Re-cap 9/21/09-9/27/09

Whoa...

busy weekend. So, yeah, there's a lot to tell and not a lot to tell. (huh?) Well, in true "I have a point to make" form, I will provide information in bullet-point form.

*Spent 'nother six hours in the studio for class again. Almost have 100 sounds completed and will do so tonight. I'm not sure what the next step is, but it's likely to be the actual composing stage of the class.

*As previously mentioned, I'm working with Team Ko'Mano on their iPhone port of Solar (Basic) which will have new content added and become Solar (Advanced). All sound assets are due on October 9th (yikes!), but sound effects are complete along with the majority of the main title music. This is a completely new experience for me, having not written with a very specific purpose in mind. However, the guys on the team are great and supportive. Not to mention, their website is cool, so check it out when you have a chance.

*I had a very interesting conversation with a guy named Luke Eddins who has a small business called Luke Hits. His business mission is this:

The goal of Luke Hits is to give little-known unsigned artists (yes, the dude who records killer songs on his home computer in middle-of-nowhere Kansas) with sweet hit songs a chance to get heard. That simple.

In my quest to find sound design work, I had put up an ad on Craigslist, which he found through an "All Call" of "Sound Design." Long story short, there might be some possible sound design work in the future for commercials or other web content. So cool! Essentially I would have to bid for the contract by writing something up, but it could become something entirely worthwhile.

*I have other exciting plans in the works, but am not at liberty to talk about them right now. Thanks for stopping by on this beautiful day (66 degrees and sunny). Here's to roads filled with dreams and beautiful rainbows. Sounding off!

Marty O'Donnell - Bungie Composer

Interesting interview with Bungie (Halo) game composer Marty O'Donnell. (f you have any trouble viewing the video, just click on the area below this text.)

My First Game Audio Project

I received an email from a really polite gentleman from the UK who is porting a Flash game called Solar Basic over to the iPhone and needs music and SFX for it.

"Can you do it?"

"Yes I can!"

The levels of awesome-i-tude are numerous:

1) The project is small in scope - They need 6 music tracks, ranging from 30 seconds to 3 minutes in length plus 8-10 sound effects.

2) The work is pretty much done, so this means I need to get all of this completed in about 3 weeks. "Can you do it?" - "Yer darn tootin'!"

3) It'll be on the iPhone, so I'll be sure to post it when it is all done so those of you who have one (not including myself) can get an idea of what it's like. Here's a glimpse of the title screen:

You can also use this link to play the game as is now. You'll notice there are already music and SFX implemented, but he has to have all of them redone in order to port the game over. Let's get crackin'!

Re-cap 9/14/09-9/20/09

I was a good human this week. Productive, receptive AND, I got to have pizza and beer (my favy). Let's recapitulate:

*Spent another six hours in the studio this week for class, one of which resulted in many technical errors. "It's part of the game," I told my brain, so I rewrote a plan for the next three sessions in order to stay on task.

*I met with Scott Wyatt this week to go over the three audio replacment videos I made. Although he had a lot of adivce with regard to the engineering, his encouragement lead me to feel I am moving in the right direction. The basics of the conversation were; use the space, highlight visual changes and make it louder! Louder? Oh, yes, much louder.

*As per my earlier post, I won my first sound design bid for the Bikram Yoga gym. Exciting? That's affirmative. I'm still waiting to hear back from another bid, but you never know how these Indie Gamer projects will turn out. Stay tuned for more.

*I began work over the weekend for a composition contest. The goals include the following:
This year we'll have first, second and third place winners. First place will get $100, second place gets $75 and third place gets $50. Each winner will be able to select a book, CD or other type of resource that deals with audio, music, sound, production or game development of their choice. The goal behind the contest is to give new(er) composers the chance to have their material heard by industry pros, gain some exposure and get another chance to support a game.

So, for the contest we must:
1) All music in the score must be written by you and only you.
2) Only one submission per person. Any one can take part in the contest! The contest is free to join.
3) All submissions must be received by 10 PM Mountain time on Oct. 7th 2009.
4) All submissions must in OGG or WAV format as these are the only two formats that will work with the game engine.
5) Please include your screen name as well as your real name when submitting your materials. This helps me keep everything straight and in order.

The goal is to write two tracks (one idle, one combative) for a horror First-Person Shooter game. I'm almost done with number one and will get number two out the door, hopefully, within the next two weeks. Wish me luck!

