THE ECHO

ALSO IN THIS ISSUEGame Audio industrySelling yourself

ISSUE 8 // MARCH 2014

Showcase:Happy Days on tour

ASD Winter SchoolAbove: Gregg Fisher.Below left:Tuomo George-Tolonen.Below: Zoe Milton.Opposite, clockwise from top left:Steve Jones; Dan Savidge; MiguelLourtie; and Richard Carter.

PLASA Focus: Leeds 2014, the leading event forentertainment technology in the north ofEngland, is taking place at the Royal ArmouriesMuseum, Leeds, on Tuesday 29 and Wednesday30 April, 2014.

130 exhibitors will debut over 100 new productsfresh from international launches at Prolight +Sound, and a highly acclaimed PLASAProfessional Development Programme will runalongside the event, providing visitors withaccess to over 20 free seminars and productdemonstrations.

Plasa Focus

In Live Drum Micing Techniques, veteran soundengineer Justin Grealy will demonstrate avariety of drum micing techniques to help youget the best out of any situation, whether atyour local pub with a low budget, or a massivegig where money is no object.

In An Insight into the World of RF – Is it a DarkArt? Tuomo Tolonen of Shure Distribution UKwill unravel the mysteries of RF, enablingengineers to be confident in their dealings withradio mics and IEMs - now an integral, yet oftenmisunderstood, part of the pro audio skill base.

PLASA Focus: Leeds is renowned for its friendly,informal atmosphere which attracts over 2000members of the North’s entertainmenttechnology community each year that come tosee new products, learn, network and dobusiness.

REGISTER FOR YOUR FREE TICKET NOW ATwww.plasafocus.com/leeds

The exhibition takes place across two halls, withexhibitors including Adam Hall, Amber Sound,Audio Logic, Audio-Technica, Bose, CUK Audio,d&b audiotechnik, JHS, KV2 Audio, Line 6, LMCAudio Systems, Martin Audio, Meyer Sound,Nexo, Orbital Sound, Peavey, POLARaudio,Roland, Sennheiser, Sound Distribution, SoundTechnology,Warehouse Sound, and Yamaha,among others. Visitors can also expect to seethe ASD at their stand; R-E07.

In What Does Good Sound Sound Like? a trio ofaudio experts will examine what we perceive as“good sound”. Tony Andrews and JohnNewsham of Funktion One, and the legendarylive sound engineer Roger Lindsay, willdemonstrate the influence of individual links inthe audio chain. An interactive discussion ofindividual perception will also take place.

Darryn de la Soul, Head of Soulsound willpresent Getting a Foot in the Door – How ToMake Your Way In The Live Sound Industry. Thistalk will provide aspiring sound engineers withadvice on how to approach employers and howto get a response to your CV.

MORE INFOVisitors can register for free now which covers entryto the show and the Professional DevelopmentProgramme:www.plasafocus.com/leeds

Showcase:Happy Days

Image: Paul Coltas

I can’t profess to having been a huge fan ofHappy Days back when I first watched it onBritish television in the late eighties. Growing upin a distinctly working class part of Sheffield, theglitzy drive-in diner, cool clothes and wholesomeAmerican ideals of the 1950s TV show seemed along way from my day-to-day school life.Perhaps it was a lack of imagination but theclean-cut stars, Richie Cunningham, PinkyTuscadero and Chachi Arcola, (plus bad-boy star,Arthur ‘The Fonz’ Fonzerelli) seemed a millionmiles away from any one I knew, and frankly, Ifound them all a bit annoying.

Fast forward twenty-something years and Iarrive at Brighton Theatre Royal, struggling togenerate much enthusiasm for two hours oftheatre I am, at best, ambivalent about. Settledin to my seat, and flicking through the programgives me my first clue that this might be betterthan I expected – some big hitting creativenames grace the pages – Andrew Wright ofChichester fame takes the direction andchoreography credits, while seasoned musicaldirector Greg Arrowsmith heads up theorchestra pit. Another surprise – Henry Winkler,who starred as The Fonz in all two hundred andfifty five episodes of the TV show, is creativeconsultant, effectively putting his seal ofapproval on the show. Things are definitelylooking up and as the house lights go down I’mtreated to a roller coaster opening number

followed by great song after great song – farbetter than I expected – the two hours fly byand I join the rest of the audience for thestanding ovation at the end. I’m begrudginglyforced to admit to that this show is actually veryvery good, so much so that I impulsively orderthe first season box set from Amazon in anattempt to find out what I’ve been missing.

