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127th AES Convention Announces Game Audio Events

Leading videogame music composer Tom Salta

Alex Case—127th AES Convention Workshop, Tutorials and Games chair—has developed a dedicated game audio track comprising 10 events. “The creative and economic impact of this sector is acknowledged throughout our industry,” Case says. “Studios, engineers, producers, technology developers, composers, sound designers and an enthusiastic, sophisticated audience are dedicated to the continued success of this unique creative sector. Our comprehensive program will provide invaluable technical and creative guidance and extremely helpful networking opportunities.”

Game audio track program highlights include “Education in Game Audio in Three Parts,” in which co-chairs Steve Horowitz (Nick-Digital, The Code International Inc.) and Steve Martz (THX Ltd.) will provide a comprehensive overview on audio for games; “Leveling Up Game Audio Implementations,” in which chair Scott Selfon (Microsoft Corporation) and panelists Scott Gershin and Gene Semel will address the conundrum of delivering more than 40 hours of interactive, dynamic, game audio to a download, portable, or disc-based title; “The Art and Business of Game Music,” in which chair Tom Salta (pictured) and panelists Rod Abernathy and Paul Lipson will address the differences between composing music for games and film/TV, technical parameters of scoring games, types of implementation and a live demo of adaptive music using F-MOD; “Interactive Speech for Games,” in which chair Steve Martz (THX Ltd.) and panelists Hope Dippel (SCEA) and Dieter Piltz (Blue Castle Games) will address creating realistic sports game play-by-play and color analysis from a virtual sports announcer.

For “Voice-Over for Videogames—Process and Pipeline,” chair Morla Gorrondona and panelists Chip Beaman, Alexander Brandon, David Chan and Greg deBeer of the Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G.) and the Voice Actor Coalition (GVAC) will discuss voice acting and dialog production in video games, running a successful recording session, technology , reels, casting, union considerations, interactive vs. linear, getting the best performances, and budgets.

Paul Lehrman will present his paper, “The Wii Remote as a Musical Instrument—Technology and Case Studies,” which scrutinizes Wiimote, the inexpensive, remote for Nintendo’s Wii Game System. The two-dimensional joystick—with its companion “Nunchuk” and multiple buttons—is ubiquitous and uses a combination of technologies highly suited for music generation and control, including position tracking, tilt and motion measurement in three dimensions. Lehrman will discuss the system in two musical contexts: controlling an electronic orchestra performing classical repertoire, and creating a new type of multi-parameter, multi-user synthetic instrument.

Additional game track presentations include “Interactive Music Techniques for Games” (chair Scott Selfon, Microsoft Corp.); “Portable Surround Sound By Headphones—Main Research & Suitable Practice;” “Techniques of Audio Localization for Games” (chair Fabio Minazzi and panelists Hope Dippel and Francesco Zambon); “Sounds from the Third Dimension: 3-D Simulation Techniques in Game Development” (chair Scott Selfon); “Implementing Sound and Music for Games Using the Unreal 3 Engine” (chair Richard Stevens); and “Eidola—An Interactive Augmented Reality Audio-Game Prototype” (Nikolaos Moustakas, Ionian University).

The 127th AES Convention will be held October 9-12, 2009, at New York City’s Javits Convention Center. For a complete schedule of 127th AES Convention game track events, visit the AES New York 2009 Calendar of Events.

For more information, visit www.aes.org.

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