audio Pipeline: Core Concepts and Roles” will focus on audio team roles, best practices, vetting suggestions and practical tips to help ensure that you get the best audio for your project.

Speaking with me are fellow game audio specialists, industry vets and all around nice guys Jason Poss, Akash Thakkar, Mathew Steele and Mark Shoemaker. If you’re attending, expect a fun session that will leave you better informed on the roles that the various audio team members play as well as how to find them and what to look for in a candidate. Not to be missed and there will be more details soon.

PAX Dev 2014 (Developer) runs for the two day before PAX Prime in Seattle on August 27th and 28th.

You can also check my Facebook and Twitter feeds for more timely updates.

PAX Dev registration

Propellerhead Rack Extensions Video

June 11th, 2014 | By Lance Hayes

Propellerhead-Rack-Extension

I’m pleased to be featured in the latest Propellerhead video talking about their brilliant Rack Extensions. It’s an honor to be included alongside industry luminaries, designers and friends in this piece discussing one of my favorite developments in the Reason rack.

FM5 Soundtrack Nominated for Annual Game Music Awards 2013

April 4th, 2014 | By Lance Hayes

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I’m honored that the Forza Motorsport 5 soundtrack has been nominated along with the splendid in-game sound design for two Annual Game Music Awards. In the “Production of the Year” category the soundtrack is up for “Outstanding Achievement – In-Game Music” and sound design is up for “Outstanding Achievement – Sound Design”. Congratulations to all of the nominees, it’s a thrill to be considered in such prestigious company!

Game Audio Network Guild Award Nomination

February 19th, 2014 | By Lance Hayes

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My “Next Level” series over at Andertons Music UK is designed to help newcomers to the game audio field find information that will be of service as they navigate their way though the beginning of their careers.

I’m humbled and honored that one of the articles from this series has been singled out; “How to Write Compelling Music for Games“, has been nominated for a Game Audio Network Guild Award for “Best Game Audio Article/Podcast/Publication”. Thank you to the Board at GANG, I look forward to the awards in San Francisco at this year’s Game Developer’s Conference!

Cheers!

Forza 5 Nominated for Game Developer’s Choice “Best Audio” Award

January 9th, 2014 | By Lance Hayes

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Forza Motorsport 5 has been nominated for a 2014 Game Developer’s Choice Award for “Best Audio”. I’m very honored to have played a role on Turn 10’s audio team bringing this title to Xbox One.

(For a list of additional awards, including twin BAFTAs, that Forza Motorsport 5 has been nominated for and or received head over to the Awards page)

Here’s a little more about the Game Developer’s Choice Awards from their site:

14th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards

“The Game Developers Choice Awards are the premier accolades for peer recognition in the digital games industry. Each year, the Choice Awards recognize and celebrate the creativity, artistry and technical genius of the finest developers and games created in the last year.”

Located at the Game Developers Conference

Moscone Convention Center, West Hall
Wednesday, March 19, 2014

6:30 – 8:30 pm
*All badges allowed entry

GDCawards

Lance Hayes