A Game Studio Role: the Sound Artist
Abstract
The sound and music in video games certainly has an important role in one’s experience of it. Performances such as Video Games Live attest to the important and lasting role music plays in the enjoyment of games.
A “sound artist” is the term for anyone working in a sound design team be they composer, effects designer, voice recorder/editor, etc 1. I will attempt to enlighten for us the mysterious world of the sound artist in a game studio.
First it makes sense to look at the structure of a sound design team. Depending on the size of the project and the priorities of the studio, we’d be looking at a varied number of people with an equal variety in their job description.
At EA:
An audio artist is responsible for creating a game’s musical score, sound effects, dialogue, and ambient sounds. Depending on the project it may involve composing and recording music as well as recording voice actors. It also involves searching sound effects libraries or creating effects when needed. Once assets are initially collected they are mixed, edited, and mastered to produce the final soundtrack.2
An audio engineer/programmer is in charge of putting sound created by the artists into the game. They have to have extensive programming knowledge related to implementing sound as well as understanding file formats and data streaming. They should also have good organizational skills related to managing large numbers of assets.3
Elsewhere
In some studios the audio programmer is also the sound designer which gives them a lot more freedom but of course involves a lot more work and an interdisciplinary background.4
What is the role of sound in games?
Sound can of course be used cinematically like in movies, and similar approaches are used for recording voice, Foley, and sound effects that one would use in a film project.5 Games can, however, produce additional possibilities because the music can become part of the game-play experience in interesting ways. Games such as Zelda utilize the playing of an instrument as a game mechanic for solving puzzles6 (Example). It can also be used from an interface design standpoint to provide feedback to the player.
A Case Study:
In this interview with Michael Kamper he talks about his role in bioshock 2. As the audio lead, all audio had to go through him before being put into the game. He worked with the composer (in this case a separate role in the audio team) to develope the music as well as with the the audio programmer who developed specialized tools for the integration process. He was also in charge of hiring other skilled sound designers and working hands-on with them on the audio.
One question important to him is "How does the background audio help to tell the story of the space that you are in?" The ambient sounds in Bioshock 2 were designed to convey the feeling that Rapture (the place where the story takes place) could fall apart at any moment.
EXAMPLE mix of music and ambient sounds
The music was tailored to have a unique style to each level. The score was delivered in pieces to the player at opportune moments such as in newly revealed areas, during scripted events, or during story moments. This helps to tell the player what the rooms and areas are about.
Bioshock 2 intro song
Other unique scores were composed specifically for combat sequences to amp up the action.
Bioshock 2 (listen for the Battle music)
A lot of the experience of the audio space in a game is dependant on the player. All you can do is refine, as much as possible, the weapon sounds, world sounds, and music. Hopefully, as they move through the game, what the player experiences is believable and immersive to them.
“Part of creating a good audio soundscape in film or in games is making it believable to the audience. You want the audience to believe that they are actually in this space, and audio goes an awful long way in making that happen.” – Michael Kamper
Software:
There are 2 aspects to sound design for games:7
The first is the sound design itself: recording, mixing and processing audio samples. This can be done using traditional techniques as long as it is eventually exported into a readable digital format. ProTools is a popular digital sound editing and composing suite.
The second aspect is the integration into the game. Software used is often proprietary or customized 3rd party software but it can also be developed by programmers specifically for the project. Wwise and FMOD are popular 3rd party software.
Putting It In Perspective:
With level modeling for our project we would be looking at a scene and piecing apart the individual meshes that comprise it. In our mansion the ballroom is comprised of archway pieces, balconies, columns, doors, ceiling pieces, ceiling arches, windows and more. The same piecing apart occurs with sound. Even for a single character we have their voice, their breathing, sounds when they jump or when they crouch, sounds when they walk on different surfaces, the sounds of their weapon (or item) which often have a sounds associated with firing, hitting, misfiring, reloading, and switching. These many assets need to be created or found through libraries and then painstakingly integrated into the game. In an interview, the audio lead of Infinity Ward Stephen Miller admitted to integrating "everything from different kinds of footsteps, cloth movement, whooshes and hits, to gun reloads and sword swishes. When the project was complete, there were over 40,000 sound entries on just the animations." 7.
There is no doubt that a lot of work is involved in sound design for games but they deffinitely get to have a lot of fun too, like putting in the same mystery song that can be found in many Nintendo games.
Techniques:
A Case Study:
Planescape: Torment is an older RPG game developed by Interplay Entertainment (makers of Baldur’s Gate, Decent, and the Fallout franchises to name a few).
The sound in the game is impressive even if all you consider is the sheer number of sounds (the effects list alone was over 1500 sounds). Audio Director, Charles Deenen created ambient sounds through processing a variety of real world samples such as creating wind and crickets from the sound of a camel or wind from the roar of a bear. This approach develops a thematic connection to the weird and mysterious world that the game inhabits.8
Example (Note that its a bit dated now)
Also, in Bioshock 2 for the character “Big Sister”, processed sounds from animals such as dogs, whales, and seals were experimented with in different ways to create the eerie final sounds.9
Works Cited
1. Paul, L.J. (2009) SFU guest lecturer. recording viewed at http://www.videogameaudio.com/
2. https://jobs.ea.com/about/roles/role.aspx?id=3
3. https://jobs.ea.com/about/roles/role.aspx?id=1#6
4. http://mixonline.com/recording/applications/audio_next_revolution_played/
5. http://mixonline.com/mag/audio_audio_gains_videogames/index.html
6. http://www.gamespot.com/gamespot/features/video/vg_music/p6_01.html
7. http://mixonline.com/recording/applications/audio_next_revolution_played/