GDC 2000 From an Audio Guy's Perspective

Gama Network Presents:

GDC 2000 From an Audio Guy's Perspective:
Audio Track Wrap-Up
By Aaron Marks
Gamasutra
March 16, 2000
URL: http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20000316/audio_01.htm

As the official ears of this years Game Developers Conference, I took my place in game history as the obnoxious, but sometimes loveable sound guy, aimlessly wandering the show floor poking my nose into everyone's business. My mission was to find and report on all the worthwhile audio happenings, let you know what you missed, and perhaps encourage you to be at the next year's really big show.

After what seemed like a month of solid rain, the clouds in the bay area parted to reveal some blue-ish looking sky, and better yet, allowed me to actually find my way to the San Jose Convention Center after my over-worked windshield wipers suffered a dramatic failure on the drive up from San Diego. (Note to self: fly next time.) Not being able to find a hotel room in San Jose was another disaster but I won't get into that fiasco. My advice, book early and book often.

The X-Box' DVD hard drive will at least mean increased file sizes and greater sample rates.

Uncle Bill officially opened the conference to the enthusiastic applause of those in the civic auditorium, and to near silence in the simulcast room which I took refuge in. He talked briefly about this and that, my ears perking up a bit at the mention of DirectX 8.0 which will fully support interactive music applications, some good news to all of us if it works as advertised. The main event, however, was Microsoft's unveiling of their new gaming platform, the X-Box. We saw a demonstration of its incredible graphics potential but I didn't hear much about any serious audio improvements. I did note the DVD and 6 gigabyte hard drive which could give us some increased file sizes and greater sample rates. Perhaps there is some hope for us after all.

Out on the expo floor, there was much vying for our attention, displays towering thither and yon, a veritable feast of information (and free goodies) to have for the asking. I noticed immediately that I could actually hold a conversation with someone standing next to me, unlike the E3 show where my head exploded after that audio onslaught. Many folks expressed their appreciation for the controlled volume.

I tended to gravitate towards anything audio, nosing around the displays and generally causing trouble. There was the occasional chance of getting beaned by a flying mouse pad or squishy ball at the Aureal booth and cries of glee were heard when winners of sound cards, joysticks and cameras had discovered the word 'winner' on them. Staccato and Rad Game Tools also had their latest sound implementation tools and demonstrations on display. Dolby Surround had an involving audio demonstration set up and we got a chance to see and hear some of the upcoming game release, Messiah, from a theater perspective. Joey Kuras, sound designer on the project, was seen with a satisfied grin accompanying the big screen presentation. Way to go Joey.

Next, I stumbled upon the guys at Stienberg and got a comprehensive education on their new multitrack music recording and editing software, NUENDO. Because the show wasn't wall to wall musicians like the NAMM show, we were able to spend enough quality time together to get comfortable, get all my questions answered and get a sense of the program without being rushed - quite a pleasant change of pace. Before I left, I had all the information I needed, including available hardware and system prices. While Pro Tools isn't a justifiable expense for me, the NUENDO system covered all the bases with an intuitive design and is thousands of dollars less. Definitely worth taking a look at.

The real meat and potatoes of the conference, however, was the lectures, panel discussions and the myriad of sponsored events offered in several locales. There were plenty of audio events to fill the plate, giving much food for thought and there was a good showing for most of them.

Sound design for film is starting to converge with sound design for games.

Randy Thom's audio keynote was a big hit. This legendary sound designer, with movie credits on "Forrest Gump," "Indiana Jones - The Temple of Doom," "Apocalypse Now" and a long list of others, willingly shared his award winning experience with us. While he focused mostly on sound design for film, many game sound designers, such as Tim Larkin from Cyan admitted, "As video games grow to the level of film, game sound designers can take away many things by studying from the film industry." Randy played several clips from "Forrest Gump," showing us layer by layer how all the sound is mixed together to achieve the dynamic effects he is noted for. Overall, a great learning experience.

Chris Grigg gave an overview of his vision for a new audio API paradigm. Rather than having massive proprietary API's that try to do everything you could ever want in a single package, he set forth a proposal for an individual component based approach, using a common scripting language to pass audio data and control commands between them. Initially cooked up at Fat Man's BBQ this past summer, it's a loose blend of the plug-in architecture model and the MIDI protocol. It was quite in-depth.

Creative Labs sponsored an event detailing EAGLE (Environmental Audio Graphic Librarian Editor) which sound designers and game programmers can use to create compelling 3D audio experiences. I saw heads bobbing in appreciation and the word "cool" used quite often during the demonstration.

The A3D and Dolby Digital session was enlightening as well. Dolby is quite serious about supporting game audio to the tune of loaning encoding/decoding hardware, evangelizing at developer sites and assisting with remote studio set-ups. In addition to the L, C, R, Left Surround, Right Surround, and Bass Channel information encoded in the file, they claim overall sonic superiority to the best MP3 encoding, a 4:1 compression ratio and a slightly more expensive processing hit than the lowest MP3 ratio.

iMuse, LucasArts' proprietary audio tool, was used to make Grim Fandango.

Michael Land and the Lucas Arts folks showed us their iMuse system, which blew us all away. It was a truly momentous event looking inside a proprietary tool 10 years in development that worked smoothly and intuitively with audio files, responding interactively to an amazing amount of game states. We saw samples from The Dig, Monkey Island and Grim Fandango and could see how easy it would be for a composer/sound designer to work with their system. Game programmers would love it too.

