Game Audio Intensive Workshop 11/1 in NYC – 6 Questions with Instructors Steve Horowitz & Scott Looney

Will audio still be fun on the last day of the 139th AES in NYC? You better believe it.

Put a cap on AES with serious game audio education.

The Game Audio Intensive Workshop will be held on Sunday, November 1, 12-7 PM  at the Institute of Audio Research (IAR), 64 University Place, NYC (Early Bird Price $150 before 10/10, $200 after and at the door).

This intense event is being put on by Steve Horowitz and Scott Looney, who created the definitive game audio education platform with 2014’s The Essential Guide to Game Audio (Focal Press). A book plus a free companion iOS app, online materials, and more, it’s been training the next wave of Crossy Road crazies since last year’s launch.

For those who want to be involved in a $15 billion dollar industry, the workshop will be time very well spent during AES. Here’s six questions with Horowitz and Looney on this essential offering.

Why did you decide to write “The Book” on Game Audio?

Steve : Well, I had been interested in Game Audio Education for a long time. Over the years, all the time, people were coming up to me and asking how they could get into working in games and how was game sound different from Film and TV and other forms of linear media.

Around 2004, I first started working with the Interactive Audio Special Interest Group on a set of curriculum guidelines as a guide for schools. A few years later, I ran into Scott and we started working together and designing game music and sound classes at the Academy of Art University in SF. One thing eventually led to another and voila, the book was born!

The main reason we did it was because lots of people kept asking the same questions over and over again and there were just no standards to point to, so we figured it best to write ’em all down, in one place for the world to see.

Look, I started with game sound in 1991, I guess I figured that I just might have something to add to the conversation! It also definitely helped to have a really good company like Focal Press helping us along the way and waiting to publish it!

Scott: I certainly second everything Steve said here, but just to add that we were also thinking interactively in terms of providing game environments that students could check out in our iOS app, which also got great support from Focal.

At the time I was getting into game audio and we were talking about how we would approach it differently, most of the existing instruction was done as a video while in Pro Tools or other DAWs, or if you were lucky, FMOD Designer.

In all of these cases the student was simply supposed to imagine something interactive happening in the game environment, which I thought was completely missing the point for an interactive medium. Why not actually have them put the sound in the game and experience it for themselves?

Good point! What has been the reception for “The Essential Guide to Game Audio” so far – what are you hearing from its readers?

Steve Horowitz, co-author of “The Essential Guide to Game Audio” will be a leader of November’s intensive.

Steve: So far the reception has been quite positive. Lots of great feedback and reviews, many of them are online or on our Website – we collect them.

The book also won a “Best in Class” award at the New England Book Show this year. It’s been picked up by schools all over the country and in fact the world, from Berklee in Boston to UC Santa Cruz here in California. We have also been invited to give corporate trainings and presentations. Plus, we have been invited to speak at places like AES and Game Sound Con, fun stuff like that! As Scott mentioned, we also developed a companion application (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/essential-game-audio-book/id813856786?mt=8) to go along with the book. It has video tutorials, puzzles, quizes and of course, interactive games that serve as a companion learning tool to the book.

But for me, the proof is in the pudding and I’m ecstatic when people who have taken the workshop or our classes, come up and thank us for helping them get a job in the industry. Then you really feel like you have had a positive impact on someone’s life directly!

What makes audio for gaming its own beast, different from any other audio profession?

Steve: Interactivity! Games are interactive and as such they make you re-think everything you know about how sound and music can work.

Indeterminacy creates complexity, and programming and game logic create new ways of thinking about how sound can function and unfold in time. As game audio people we have to learn all sorts of new terminology and be up on all sorts of cool new audio middleware tools like FMOD Studio, Wwise, and Fabric, as well as Game Engines like Unity 3D and the Unreal Engine.

This is an amazing time to be working in the game industry – things are ever-changing and by nature dynamic. It’s a fantastic adventure that draws on so much we already know about music and technology and then pushes us out into brave new frontiers.

That is what our workshop intensive is all about, not just talking the talk but, walking the walk: Being willing to push the envelope and being open to new ways of working with sound and music!

Scott Looney is fully 50% of the game audio intensive equation.

Scott: Being an audio professional working in games means learning to live in a non-linear world. For me it also means that understanding the structure of the game you are working on is paramount, because you cannot hear any sound in a game if it’s not referenced in some way by the game’s logic.

More importantly it’s not a one-size-fits-all situation. There can be many different ways to tackle a problem in a particular game, and it really helps to understand at least a few of these methods so that you have more tools available to solve the problem, and also be able to communicate what you need to a programmer or integrator so that they understand what you need to solve it.

What should students expect to learn from the intensive at the Institute of Audio Research During AES week in NYC?

Steve: Just that, an intensive no-holds-barred deep dive into understanding what making audio for games is all about.

We start with the terminology, move onto the nuts and bolts of game audio concepts and then before you know it you will actually get to put your own music, sound effect and voiceovers into an actual game.

These Game Lessons, developed by us at the Game Audio Institute (http://www.gameaudioinstitute.com/) are provided to the students as part of the price of admission and are completely wired for sound. The behind-the-scenes work has all been done and now workshop participants can concentrate on game logic and the artistic and technical challenges that make game audio super special.

Really, if you are a total newbie, a seasoned pro that wants to update their skill set, or already working in linear media like film or TV and have thought about games, this is the perfect place to be. You’ll jump-start your knowledge of games, game audio and the game sound industry at large.

On the practical level, we’ll be using and learning about how well-known platforms like Pro Tools and Logic can be used with more game-specific tools like FMOD, Wwise, Fabric, Master Audio, & Unity 3d.

And at the end of the whole day the attendees get to take home our A/V presentation screens, Game Audio Institute Levels, Step-By-Step Guides, plus a 20% discount on a signed copy of the book.

What would you say are the advantages of taking an intensive class — that goes beyond what’s in the book?

Steve: Good question! Our goal is to draw back the curtain and expose actual game audio workflow, so folks can understand how all this stuff connects and works under the hood.

There are lots of places you can go to talk about game sound, but our workshop takes that to the next level by applying theory to practical application, so you get to do it for yourself!

Our basic philosophy in our book, classes and workshop is that until you get your hands dirty and start to do some of this work for yourself, you really only have half the story. And half the story might not be enough to get you that job. We have a very hands-on, personal approach. Since these are small classes, max 15 participants at a time, once someone signs up, we have a one-on-one intake call to gather information.

Afterwards, we love to stay in touch with our students, many who have gone on to carve out vibrant careers in this competitive industry.

Scott: The main advantage is that the game industry moves at light speed and things are constantly in flux. Although our book covers the concepts and processes behind game audio reasonably well, the specific technical knowledge is constantly shifting.

Because of this dynamic world, we do our best to keep you informed and to stay on top of the latest technology, tools and methods to use in game audio, and the workshop is a prime place to get and apply that updated information.

Is the workshop for game composers, game audio engineers, or both?

Steve: Both and more. This is for Composers, Sound Designers, Producers, Engineers, programmers and even game designers.

Like I was saying earlier, you can be a total beginner or have some pretty deep knowledge of sound and music already. This is for anyone who is interested in sound for games and has a basic working knowledge of Digital Audio Workstations already.

Scott: Agreed! Everyone regardless of their skill level in game audio production will come away from this workshop having learned something significant and useful that they can later apply to their career in this industry.

• David Weiss

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