However, as I’m here to review the sound mythoughts on the show as a whole are relegatedto second place, which is a good thing, becauseBen Harrisons sound design is loud and ballsy,crisp and clean, an exemplary piece of sonic art,easily competing with the best of the west-endand Broadway. Every word is clearly audible (thison its own would be an outstandingachievement), but within the confines of weeklytouring theatre parameters is exceptional to saythe least.

Weekly touring theatre parameters? Yes, to beclear, this four truck tour loads in at 8.30am on aMonday morning and opens at 7.30pm thesame evening. The full sound system is installedand tuned in ten hours by just three people –Head of Sound, Andrew Fugle; Sound NumberTwo, Tom Cox; and Production Sound Engineer,Paul Johnson. With the help of two local crewthey install Main PA, Pros Booms, Advance Truss,Centre Clusters, Subs, Front Fills, two rows ofDelays, Stage Foldback, Orchestra Pit, Radio Mics

Happy Days, a new MusicalBook by Garry MarshallMusic and Lyrics by Paul WilliamsDirected by Andrew WrightSound Designer: Ben HarrisonMusical Direction by Greg Arrowsmith

2014 tour dates include: Dublin, Southampton,Shefield, Glasgow, Bristol, Norwich, Southend,Woking, Cambridge, Sunderland, Birmingham, Cardiff,Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Dartford, Cantebury, Plymouth,Wolverhampton, Milton Keynes, Salford andNottingham.More info at www.happydaysthemusical.com

GARETH OWEN

Hippodrome. To cover this vast array ofpossibilities, Harrison chose to keep his optionsopen by utilising a complete d&b audiotechniksound system – specifically small hangs of Q1sin the stalls with multiple Q7s up through thelevels and a generous hang of T10s to form acentre cluster. This is augmented by E6 front fillsand E0 delays ensuring detail is consistent fromthe front of the theatre right to the back. Tosupport the main system, Harrison has optedfor a weighty combination of d&b subs,specifically Q-Subs and B2s, coupled together ina big block to give an impressive thump.

The majority of amplifiers on Happy Days ared&b D6s with d&b D12s on the Subs and Q1hangs. Unusually, Harrison has opted to largelyignore the d&b R1 system control software infavor of his own custom interface createdwithin a Yamaha DME64. Sound Operator AndyFugle explains,“The DME gives us much moreflexibility when it comes to rapid setup. Not onlydoes it give us all our EQ, delay and levels in oneplace, but it also allows us to create our owncustom matrix off the back of the mixing desk.The power of the DME allows us to generate ourown highly efficient custom control pagesgiving us just the right parameters at our fingertips at any particular moment of the day.”

On stage the cast are provided with acombination of d&b E12s and E8s, chosen

the job done. With a new show that’s neverbeen done before you have to try and work outeverything you need without screwing thebudget! It’s a fine juggling act.”

Specifying a sound system for weekly touring ischallenging in a number of ways, not least inthe fact that the rig needs to be flexible enoughto work in a vast array of different sized houses.Happy Days is travelling through all the majorUK touring venues, from smaller theatres suchas Nottingham Theatre Royal and DartfordOrchard to cavernous barns such asSouthampton Mayflower and Birmingham

and a full touring Comms, Radio Comms, andCCTV system. In 33 man hours. Minus breaks.Any which way you look at it, that’s prettyimpressive.

Having watched the show and been given athorough backstage tour I met Sound DesignerBen Harrison in London for a coffee. I asked himhow much guidance he was given as to how thesound design should evolve:“Right from theoutset the whole creative team had a clearvision of how we wanted to present the show.The TV series was so iconic, and we had to dothat justice in every department. I’d done a fewshows with Andrew where he had been theChoreographer, but this was the first time I’dworked with him in a dual role. He was veryclear as to the sort of show he was after – a bigand punchy rock and roll sound – which madethings somewhat easier to plan.”

Harrison feels that one of the biggest problemswith mounting any completely new productionis that, no matter how hard you try to prepare,nothing ever ends up being the way you thinkits going to be. He comments,“Trying to second-guess all the equipment I needed for this showwas a nightmare. If I’m spec’ing one of my longrunning shows, say Blood Brothers or Evita, I cando it in my sleep. I’ve been designing BloodBrothers for over a decade, Evita for many years –I know exactly how many of what I need to get

Image: Paul Coltas

primarily for their lightweight and ease ofrigging combined with great quality audio. Tofurther enhance their onstage experience,Harrison has added a set of d&b E4s neatlynestled behind the front fills pointing back atthe stage.“Working with actors from a ‘Pop’background always has its challenges,particularly when it comes to Foldback.” he says,“I always find things start to get a bit vagueonstage when you get right down the front,which can be a bit disconcerting for your non-Musical theatre performers. Adding the E4sallows me to get a little extra sizzle and claritydownstage centre, which, lets face it, is usuallywhere the money moments of the show getsung from!”.

