The Audio Spotlight

The Music of Star Trek Into Darkness

The Audio Spotlight — Mon, 20 May 2013 06:57:26 +0000

In this exclusive SoundWorks Collection profile we talk with the Music Conductor and Orchestrator Tim Simonec on the 20th Century Fox Newman Scoring stage for Director J.J. Abram's new film Star Trek Into Darkness.
Content from SoundWorks Collection

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A Conversation with Deane Ogden about Eastern Chronicle album

The Audio Spotlight — Tue, 14 May 2013 17:53:44 +0000

THE AUDIO SPOTLIGHT presents A Conversation with DEANE OGDEN

Hosted by OLIVER SADIE

A track-by-track discussion and breakdown of Deane Ogden's world music debut EASTERN CHRONICLE, covering the conception, writing process, logistics, technology, production, mixing, release and promotion of the project. EASTERN CHRONICLE was written and recorded over 18 months in multiple countries across East Asia. Deane invited more than fifty guest soloists and musicians (TINA GUO, BOB REYNOLDS, RIANNE FENNELLER, MOWETO, STEVE OUIMETE, CHRISTINA SASACKI, EANAN PATTERSON, SCOTT JONES, MAI-LIN CHAI, JEFF JORDAN et all.) to be a part of the album and recorded on-site in many locations using simply an iPhone 4 and a stripped-down mobile recording rig that he built specifically for the project. For more information on DEANE OGDEN and to download a full version of EASTERN CHRONICLE in a variety of formats, visit http://store.deaneogden.com. For more information on composer and instrumentalist OLIVER SADIE, visit http://oliversad.ie/. You can also read Deane Ogden spotlight here.

Behind the scenes photos

[clear] Awesome cover design by Ryo Ishido. [clear]

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Heavyocity Aeon Collection review

The Audio Spotlight — Thu, 09 May 2013 23:16:04 +0000

[review] During the past few weeks I have notice a large number of new libraries pop up on the market that try to provide Kontakt users with new, edgy sounds, especially bringing synth sounds into Kontakt. Not that it hasn’t been done before, but we had at least three big developers bring out their best stuff in the last couple of weeks. While many sample developers focused more on modern sounds (“dubstep” type sounds, at least, that is how it is advertised), Heavyocity focused more on what they do best; mangle sounds in every possible way to create something new and exciting! The Aeon collection comes as a bundle of two separate libraries in a 14 gigabyte (compressed) box. It is comprised of Aeon Melodic, which offers 300+ patches of organic and synth sounds and Aeon Rhythmic, which offers another 300+ arpeggiated loops. Both can of course be purchased separately. [clear]

Content

AEON Melodic - 130+ Organic Presets - 160+ Synth and Hybrid Presets - 39 Signature AEON Hits AEON Rhythmic - 9 Tonal Loop Menus - 315 Single Loop Presets - 46 Loop ARP Presets - 43 Three Loop Combo Presets While both feature quite a lot of arpeggiated synth sounds, Aeon Melodic also offers some of the more unique, organic sounds heard today. All the organic sounds are deep-sampled, multi layered round robins. Most of these are by default made from three layers (two are usually purged on load) which will enable you to shape them anyway you want. Each layer can be modified inside Aeon via standard effects (Envelope, EQ, Filter, Level, Pan and Tune). [clear]

Sound

Sound is where Aeon is shown in all of its glory. The people behind Heavyocity made sure we got only the best. Damage practically redefined percussive libraries and, while I can’t say that Aeon redefined synth sound, it is still one of the best sounding Kontakt libraries out there. Its sound is aggressive when it needs to be and soft for those other times when you need something more subtle (the organic samples really provide a lot of possibilities). Just listening to the presets will inspire you to make more music.

Graphic interface

Like I have said in my first impression post, I am not a big fan of complex interfaces when it comes to Kontakt, mainly because you can always click that wrench button in the upper left corner of your instrument and tweak stuff there if you need to. However, I don’t mind complex interfaces if a certain library needs it. You will find all of your master effects on the left side of the instrument while on the right you have your volume envelopes (three for each layer and ability to link them). The middle of the instrument is reserved for basic mixing (level, tune and pan) and manipulating the sounds with “Twist” and “Punish”. Twist – A 3-Band EQ for nice additional movement. You can control amount, rate and tone of the sound. Punish – It is the same as it is with Damage. Basically, it is a compressor and saturator working together to make the sound more gritty. All of the above mentioned can be found in the first effect tab! In the second tab you have your Trigger effects controls (you can control those with keys on your midi) and the third one has all of the EQs and filter effects. With all of these effects combined you can seriously tweak everything to your liking, but the true heart of Aeon lies within the arpeggiator and so-called “Loop Mutator”. Arpeggiator can be found in the bottom right corner under “advanced performance” (adv. perf). With the arpeggiator you can control the length, velocity and pitch of any sample. In addition you can control the number of steps (up to 16 steps), speed, retrigger, poly or mono playback and detune. Any sound can be turned into a new melodic or percussive sound with this wonderful addition. Loop Mutator In the same way you can with Damage, it's possible to control each individual slice of a loop. This is only available with Aeon Rhythmic. Along with the ability to quickly drag and drop slices into your DAW, you can manipulate Tune, Pan and Level for each loop/slice. You can also allow Aeon to randomly select different settings for you, which may lead to some interesting and happy accidents. [clear]