One of the grander highlights, which even several days later is generating the kind of response and excitement that was intended, was the panel Game Music Soundtracks: Gateway to Profit, Publicity and Grammy Potential hosted by Leslie Ann Jones, Chance Thomas and Tommy Tallarico. This discussion focused on game music soundtracks, the importance of their release and other ways for musicians and composers to see additional income for their work. There were suggestions how we could ensure this becomes a standard practice in the industry and nearly everyone agreed that it should. Since we are blazing into new ground here, the importance and need of more discussions like this is evident.

The American Society of Composter, Authors, and Publishers

I talked with Greg Rahn this week, after he had some time to think about other angles where game music could make money for the composer. "As the branding of the products we compose music for continues to grow, so will the TV advertising for those products. If our game compositions are also used in the ads, there can be some revenue due to us for that use. Multimedia companies are typically unaware of this since they haven't yet had to deal with it. Game music composers need to be aware of this so they can stipulate ancillary rights up front in their contracts, and register their music so ASCAP and BMI can collect in the event it is used in an ad. This is something I am looking into now as music I recently composed for a Nickelodeon product ended up being used in a national spot. It had a very short run so could easily be missed by BMI or ASCAP, but I know of one composer who was able to point ASCAP to a use of his music they had missed and subsequently collect royalties. At this point I am unclear as to whether a composer who has signed away the rights to his music in a buy out or staff contract can still get writers royalties, but I am checking into it." Greg has some great ideas here and promised to stay in touch with more.

The potential of winning a Grammy Award for a game soundtrack is accessible and we are championing our cause to make sure it happens. Anyone who read my recent Gamasutra article, "Working the Grammy Angle" knows how I feel about this. Leslie Ann Jones was there as a representative of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS), passing out membership applications and encouraging us to join. Unfortunately, by a show of hands, about half of the audience considered themselves eligible to join but only a handful had actually done so. Others discussed concern about how we could increase members from our industry and the eventuality of actually winning a Grammy. I suggested to some afterwards it was time to have "guest" musicians play on game soundtrack releases so we could also get our 6 tracks and increase the number of the "voting" membership in a hurry. An idea that sounds wacky but might just work. I'm definitely game.

I also later asked Chance Thomas for some of his thoughts on the show. Not only were the events above already listed high on his list, he was particularly impressed with some Game Design issues. "I attended a roundtable on level design in the Game Design track. Part of the discussion revolved around the importance of using music and sound to solve a primary challenge designer's face, that no game is entirely non-linear. The game designer always wants to direct the player into certain paths and decisions in order to maximize the "game-play" value of the experience. With that in mind several designers discussed the importance of using music and sound to direct, entice, warn, and manipulate the emotions of the player in harmony with the designer's Design. Various technologies, methodologies, and even production values are available to the designer to service this goal. I came away with a more acute understanding of how critical it is for composers and sound designers to get inside the game or level designer's head in order to use our craft in the better service of their vision."

On a final lecture note, turns out Mark Snow, composer for the X-Files, Millenium, etc., was a no show again this year. Curious faces peered up at film composer Marco Beltrami, who took Mark's time slot at the podium. Those that hadn't gotten the word about the switch didn't seem too disappointed though, Marco giving an informative "show and tell" with plenty of his 'reel' world examples. Robust applause erupted spontaneously several times.

The Fatman, on another wild marketing adventure, was seen giving away visits to his Texas studio complex, 'Abbey Trails', by hiding 'golden' tickets inside candy bars. Winners will have the opportunity to see where it all happens, stay with his family and be apart of the commotion in central Texas. George was also gearing up for BBQ 2000 (in October), another awe-inspiring get together and workgroup to focus on the future of game audio and perhaps solve another pesky sound problem or two. He was excited about the past BBQ's and guarantees this one will also be grand.

Marty O'Donnell enjoyed reminding us why we do what we do in the first place as he was seen almost in several places at once. "I spoke to composers about remembering their first love. What was it that drew them into writing music in the first place? Regardless of how far down the technological road we've all traveled, don't forget or leave behind those things about music that you used to get excited about. Many composers responded with some great and diverse stories about their own backgrounds and interests, and how they sometimes have gotten mired in techno-problems that have prevented them from continuing to create the music they love." We have at one time or another all lost sight of what we are doing and focus too much on 'how' we are doing it instead. I agree with Marty and am glad he has reminded us of that fact.

Winner of the IGF Best Audio Award

Congratulations are in order to the folks at StationBlix.com for taking home the Best Audio Award at this years Independent Games Festival. Their game, BLIX, was quite fun and the audio was right on. However, my eyes and ears kept leaning towards the submission less than an arms length away, Silver Creek Entertainment's, Hardwood Hearts. This beautifully done multi-player card game had me captivated with its' subtle sound effects and engaging musical compositions. Did I happen to mention I had done some audio work on that project? Have I no shame?

Many game music and sound design personalities were seen drifting the halls of the convention center, bags of prizes in hand, always on the lookout for familiar faces. Several reunions of sorts were observed. It's always nice to be in the company of our peers who, over time, seemed to have spread out across the country. It was also quite humorous watching everyone looking down at the nametags hanging around their bellybuttons, trying to put names to faces. Maybe next year we could put them on our foreheads instead.

All in all, everyone seemed to agree this years Game Developers Conference was a pretty good show, well worth the price of admission. As the sun arced towards the western horizon, I fired up my mighty steed for the journey home. With a mischievous wink, I popped in Tommy Tallarico's newly released Tomorrow Never Dies game soundtrack CD and headed out into the darkness looking forward to doing it all again next year. A fitting ending to an all video gaming weekend. Hope to see you there next time.