Heading out towards the mix position I amgreeted by the friendly blue glow of Orbital’sLED-lit custom racks, somewhat washed out bya garish pink stage blinder blasting the mixingdesk in a dazzling light. Slightly confused I turnto question Fugle as to the purpose of the pink.“It’s the Head of Lightings idea of joke,” headmits, looking anything but bothered.“Heheard we were having our photos taken so hethought we might like some backlight.”

Having worked out how to defuse the stageblinder, Fugle gives me once over of the YamahaCL5 mixing desk:“We’re running the desk in fullDante mode,” he explains, going on to tell me

how all signals are delivered to and from thestage via dual-redundant Cat5 cabling bouncingthrough gigabit NetGear switches. Reverbs areinternal and they make full use of the YamahaPremium Racks, which are also used for groupEQ and delay. A computer screen displaysYamaha CL Editor which, Fugle explains, giveshim an at-a-glance look at what is going onthroughout the console.“The CL Editor softwareallows me to see PostFade meters on a screenwhile I still have PreFade meters on the desk,” hesays.“There are a lot of tricky harmonies in thisshow and the ability to see how much of eachvocal is actually going in to the system is agodsend.”

Fugle then proceeds to show me around themultitrack system, which, I am surprised tolearn, is rather efficiently integrated in to theYamaha control surface: deployed for thepurpose of recording the show (and to helpsound operators learn the show and hone thedetails), a reasonably powerful PC is located atFOH, loaded with nothing more than anindustry standard network socket and a copy ofSteinberg’s Nuendo. Add to this a copy ofAudinate’s twenty-nine dollar Dante VirtualSoundcard and you have a fully integrated 64-chhard disk recorder for less money than youwould pay for a single channel USB interfacefrom Behringer. Not only is it cost effective butit’s also exceptionally well integrated with the

mixing desk, driven, I suspect, by the fact thatYamaha now owns Steinberg. Not only can youcontrol Nuendo’s transport directly from withinthe console, but you can also suck the channelnames out of the desk straight in to yourrecording session, saving you hours of typing.The icing on the cake is that markers areautomatically dropped in to Nuendo wheneveryou run a cue on the desk, making it a cinch togo back and find a particular part of the show.These features are not unique to Yamaha aseverything mentioned above can also be donewith an Avid Venue console linked to a ProToolssystem. What is unique however is the price – acouple of hundred pounds in software for theYamaha implementation compared to tens ofthousands of pounds of hardware to do it theAvid way.

Sound Effects and Click Tracks are controlledusing CTR Electronics CSC show controlsoftware, which feeds eight channels of audioback in to the CL5 digitally via ADAT. Harrisonexplains further,“Most of the sound effects areused to preempt the arrivals of the larger thanlife characters, motorbikes feature quite heavily,and of course there is the all important jukeboxin Arnold’s Diner that springs to life oncommand from Fonzie.”

Down in the orchestra pit I find another surprise– a break from the ubiquitous Aviom systems

favoured by so many other shows. Harrisondecided to pump for the new Allen & Heath MEmonitoring system, and, on closer inspection itbecame apparent as to why:The ME takes itsinputs from the Dante network meaning thatup to forty channels are available on each mixervia a single cable. The musicians can easily setup groups of instruments and assign them to akey, say “Drums”. They can then edit the mix ofthat Drums key individually without affectingother users – meaning each person can have adifferent drum mix, a different reeds mix, adifferent percussion mix. All this power ishidden behind a hugely user-friendly interface –indeed, talking to the musicians in the pit theywere all unequivocal in their praise of thesystem, to a man declaring the ME to be farsuperior to anything they had used before.

Back on stage, Sound Number Two,Tom Coxshowed me around the radio system. Shure UHRradios are the choice here, picked for theirfrequency flexibility, a versatility not alwaysapparent on other industry leaders. Cast mics areDPA 4066 boom mics, a choice that, once fittedproperly, makes for very happy and comfortableperformers. In an attempt to catch the UK upwith the rest of the world, Cox is using Vartarechargeable AA batteries with Fischer chargingstations, a combination he finds proves morereliable than other brands he has tried.To get the show in and up in a day, production

engineer Paul Johnson has made extensive useof Orbital Sound’s considerable experience ofmid-scale touring. Much of the equipment ishoused in large three bay 90u daddy-racks,greatly reducing interconnects and flight casestacking. What few separate racks there arebenefit from multipin Veam link cables, andextensive use of custom looms.

