Audio and Music

You know that dialogue will bring life and emotion into your game and you're considering hiring voice actors. Do it! Well, check your budget first.

Calculate Costs:

Calculate how many minutes of dialogue you need to produce, and how many hours in the recording studio this will take. Kathy shows you how and provides a rough guide for converting this to costs.

Select recording studio and actors:

Choose the studio – so many pitfalls.

Choose the actors – get them to send you voice clips, and get them to make alterations. Kathy provides an example. Make sure you’re happy with the alterations you requested.

Contract with agents:

Deal with the agents – be prepared. Be very, very prepared. Kathy has a list.

Prepare the actors:

A pre-recording meeting is included in those very high acting fees! Tell the story of the game, give character sheets, give lines, find preferred lines format, give studio address and contact details, discuss time preferences, ask about special needs.

Make a recording schedule:

Start with the clearest cleanest voices. Allow time for settling in and equipment calibration. Calculate which line to get up to each quarter day so you can track progress.

Recording session:

-what to bring

-how to direct –a real live voice actor will help demonstrate

-demo clip etiquette

-credit takes

-ideas for thanking voice actors

Post processing and file naming:

– surprise! Kathy has a list.

How does a non-Indigenous composer try to create an Indigenous Australian game score? By connecting with some of the most talented Indigenous Australian musicians around.

Composer Meena Shamaly details his process of collaborating with First Nations musicians to create a culturally respectful, celebratory, and entertaining score to Innchanted, a game set in a fantasy Australian world.

It is a process of complete openness and extensive cultural dialogue, as well as collaborative experimentation and free-spirited improvisation from the musicians. Meena draws on his knowledge as a game composer, his own cultural experience as a session musician, and his extensive research involved in presenting the music of video games on ABC Classic (not to mention his lifelong obsession with video game music).

This talk will break down Meena’s sessions and conversations with some of Australia’s most talented First Nations musicians, including Allara Briggs-Pattison (NIMA 2020 finalist for New Talent of the Year), Kiernan Ironfield (of DRMNGNOW), and Eric Avery (renowned violinist, dancer, and creator of Dancing with Strangers).

It will showcase how a game score can be composed not just in response to the game itself, but also to the musicians’ innate connection to culture and language, no matter the instruments on which they express themselves.

A talk by Meena Shamaly

Windbound is 5 Lives Studios' latest multi-platform release, featuring fantastical creatures, magic, mystery, a lot of sailing, and an awful lot of sounds.

The game features a unique interactive soundtrack, adaptive sound design, and a bunch of good old-fashioned Foley work to bring the various creatures to life. Have a peek behind the curtain at the process of planning, creating, coding, and composing the audio of Windbound.

Talk: VMDO Presents: Games + Music; Your Perfect Soundtrack

Speakers: Yasmin Naghavi, Sebastian Wolff, Mason Lieberman, Niamh Houston, Fabian Malabello

Note: There is an error with the recording where it's pointing at the wrong side of the stage for half of the presentation.

Yasmin Naghavi ( Media Arts Lawyers), Sebastian Wolff (Materia Collective), Mason Lieberman (Tencent), CHIPZEL, Fabian Malabello (The Otherworld Agency, Boss Battle Records).

Music’s importance to video games is indelible: enhancing an immersive experience, connecting to characters, driving play on and so much more. How do you find the right piece music or the right artists to create, perform and record it and then how do you navigate the complexities of licensing, publishing and masters? This panel of international experts will demystify the global video game music industry and discuss their own experiences to help ensure you’re armed with the tools to find the perfect soundtrack.

Presented by the Victorian Music Development Office VMDO). The VMDO is focused on supporting the Victorian contemporary music industry now and into the future. An initiative of the Victorian Government, the VMDO is delivered by Music Victoria. www.vmdo.com.au

Game Connect Asia Pacific 2019: Lighting The Way

Game Connect Asia Pacific is Australia's premier games development conference and a part of Melbourne International Games Week.

Situated in Melbourne, Australia during October, GCAP is world-renowned for its talks, collaboration, expression, networking and inclusive environment.

Video courtesy of GCAP and the Game Developers' Association of Australia.

www.gcap.com.au

Talk: Claude De-goosey: On turning classical piano into videogame serendipity

Speaker: Dr Dan Golding

How do you take two sets of piano preludes from the early twentieth century by composer Claude Debussy, and turn them into a videogame soundtrack? How does that music then act like an invisible silent film pianist, accompanying the game state, and providing moments of serendipity and humour for the player? In this talk, composer Dr. Dan Golding will explore the creative decisions and process behind creating the soundtrack for House House’s upcoming Untitled Goose Game.

Game Connect Asia Pacific 2019: Lighting The Way

Game Connect Asia Pacific is Australia's premier games development conference and a part of Melbourne International Games Week.

Situated in Melbourne, Australia during October, GCAP is world-renowned for its talks, collaboration, expression, networking and inclusive environment.

Video courtesy of GCAP and the Game Developers' Association of Australia.

www.gcap.com.au

Talk: The Life Of a Japanese Composer, with Manami Matsumae

(ft Alex Aniel as translator)

Speakers: Manami Matsumae & Alexander Aniel

Manami Matsumae, the legendary Japanese composer best known for her work on Mega Man (1987), Mega Man 10 (2010), and Mighty No 9 (2016), will be visiting Australia for the first time to attend MIGW 2019. In this talk we’ll learn about how the Japanese video game landscape has changed from the 1980s to now, and what the life of a Japanese video game composer entails in 2019.

This session will feature an extended Q&A component, so bring your best questions, your best spirits, and get ready to chat with one of the industry’s most iconic composers.

Game Connect Asia Pacific 2019: Lighting The Way

Game Connect Asia Pacific is Australia's premier games development conference and a part of Melbourne International Games Week.

Situated in Melbourne, Australia during October, GCAP is world-renowned for its talks, collaboration, expression, networking and inclusive environment.

Video courtesy of GCAP and the Game Developers' Association of Australia.

www.gcap.com.au

Talk: Composing The Music for Florence and Necrobarista

Speaker: Kevin Penkin

Kevin will present on two recent game projects he's written music for, Florence and Necrobarista, to compare and contrast the vastly different aesthetic, stylistic and interactive approaches to both soundtracks.

He will then deep dive into how he worked with the development teams, music supervisor and other musicians to create the distinct sound worlds of both games.

Game Connect Asia Pacific 2019: Lighting The Way

Game Connect Asia Pacific is Australia's premier games development conference and a part of Melbourne International Games Week.

Situated in Melbourne, Australia during October, GCAP is world-renowned for its talks, collaboration, expression, networking and inclusive environment.

Video courtesy of GCAP and the Game Developers' Association of Australia.

www.gcap.com.au