Ease of use

AEON is very easy to use. I haven’t checked the manual yet nor did I watch any videos before trying it out. Everything can be found right away. This may be because I used Damage before hand and their interfaces are similar. Having said that, I still recommend that you check the manual if you are a first time user.

Price/Value

Aeon Collection can be purchased for $399 or if you wish you can buy each library separately for $299 (Aeon Melodic) or $199 (Aeon Rhythmic). The price is pretty standard for that kind of library in terms of quality and content that you get. The dilemma comes when you have to decide whether you will buy Aeon or rather another synth and make everything yourself. In either case, Aeon is worth looking into. [review]

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Audio Designer wanted by Insomniac games

The Audio Spotlight — Thu, 09 May 2013 22:04:26 +0000

Would you love to be involved in every aspect of audio content development? Insomniac Games is looking for a passionate and experienced Audio Designer to create, edit and implement AAA game-ready audio for our projects. You’ll join and collaborate with our amazing audio team to maintain a high level of quality and consistency of assets. Do you have what it takes? [clear]

Essential Duties and Responsibilities include the following:

• Creates unique sounds for in game and cinematic sequences. Duties include creative sound design, technical sound design, cinematic sound design and mix, and foley/source sound effect recording and editing. • Work with and communicate with various team members to achieve desired goals and milestones of project in a proactive manner. • Communicate progress toward goals on a regular basis with production directors. • Provide assistance with audio schedule creation per project. • Experiment with new sound techniques and practices in effort to increase audio quality in our games. • Contribute to audio style guide creation for assigned projects and maintain consistency in audio style throughout project. • Other duties may be assigned

Education and/or Experience

• Bachelor's degree (B.A.) from a four-year college or university; or two to four years related experience and/or training; or equivalent combination of education and experience focused on original sound effect design, creation, mixing, processing and implementation or computer game product development experience. • Proficient with multitrack project mixing software/hardware and session set-up (Avid Pro Tools experience preferred). • Experience with mixing stereo and surround sound formats. • Proficient with PC-based sample editors (Sound Forge) and plug-in and outboard effects processors. • Experience with LUA and other text-based scripting languages. • Experience with SCREAM and Wwise a plus. • Knowledgeable with both PC and Mac-based operating systems. Good working knowledge of Microsoft Excel, Word and other related programs.

Other Skills

Emphasis in sound effect and dialogue mixing and post production work. Thorough understanding of audio compression technologies and surround sound formats. Basic understanding of audio physics principles. Video game production required. Location recording experience a plus. Clearly you will be exposed to varying levels of sound based on work or project. If this sounds like the perfect opportunity for you- then we look forward to hearing from you! Please use the link below and apply directly to our website. Thanks!

APPLY HERE

Founded in 1994, Insomniac Games is an independent game developer with studios in Burbank, Calif. and Durham, NC. Prior to founding Insomniac, CEO/President Ted Price spent a few years as controller of a start-up medical company, where he decided that life in games must be easier. (He was wrong…) Fortunately, he found two very talented programmers, Alex and Brian Hastings, and together they laid the foundation for Insomniac’s first success, Disruptor.

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Contract Sound Designer

The Audio Spotlight — Thu, 09 May 2013 21:43:53 +0000

Obsidian Entertainment is currently looking for an offsite Contract Sound Designer to join the South Park: The Stick of Truth team. The Contract Sound Designer will work closely with the audio team to produce high quality and engaging sound effects appropriate to the South Park IP. The ideal candidate for this position should have intermediate level experience working as a Sound Designer for video games. This position will be off-site, so access to appropriate sound equipment is required. All applicants may be required to take a sound design test.

Requirements:

2-3 years of experience as a junior to mid-level sound designer for video games.
Proficiency using DAW's Digital Audio Workstations such as Pro Tools, Nuendo etc.
Proficiency using signal processors such as EQ, compressors, limiters etc.
Experience planning and designing interactive sound effects.
Experience recording original source material.
A solid understanding of game audio.
Excellent communication skills.
At least one shipped title.
A passion for gaming.

Responsibilities:

Record, edit, design, master, organize and export original, high quality, game ready assets for a variety of sounds types such as game objects and ambiences.
Work collaboratively with the audio team to achieve project goals.
Match and complement the existing audio style of the game.

Pluses:

A web portfolio is a plus, but not required.
A college degree or equivalent in audio related studies.

Apply here

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