Happy Days is a thoroughly enjoyable night atthe theatre, enhanced dramatically by theexceptional quality of the audio. Harrison isquick to share the credit, summarising “PJ (PaulJohnson) was absolutely instrumental inmaking the show ‘tourable’, turning my ideasand drawings into practical lumps of kit – gearthat can be built, taken apart and moved withina tight timescale.” I asked him if there is any onething that he can credit for such a greatsounding show:“A lot of it was there from theoffset, the design and equipment choicesensured that, but having a good operator shouldnever be underrated – someone who canconstantly adjust the mix to make space forvocals or story telling. A bad operator can ruinthe best design and I’m really lucky to have AndyFugle, one of the best.”

MORE INFOwww.happydaysthemusical.com

What is your current project and role?Sound designer and composer on The Legend ofHamba for Tiata Fahodzi. Very exciting, as we aredevising this as a company; so I get to sit withAbleton Live and a guitar and play all day. It will beperformed at a variety of outdoor venues so that willpresent some challenges no doubt! We’re alsosimultaneously reworking The Epic Adventure ofNhamo the Manyika Warrior and his Sexy Wife Chipofor a tour.

What is the favourite part of your work/process?Putting the sound into the performance space andhearing it as it should be – when all the hard work ofrehearsals and writing and editing all comes together,and it sounds as good as, (or better than!) you hoped.Particularly when the work is heavily collaborative, asI think the whole company enjoys it more.

What would you change about your work / the industry?I think the industry is already changing in the ways I’dlike it to – it feels progressively more inclusive, and Ifeel sound design is being recognised more and moreas an essential part of a production. Having betterguidelines/legislation for fees would also be good foreveryone.

What’s your top trick / tip?I often take sound away to emphasise something,rather than always adding. I will run something likean earthquake, at a subtle level, raise it with a longfade, then take it out altogether to focus in onsomething like an important speech, or a change intension in the action of a show.

What is your current project and role?I’ve just finished designing Headlong’s SpringAwakening and am about to head to Suffolk to workon Peddling as part of the Hightide Festival.

What is the favourite part of your work/process?When all the days/weeks/months of collaborationbegin to pay off and the piece starts to come togetherin tech and previews.

What would you change about your work/theindustry?I’d like to see a greater awareness in the wider industry(notably theatre criticism) of what the job entails andwhat a sound designer does.

What’s your top trick/tip?I’ve been using it to transform sounds for a few yearsnow, but paulstretch (often combined with varispeedand reversal) is a really simple way to generate someinteresting material.

What am I listening to at the moment?Death Grips’ Government Plates is a suitably abrasivelisten for a morning commute.

Mini profiles

HELEN SKIERA GEORGE DENNIS

ED CLARKEEd’s first sound design work was at the Theatre RoyalStratford East in the mid-90s, followed by a spell atthe Lyric Hammersmith. He then worked on the edgesof the rock’n’roll circus for a while, before being re-absorbed into the theatre world. Shows includeFrankenstein at the NT, Little Bulb’s Orpheus, and TheRailway Children.

So what are his favourite things?

A FEW OF MYFAVOURITE THINGS

I was asked to write about my favourite thingsin sound design world – I think the guys wereexpecting, you know, actual gizmos and bits ofkit. Truth is, I don’t have many favourite bits ofkit: they’re just the machines we use to makeour ideas happen. So here are two of myfavourite elements of sound design and onefavourite plug-in. I think these ideas are oftenoverlooked.

Delay time and tonalityThe time alignment of a distributed rig ofloudspeakers is obviously critical: we all knowabout the precedence / Haas effect and so on.What people seem to pay less attention to is thefiltering effects produced by hearing two ormore speakers at the same time and the waysin which this can (I would say ‘should’) be usedto tune a system. We can’t get away from thosefiltering effects, so why not make it your friend? For me, correct delay time setting is just as

much about tonality as it is about imaging –and I am someone who believes that imaging ofvocal sound is absolutely paramount. I workwith time much more than I work with EQ.

The high-pass filterIn all live situations I enable the high-pass filteron almost every channel that doesn’t absolutelyneed low end, and do this often before anythingelse. It isn’t just a get-out-gaol-card.

If you’ve got 120 channels of microphones open,you need only the smallest amount of LFgetting back through all those to add up toenough level to make all your low end responsecloudy and indistinct – and all those channelswill be hearing ambient low end as well aswhatever they’re pointed at.

Think of sub-bass as your foundations: if yourfoundation is a mess...

Eventide ‘Blackhole’ algorithmic reverbI love algorithmic reverb – convolution is all verywell if you’re trying to fake something (andgreat for playing silly with), but for sound designreverb, nothing beats the control thatalgorithmic stuff gives you. And if you reallywant to go outside the ‘natural’ then there isnothing better that I know of than this toy.

