Game Audio Analysis YouTube Series

[Mike Thalbain]

Hey fellow OC ReMixers!

I wanted to share the first episode in my new YouTube series, Game Audio Analysis. As a composer and sound designer for video games, I'll be using these videos to share knowledge, tips, and tricks for other aspiring game audio professionals. I'm starting out with some basic ideas, but I'll gradually be moving on to topics that are more advanced. New episodes will be posted weekly! If you have any questions or just want to get in touch, leave a comment below. You can also reach out to me via PM, Twitter, and my website.  Thanks guys, and I'm curious to hear what all of you think!

 

[Tolek]

Hey Mike,

 

thank you for your effort! Looking forward to seeing more of this.

[timaeus222]

I think it'd be interesting if you tried layering the gameplay near where your face is, rather than having a whole screen taken up (or vice versa, having your face on top of the gameplay).

[Precipotato]

Hey dude, great tips, subbed.

I checked out your second video as well, and it did a great job fixing most of the things that I was not certain about in your first video. The addition of music is nice. I'm about to nitpick, but the second video has a lot more reverb, still sounds good though. You even seem happier to record the second video. One thing that I would do, is add more gameplay and real-life examples. Your videos set up a great base for discussion, and they are educational, but you have an untapped market and can take it into a lot of different directions!

I'm working on OST reviews with a similar focus on what they do right and wrong, I have one up, if you want to check it out feel free (PandorasBread). I'm looking forward to more of your videos!

[BardicKnowledge]

 I enjoyed the video, but I have something to counter your first proposal.  For instance, when you say that in a looping track the end "should be relatively similar to the beginning," what exactly does that mean?  Why not end your looping track on a half cadence leading back into tonic, which would make the end quite different from the beginning?

I suggest that loops should instead "lead back to the beginning" -- in what fashion that relationship occurs is up to the composer.  See the Super Mario Bros. World 8 map screen for a quick and dirty example of this.  It's a series of chords that leads back to tonic, but it does not arrive there until the beginning of the loop.  Putting a tonic chord followed by the same tonic chord would serve to highlight the repetition, the very thing you want to avoid.

As for reverb trails and not exporting to MP3, that is good advice for a person just getting started with this -- keep it up! 

 

[timaeus222]

2 hours ago, BardicKnowledge said:

 I enjoyed the video, but I have something to counter your first proposal.  For instance, when you say that in a looping track the end "should be relatively similar to the beginning," what exactly does that mean?  Why not end your looping track on a half cadence leading back into tonic, which would make the end quite different from the beginning?

I suggest that loops should instead "lead back to the beginning" -- in what fashion that relationship occurs is up to the composer.  See the Super Mario Bros. World 8 map screen for a quick and dirty example of this.  It's a series of chords that leads back to tonic, but it does not arrive there until the beginning of the loop.  Putting a tonic chord followed by the same tonic chord would serve to highlight the repetition, the very thing you want to avoid.

As for reverb trails and not exporting to MP3, that is good advice for a person just getting started with this -- keep it up! 

Because sometimes that kind of thing, depending on the Release of the most prominent sound(s), can bleed through the loop point and clash with the note at the beginning of the loop, even though one might expect it to turn out fine. Depends on context!