The Mix Foundation for Excellence in Audio has announced the debut of a new category for Technical Excellence and Creativity (TEC) Awards: Creative Achievement in Sound Production for Interactive Entertainment. The new category will debut at the 23rd annual TEC Awards ceremony to be held in New York City on Saturday, October 6, 2007 (the second night of the 123rd AES Convention), at the Marriott Marquis. Finalists for the award will be announced in June 2007.
“The recognition of sound production for the videogame genre is overdue,” says Hillel Resner, president of the Mix Foundation and executive producer of the TEC Awards. “The immense popularity of interactive entertainment and the increasing sophistication of both the sound and music components of games demand that interactive sound be accorded the same respect that other genres in the world of professional audio receive.”
“Interactive entertainment is no longer simply about fun and games,” points out game sound veteran Gene Semel of High Moon Studios (Carlsbad, Calif.), chair of the steering committee for the category. “Sound in interactive entertainment is both a legitimate big business and a huge part of the videogame experience. This new award validates all of the hard work audio professionals put into bringing new worlds to life through sound, and we commend the TEC Awards for helping to give it wider recognition.”
The steering committee has taken the lead in soliciting entries for this year’s awards. Entries will then be submitted to the TEC Awards Nominating Panel, comprising nearly 200 audio professionals. Nominations occur in April with finalists announced in June. Subscribers to Mix magazine will vote to decide the winners in 24 categories of Technical and Creative Achievement in August.
Members of the steering committee for the Interactive Entertainment Sound Production category are Alexander Brandon of Midway Home Entertainment; Brian Schmidt of Microsoft; Gene Semel of High Moon Studios; Katzutaka Somoza of DiMagic; Marc Schaefgen of Midway Austin; Michael Kelly of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe; Scott Gershin of Soundelux DMG; Steve Horowitz of NickOnline; Steve Martz of THX; Tommy Tallarico of Tallarico Studios; and Mix magazine editorial director Tom Kenny.
Monies raised by the TEC Awards support programs that educate audio professionals and the general public about hearing health, and also endow scholarship funds for students of the audio arts and sciences at major colleges and universities.
For information, contact Karen Dunn at 925/939-6149 or [email protected], or visit www.mixfoundation.org.