The control names on this plug-in are unusual(what else has a ‘gravity’ setting?) but quiteintuitive after a session or so, and as soon as youstart playing with the automation it reallyopens up a vast canvas of spaces. Mostparticularly though, it is very musical. I don’thave to spend hours trying to get rid of thehigh-frequency artefacts that I find so irritatingin many other reverb plug-ins. Oh, and it’s prettycheap too:www.eventide.com/AudioDivision/Products/PlugIns/Blackhole.aspx

The all-consuming anticipation as you wait forthe black and red lines to turn to blue andyellow while being assaulted by the mostindescribable noise as the tape spools rotateachingly slowly… (me, aged 8, Spectrum ZX).

My earliest memories of gaming lie in misspenthours helping Spectrum’s Horace dodge cars ashe tries to buy some skis or getting dizzy fallinghead-over-heels for Sonic, filled with blips, beepsand coin ker-chings. I have become increasinglyintrigued by this medium however, after achance encounter with the legendary filmsound designer Walter Murch. He suggestedthat rather than looking to Hollywood for afresh approach to sound design, I should take aglance at the gaming industries on mydoorstep. I soon realised that I am attracted tothe process of designing an immersive

environment that extends the interaction we astheatre sound designers have with audiencemembers, to one that provides the player with apalette with which to control their ownperspective.

The gamer experienceLike theatre or cinema audiences, gamers arelooking for an experience – to be taken intoanother world and be challenged or entertainedfor an amount of time. A game audio designerplays a huge part in creating this experience.Their contribution helps to bring meaning andemotion to various aspects of the gameplay aswell as adding realism to 3D environments. Assound designer Tom Maddocks explains:“Personally I really enjoy story driven games.There is something very engrossing about agood story in a video game. When done right it

Game Audio for the theatre sound designer

is a medium that can be on par with a greatfilm, or a great theatre production. Because agame story takes place over a longer periodthan most movies, by the end there can be areal connection to certain characters or evensettings. Of course audio can play a big part inhelping tell that story.”The difference for agame user is that they are controlling their ownexperience and they typically tend to be alone inthis task, though increasingly the gamesindustry is developing platforms and technologythat allow players to interact with other playersand create social events that go further thantwo mates skiving double-maths to conquer thenext level of their favourite beat-em-up!

The time frame of the game experience isflexible and ongoing rather than a fixed, so thesound designer is creating a whole world for a

CAROLYN DOWNING

player to freely explore, akin to an installation orexhibition space rather than a soundscape thatonly exists until the curtain comes down.Gamers want to be immersed in sound andwith the advent of domestic surround-soundsystems and bespoke Dolby 7.1 gamingheadsets, sound designers are able toexperiment further with spatial distribution, inthe same way we often can in a theatre space.According to the advertising blurb, the headsets“…create an immersive 360-degree sound-fieldthat lets you hear what you can’t see. Footsteps.Enemy fire. Sirens. Because when you have eyesin the back of your head, you win.”

Gaming is one of the fastest growing creativeindustries in the country, and the demand fromplayers to have fuller and richer experiencesfrom the game is driving new technologies anddesign concepts. The recent launch of GrandTheft Auto V sparked a healthy debate on Radio2’s Jeremy Vine show, showing that the gamingdemographic is vast and varied, from young toold. The audio design of these types of games isbecoming increasingly sophisticated, often

comparable to Hollywood blockbusters. In GTA5,players are able to explore the fictional city ofLos Santos in what is referred to as “an open-world setting”. The sound design for this worldis detailed, including intricate phoneconversations from passers-by and a seeminglyinfinite array of in-car radio station selectionsinside multi-layered, evolving city and nature-scapes.

ProcessAs with most other media, the games industryis enjoying the growth of technologies andplatforms available to them, so a games audiodesigner working for an independent companymay well be working on an iOS or Facebookgame one day and a major platform multiplayerthe next. At first glance, the working life of agame audio designer seems to be fairly similarto that of a theatre sound designer – the typeand amount of work necessary depending onthe size of the team, type of project and level ofresponsibility. Sound designer Graham Gatheraldescribes a typical day:“It can includeperforming and recording Foley, sound editing,

music editing, trailer sound design/mixing,audio quality assurance, dialogue recording,asset management, location sound recording,and of course implementation.” Sounds familiar,right? Hold on. Asset management, qualityassurance, implementation? Pretty alienconcepts to our kind. I decided to investigate.

