Game Audio 201: Advanced Sound Design & Recording Techniques

Explore dynamic, condenser, and ribbon microphone designs, including phantom power and polar patterns, with guidance on proximity effect and selecting mics for voice, sound effects, and field recording.

Train your ear with an eq and ear training exercise comparing original and shaped audio; explore high-pass and low-shelf edits to reveal masking and kick, bass, horns, snare balance.

Explore how vintage video games achieve realism in sound by balancing loudness with phrases like 'take this' and the warning 'dangerous to go loud'.

Explore phase, interference, and standing waves in audio recording and mixing, and learn practical mic placement, polarity, and DAW techniques to control space, depth, and timbre.

Explore stereo recording techniques using two microphones, including X-Y, ORTF, bloom line pair, spaced pair, mid-side, and binaural, emphasizing phase cancellation, image width, and room ambience for game audio.

Master stereo recording techniques for acoustic guitar within game audio, aligning with advanced sound design and recording techniques.

Record and shape combat sounds to enhance realism and intensity in games, applying advanced recording techniques and sound design principles to capture dynamic, impactful audio cues.

Explore advanced sound design by applying waves ultra pitch and UVic G Sharp to bass vocals, while duplicating takes across tracks and crossfading between them.

Explore how decibels measure loudness relative to a reference, covering dBFS, dB SPL, dB V, peak and RMS meters, and their role in avoiding clipping.

Discover how compression tightens dynamic range to make drums, bass, and strings feel closer and punchier, shaping timbre and loudness with threshold, ratio, attack, release, knee, and makeup gain.

Edit game dialogue with Pro Tools and RX 7, using noise reduction, compression, expansion, and de-esser to clean breaths, clicks, plosives, and sibilance.

Explore how delay and reverb shape space and depth by controlling delay time, feedback, and mix, and distinguish traditional delay from convolution reverb through impulse response and early reflections.

Explore modulation effects in game audio, from low-frequency oscillators to flangers, choruses, and phasers, and learn how rate, depth, feedback, mix, and comb filtering shape timbre.

Explore how MIDI, a standardized digital instruction protocol, connects hardware and software. Learn about status and data bytes, note on/off, velocity, and DAWs mapping of MIDI messages.

Explore how synthesizers generate sound from waveforms and harmonics, examine components such as oscillators, envelopes, and filters, and compare modular and all-in-one designs for subtractive, additive, FM, and granular synthesis.

Learn how to connect speakers, microphones, and interfaces with common cables, compare balanced versus unbalanced signals, and recognize TS, TRS, and RCA types.

Explore how speakers work, including drivers, tweeters, woofers, crossovers, ports, and amplification, and learn to discuss and select powered, active, passive, and bi-amped solutions for game audio.

Explore the thought process behind designing layered sound for Chronicle Sentinel's card animations, including slash, bullet, and heal impacts, material cues, and Mickey Mouse considerations.

Build your professional toolset by acquiring sounds or cloud access, market and organize your workflow, and outfit with RAM, field recorder, near-field monitors, MIDI controller, and a DAW.

Navigate work-for-hire, exclusive and non-exclusive licenses, royalties, and pricing in game audio deals, then learn how forming an LLC, drafting invoicing templates, and consulting lawyers boosts professionalism and taxes.

Understand pricing for game audio, including per-sound-effect rates and iterations, per-minute music fees, rights (exclusive vs non-exclusive), library deals, and demo, sync, and royalties.

Learn how public performance royalties are collected by performing rights organizations, the writer and publisher royalty split, and non-exclusive libraries' impact on payouts.

Market yourself by building a crm-driven contact list and a portfolio with project-specific reels, and prioritize meaningful networking and face-to-face conversations at conferences.

Learn to land game audio gigs by pricing confidently, using a negotiation script, highlighting availability and rights, and securing contracts while avoiding free work and pursuing side or library opportunities.