*Ok, last bit of news (gosh I talk a lot). I am in the process of negotiating with two separate groups to write music (and SFX) for the games. I don't have much detail, but one of them is looking to go to Game Developers Conference once the game is complete. Exciting, exciting!

Well, enough for now. I will hopefully have more audio posted within the next few weeks and more news to come for sure. Again, it's nice to 'see' you here. Feel free to come in and watch TV whenever you want!

What does death sound like?

A short video giving some detail about how the audio designers of Dead Space (2008) came up with some of their ideas. Intense! Warning, graphic violence:

A Minor Victory

So I bid on this ad for a Yoga business which needed the following:

And yesterday, I received this notification:

It's a small win, but I think this goes down as my first bid I've won for sound design. Carry on, carry on...

Re-cap 9/7/09-9/13/09

Week 1 of the blog went quickly, and I imagine that's because it's been a very busy week. Here are some of the things I've been up to:

-Spent six hours in the EMS studio at UIUC and listened to some killer award-winning music written on the Kurzweil K2000. I also spent time programming and creating 12 instruments. My goal is around 100 by October 1st. Oh, and here's a link to the lab if you're interested.

-Emailed several recording studios in Chicago and a local place about internship opportunities in the future. I need to get that foot in the door! Unfortunately, Pogo Studios in Champaign doesn't have any available, so enrolling in Mark Rubel's class will my next option. Oh, here's a video of Mark that I linked on my Facebook page in case you didn't get to see it:



-I also enrolled as a student member of the Audio Engineering Society, which I've permanently linked on the right column. It contains tons of information for audiophiles, including conference notes, interviews and job opportunities.

-What I'm most excited about, however, is that I'm waiting to hear back about two bids I've submitted. One was a request for a Yoga gym that needed "check-in" sounds for members, and the other is music for a kids game. For the kids quiz game, the creator wanted: Game is a quiz gameshow based in a classroom. Music should be uptempo and cute - particularly influenced by Sims 3 title track but not as "neighbourhoody". Clean loops (no fade ins/outs, breaks, snyc issues). You can find a clip of the music in the media player listed as My School Quiz (Title).  I'd love to hear what you think!

Well, that's enough for now. I'm tired, it's Sunday, and I need a bit of rest. Hope to hear from you and look for more in the future!

Crispity Crunchity Sound Design

You're not hardcore unless you live hardcore.

Hownagl do you do?

Since there are approximately 133,000,000 blogs in existence, I considered, reconsidered and subsequently re-reconsidered doing one of my own. I mean really, what could I say that couldn't be said elsewhere? You said it already. She's said it. Hell, even that guy selling grilled steak on Green Street has almost said it. Know what I'm sayin'?

This attitude, however, is not that of a creative-type nor of an optimist, two things which I consider myself to be. After all, looking forward and acting on those lookings willingly takes courage and, well, will power. Or is it William power? Or does he go by Bill? Hrmmm...

So, here goes.

The idea is multiple-fold. And, in true blog fashion, I've made a list to make sense of it all. Listen:

1. I have always wanted a way to compartmentalize sites, tools, downloads, conversations et al in order to access information handily. AND, I want to share them with whomever may want/need them. So as I discover said interestings, I will be keeping track of them on the right-hand column (unless the damn site changes, then it might be somewhere else).
2. Secondofly, I've always wanted to centralize my audio/visual items, both to share with the community and to hear feedback/criticism. You may use the embedded media player to play streaming versions of these items, and higher quality files will be uploaded in the future. Please don't be shy, though, with your responses. What you hear and say will be welcomed with open eyes, ears and virtual arms :)
3. Most importantly, I've wanted a way to hold myself accountable to my daily actions. After all, the subtitle above suggests that. This means that I will be sharing weekly updates to my work at home, in class and other relevant experiences along the way. I'm thinking of calling it a 'recap' of the week if you Bill, I mean will...or won't. I mean, it doesn't really matter (it does).

That's essentially 'it.'

Things, I'm sure, will change during this process and I intend to provide more than just information, links and work updates. I hope to include entries with fun and interesting articles, anecdotes of note, and occasional trivia that may or may not be stimulating and may or may not be trivial.

So, if you like what you read, have suggestions or want more of 'this' or 'that,' please do not hesitate to contact me via this blog (via comments) or email (grhufnagl at gmail dot com). I'm all ears (and other sensory body parts).

Many Gratefuls,

George