A complex game title will combine upwards of40,000 game and production assets, rangingfrom bitmaps and textures to 3D models,sounds and music, and source code files. Anasset is any piece of data or content that can besaved and added into the asset database anduniquely identified across all project databasesby a NameID string. ‘Asset management’ for anaudio designer is the process of tracking thestatus of voice and other sound files throughoutthe game. The Asset Manager is responsible formaintaining the database for all departmentswho need to access the assets and theirassociated information. They are also required toensure that the system by which departmentsshare and implement these assets runssmoothly.

‘Implementation’ is the process of makingsound files (assets) play back in the game at theright time and at the right level so that itsounds natural. This is actually very similar toour process of creating audio content, building a

“The audio design of these types of games isbecoming increasingly sophisticated, often

comparable to Hollywood blockbusters”

cue list and plotting levels but the technologiesand software to do this are very different. Wherewe may ‘implement’ using QLab or CSC, gameaudio engines such as UDK or Unity andmiddleware such as Wwise and FMOD are used.These applications allow game designers from arange of disciplines to build and implementcontent for games without (or barely) touchingprogramming code. In the case of the sounddesigner this means that instead of their jobending with the delivery of audio assets and alist of instructions for a programmer to code,they can implement not only the asset but alsothe relationship that asset has to game events;their relationship to other sounds; what andhow digital signal processing is acting on thoseassets; and, if a prototype of the game is up andrunning, test and adapt these behaviourswithout having to change coding. FirelightTechnologies’ FMOD system has recently beenused on titles such as Eidos Software’s Deus Ex,Rockstar’s LA Noire and Warner Brothers ArkhamAsylum Batman games. Audiokinetics’Wwiseplayed a key role in the creation of Bioware’sDragon’s Age and Mass Effect titles, Ubisoft’sAssassins Creed series and LucasArts’ ForceUnleashed.

‘Quality assurance’ ensures that the audio in thegame is robust and fully functioning and thatthe work of the sound department achieves the

standards that the game company expects. Thisis a way of receiving progress reportsthroughout the process before the game islaunched to the public. An audio designer woulduse this in the way that we might use dressrehearsals and previews, though over a muchlonger period of time, honing the design untilit’s ready for release.

Time scales differ hugely to the schedules weare used to. A game audio designer will beworking on a project over a time span of at leasta year; longer if working on an AAA title (a bigbudget game developed for major platforms).Their process has more in common with that ofa film sound designer in that respect. GrahamGatheral elaborates:“Working in a small team in

Graham Gatheral. Image: Jemima Yong

a company with multiple projects on the go canpresent workflow challenges. It’s important toprioritise work and make sure everyone is in theloop about what you’re working on and whentheir task request will get to the top of the tile.Also, most companies work to monthlymilestone deadlines, so there’s always pressureto make sure everything’s on target.”

Most projects require new custom audioplayback features so it is important that thegame audio designer has an audio programmeron hand to make sure those needs are met. Theaudio team would also continually liaise withthe game designers, animators, QA (qualityassurance) team and producers.

So what is it about the gaming that attractssound designers? By all accounts, it comes froma love of the medium and interaction with videogames from an early age. An obvious draw is thechallenge to a designer’s creative urges as wellas a tickling of the technical brain cells. SoundDesigner Tom Maddocks hints at thesatisfaction he earns from his process:“Implementation is a big part of the workbecause a game is a non-linear experience. Itfeels like you’re creating a world that people willgo and prod and test with the characters.Making a believable world is essential to thatplayer having an immersive and unique

experience.” Some of the most recent gamereleases with well-seasoned sound designers onboard seem to suggest that designers arebecoming less interested in making games fromsystems or scoring mechanics and more asemotional experiences, a prime example beingThe Last Of Us (Naughty Dog).

The futureThe future of game audio design, in the shortterm at least, lies with the recently launchednext generation consoles, namely PS4 and XboxOne, due to inclusion of expanded memory foraudio content and the potential for 7.1 virtualsurround sound. The longer term future maywell lie in real-time DSP such as ray tracinggame geometry to calculate reverb parametersin real time, or convolution reverb, as you mighthave used with AltiVerb or Space Designer inyour DAW. This allows the sound tocommunicate a greater sense of location anddynamics when it is triggered from a point in 3Dspace and is reflected off the architecture of theimmediate surrounding area at any given pointin the game. More fascinating times arepromised in the development of ProceduralAudio, or real-time sound effect synthesis to youand me. It is the creation of non-linear, syntheticsounds that have the ability to respond fluentlyto a player’s choices and actions within a game[Ed: see article on PA in The Echo #5].

The development of these capabilities hassignificant implications for game audiodepartments, as Graham Gatheral explains:“When PA becomes more prominent, we will seegame sound designers spending less timecreating sample-based sound effects on theirDAW and more time looking at how the soundbehaves in the real world to create proceduralaudio models.” One of the biggest advocates ofProcedural Audio, Andy Farnell, further explainsthat “although at first these new techniquesmay seem alien to the creative process, they willactually enhance the sound designer’sconnection to the artform."

Gaming is one the fastest-moving creative andtechnical industries of our generation. Ourgame audio counterparts are pushing theboundaries of our art form and how it engageswith individuals, driving the development oftechnologies that pave the way to completelyturn it on its head.

The future of their craft potentially puts theperception of their art into the hands of theplayer so much so that they appear to completelyrelinquish artistic control.The player may begin toexperience games audio the way an audiencemember does a theatre sound designer’s workthat is so fluid and intrinsically integrated into thepiece that it becomes invisible.

Show business is a slightly strange business.Jobs are rarely advertised, and often it seems likethe first time we know a job is available is whensomeone rings us up and asks us if we’reavailable to do it. Clearly in order for potentialemployers to call you they have to have heardabout you in the first place. In the past this wasa relatively straightforward process thathappened in a place called ‘the real world’, andgenerally involved getting to know people atwork and sometimes in the pub. How we soldourselves was a matter of how we dressed andhow we acted, both in terms of the work we didand how we did it. This paradigm is still true,but increasingly now we are judged on ouronline presence first, long before we get to meetanyone in person. The three key goals to bear inmind when working out how you sell yourselfare:

To help people to find you amongst your peers.

To encourage them to employ you by providingthem with clear, positive information aboutyourself, your skills, your business attitude, youremployment history and any other pertinentinformation.

To encourage your peers to recommend you forwork.

In order to sell yourself effectively, you need tobe clear about what you are selling. Be clearwith the services you can offer, and the jobs youare aspiring to get. Design work can be difficultto make a living from, so many of us make partof our living through other jobs, or by working inother industries. Be careful to sell yourself in away that is inclusive to all your potential clients.

Selling yourself,selling your work

It is useful to have multiple CVs, each targetedtowards a different type of work, or yourwebsite might direct different types of clients todifferent pages. Perhaps you have a page that isoptimised for corporate and events work, andanother for theatre design. Equally, don’t beafraid of stating your intentions. If you want towork on musicals, you’re more likely to get workwith a generic CV that starts off with the phrase‘I am very interested in working on musicals’,than with just a generic CV. People respond topassion and interest.

For a lot of people, your name is your brand andit is you that people want to employ. It can bevery tempting to set up a business and promoteyour business name. This can work well forsome sectors but often not for theatre. Adirector is rarely going to turn round and say

GARETH FRY

that they want GJF Services to come in anddesign their show – most of the time clientswant to employ a specific person because oftheir specific skills, experience or attitude. Only ifyour company has grown to be relatively bigand has a very good reputation can you affordto trade off its name.

That said, it can be important to seem business-like in order to convey a level of professionalism.One of the easiest ways to project businessprofessionalism is to adopt a ‘look’ for yourbusiness. A look doesn’t have to include a logo: itcould just be a set of colours or a certaintypeface that you use consistently across yourvisual output, whether that be on your websites,business cards, letterheads or schematics. Somepeople opt for the plain approach but aMicrosoft Word template does nothingproactively to promote you. A strong visual lookon the other hand can show off your designaesthetic and make you appear moreprofessional. It’s worth bearing in mind that theadministrator who is processing your invoicesnow might well be executive producer in tenyears’ time.

Ways to stand outBeing multi-skilled is very useful in the realworld, but it doesn’t help you to stand out fromthe online crowd. Becoming known for working

in a certain niche of theatre, or having a certainspecialist skill, will attract certain clients to you.Determine what you are most interested indoing or are best at – whether it be anencyclopedic knowledge of Serialist music, aproclivity for recording high speed cars or atalent for synth programming – and use that asa selling point. Once you have hooked a clientwith your special skills then you can sell themwith your broader skill set.

Many websites offer us the opportunity to writea profile or biog about ourselves. These are greatopportunities but require careful thought.

Have a look through the ASD directory to seethe different approaches people take and howthey are selling themselves. You can take theformal third person list of credits approach, orthe more casual first person prose, or anywherein between. Just remember who you want toread it – who you want to employ you – andwrite it for them, in a style that would appeal tothem.

Try to be as concise as possible. Highlight repeatwork – it’s an indicator that a past client hasthought your work so good they keepemploying you. Check the names and spelling ofcompanies, venues and manufacturers, etc. Runit through the Microsoft Word spelling and

grammar check. Add a recurring event to yourcalendar app to update it every three months.

Social media can be a great way to advertiseyourself and create awareness of what you’redoing now or in the future. Careful use of whoyou connect with, comments, retweets and@mentions can really help to spread the word.However, there are inherent dangers in all ofthem.

Facebook is both a blessing and a curse: it is byfar the easiest way to blur the lines betweenyour work life and your social/family life.Employers are increasingly looking at people’sFacebook pages to try to get a sense of theperson behind the image. Consider yourFacebook privacy settings carefully – especiallyas Facebook changes these often – and keep awatchful eye on what goes up and how itreflects on you professionally. Consider creatinga ‘Page’ that represents your work and keep yourprofile for your friends and family only.

Twitter can allow connections with anyonewithout having to go through a ‘friending’process. Careful interaction with potentialemployers can get them to follow you and buildtheir awareness of what you’re working on.However, it’s just as easy to lose people byoversharing.

LinkedIn, Stage Jobs Pro and the ASD directoryall provide a very business-focused environmentto advertise your wares. They are all usedincreasingly by potential employers to lookpeople up.

A blog often seems like a great idea but like a lotof New Year resolutions they are difficult tocarry through for more than a couple ofmonths! Think of how many blogs you’ve seenthat have a few early blog posts, then a gap,then another one six months later, then nothingsince 2011. Not helpful from a marketing pointof view.

There are plenty of other social media sites outthere – often they don’t have so many users, butthis means that you have a better chance ofstanding out.

One of the frustrating things about sounddesign is that it’s incredibly difficult to find away to represent it online – often somethingthat sounds great in a show sounds rubbishremoved from the context of the performance itwas designed for. If so, don’t put it online.Sounds you’ve made for web trailers or toaccompany video design often work well.SoundCloud and Vimeo offer good ways ofuploading your media and embedding it in yourprofiles, in a way that be heard on the plethora

of smartphones and tablets. It is always worthadding a note that the audio will be best heardover headphones, rather than on an iPhonespeaker.

Business cards are well worth having, eventhough you may find yourself only giving outone or two a month. They create a betterimpression than trying to find a pen andscribble your email address on a scrap of paper,and they can drive a visit to your website to findout more about you. You’ll more likely findyourself giving these out to a producer,production manager, OB team and other soundprofessionals. Don’t include too muchinformation; your name, job description, phonenumber, email and website are plenty. Check outmagazines like Creative Review for inspiration onthe more far out designs.

Pay attention to the paperwork you send out,including invoices, schematics, and plans. Look atwhat you get from other people and see if thereare things you should include on yours. If you’rea member of the ASD you can place the ASD

logo somewhere strategic; it’s all aboutestablishing your credentials as a professional.

A website can be useful for creating a centralhub of information about you. Maintaining upto date profiles across the many differentwebsites can be difficult to achieve. If you’restruggling, then go for a brief profile and link toyour website for a production-by-productionlisting. Websites can more easily contain soundsto listen to, movies to watch, CVs to downloadand a variety of different pages targeted atdifferent client bases.

Personal websites can be easily created, oftenfor free, using tools like Wordpress or Wix andwill create websites that look good onsmartphones and tablets as well as on acomputer. Make sure your contact details are onevery page of your website. Most visitors to yoursite will have arrived via a search engine andwon’t necessarily go to the home page first.

Register a domain name with a company like1&1. This will enable you to get a web address

like www.joebloggs.com and email that is sentto and from mail@joebloggs.com. Far betterthan ‘joe_bloggs_471@yahoo.co.uk.’

ASD and other industry events are a great wayto make your name known in the industry. Ifpeople know your name and what you do, that’sthe first step to getting work via your peers. Byorganising or speaking at events, you can speedup that process considerably (and it benefits theASD and everyone else when you share yourexpertise). These events are great for meetingpeople outside your normal professional circuit.

Many sound designers and engineers jugglemultiple clients and are often unavailable for allthe projects they’re asked to do. They are oftenasked if they can recommend someone else, andso they recommend people they know.

Above all, don’t oversell yourself. Whether face-to-face or online, no-one likes someone who istoo pushy or has misrepresented their actualskill sets. Remember you are trying to encouragepeople to employ you, not irritate them withspam or scare them with cyber-stalking!

And remember, there is no one way to sellyourself. Every potential employer is differentand will want different skills, experiences,attitudes and approaches.

One of the frustrating things about sounddesign is that it’s incredibly difficult

to find a way to represent it online

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d&b audiotechnikwww.dbaudio.com

Issue #8Copyright Association of Sound Designers 2014

Cover: The ASD Winter School

Design by Made In EarnestPrinted by Premier Print Group

Adverts can be purchased by any corporate memberof the ASD, rates on request.

Views expressed editorially or by correspondants arenot necessariily those of the ASD.

Contact us atnews@associationofsounddesigners.comwww.associationofsounddesigners.com

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