the complete guide to game audio for composers musicians sound designers and game developers

THE COMPLETE GUIDE
TO GAME AUDIO
For Composers, Musicians,
Sound Designers, and Game Developers
Aaron Marks
CMP BOOKS
Lawrence, Kansas 66046
CMP Books
CMP Media LLC
1601 West 23rd Street, Suite 200
Lawrence, Kansas 66046
USA
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Copyright © 2001 by CMP Media LLC, except where noted otherwise. Published by CMP Books,
CMP Media LLC. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this publi-
cation may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or
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rights of third parties that would result from the use of this information.

Editor: Michelle O’Neal
Layout Design & Production: Michelle O’Neal
Cover Art Design: Michael Striler
Cover Layout Design: Damien Castaneda
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ISBN: 1-57820-083-0
“Aspiring sound designers and composers regularly ask me what it takes to break into this indus-
try. Now I can say read The Complete Guide to Game Audio!”
— Darryl S. Duncan, President & CEO, GameBeat, Inc.
“An exhaustive and indispensable resource for game audio from initial concept to cashing the
royalty checks.”
— Jennifer Olsen, Senior Editor, Game Developer magazine
“A fountainhead of valuable insight, this book thoroughly demystifies the art of game music and
sound like no other.”
— Jon Holland, game composer and sound designer
“Finally, a comprehensive guide for anyone interested in game audio!”
— Mark Temple, game producer and President, Enemy Technology
“Aaron is truly a game audio expert and a great teacher. This book will help anyone aspiring to
succeed in the biz.”
— Jack Buser, Computer and Game Initiative Engineer, Dolby Laboratories
“This impressive guide is a great resource for anyone just starting out in the business, as well as
professionals already working in the industry.”
— Keith Arem, game composer, sound designer and President, PCB Productions
“If you’re considering game audio creation as a profession, or just curious about how it’s done
BUY THIS BOOK NOW!”
— Tommy Tallarico, game composer and President, Tommy Tallarico Studios

“Aaron Marks’ experience and insight into the inner workings of the game audio world make
this book an invaluable resource.”
— Greg O’Conner Read, founder and editor, Music4Games.net
“A ‘must have’ book for anyone considering a career in game audio.”
— Will Davis, game composer, sound designer, and President, Audio-Development Ltd.,
United Kingdom
“This will surely become the bible of any up and coming sound designer or composer wanting
to work on video games.”
— Joey Kuras, sound designer, Tommy Tallarico Studios
“Kudos to Marks for his candid look into the industry, and the processes behind technique and
creativity behind new digital media.”
— Tim Rideout, musician/composer, Canada
“Somebody gag this guy! He’s giving away all our secrets!”
— Chance Thomas, game composer and President, HUGEsound
This Page Intentionally Left Blank
Dedicated with love and affection to
my wife, Cynthia, and daughter, Kristina;
the two greatest girls in the world.
Without their generosity and understanding,
this book could not have been written.
This Page Intentionally Left Blank
vii
T
ABLE OF
C
ONTENTS
Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv
The Industry Now. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvi
About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxi

C
HAPTER
1:
An Introduction to Game Audio . . . 1
1.1 Insert Quarter Here . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 The Bleeps and Bloops of Yesteryear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.3 Where Sound is Now . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.4 Where Sound is Going . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.5 Chances of Finding Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.6 The Rewards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.6.1 Fame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.6.2 Fortune . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.7 Let’s Go Get ‘em . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
C
HAPTER
2:
Essential Skill Sets and Tools . . . . 13
2.1 Important Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.1.1 Attitude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.1.2 Business Sense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.1.3 Marketing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.1.4 Music Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.1.5 Computer Knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
viii — TABLE OF CONTENTS
2.1.6 Sound Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.1.7 Voice-Overs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.1.8 Industry Knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.2 Tools of the Trade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.2.1 Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.2.2 Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

2.2.3 Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.2.4 Sequencers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.2.5 Multi-track Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.2.6 Sound Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.2.7 Mastering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.2.8 Plug-ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2.2.9 Loop Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2.2.10 Sound Modules/Keyboards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
2.2.11 Other Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
2.2.12 Remote Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
2.2.13 Sound Effects Libraries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
2.2.14 Development Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
2.3 Preparing your Studio for Surround Sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
2.3.1 Equipment and Placement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
2.3.2 Studio Set-up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
2.3.3 Surround Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
2.3.4 Dolby Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
C HAPTER 3: Getting Organized and Ready for
Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
3.1 Understanding the Business of Game Composing . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
3.1.1 Expectations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
3.1.2 Reasonable Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
3.1.3 Flavor of the Month . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
3.2 Composing vs. Sound Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
3.3 In-house Audio vs. Independent Contractor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
3.3.1 In-house Composing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
3.3.2 Independent Contractors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
3.4 Audio Demo Reel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
3.4.1 Putting Your Demo Together; The First Step . . . . . . . . . 57
3.4.2 Demo Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

3.4.3 How Long is Yours? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
3.4.4 Demo Chic — Types of Demos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
3.4.5 The Presentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
3.4.6 What Format is Best? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
3.4.7 Delivery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
3.4.8 Follow-ups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
3.4.9 Some Final Demo Reel Thoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
TABLE OF CONTENTS — ix
3.5 Determining Your Costs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
3.5.1 Types of Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
3.5.2 Rate Calculation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
3.6 Organization is Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
C
HAPTER
4:
Finding and Getting the Jobs . . . . 75
4.1 Marketing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
4.1.1 Tell Everyone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
4.1.2 Look Professional . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
4.1.3 Industry Presence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
4.1.4 Basic Marketing Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
4.1.5 Other Resources for Marketing Success . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
4.2 Where to Look for Clients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
4.2.1 Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
4.2.2 Industry Magazines and Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
4.2.3 Telephone Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
4.2.4 Store Shelves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
4.2.5 Game Developer Headhunters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
4.2.6 Networking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
4.3 Finding Your Niche . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

4.3.1 Stay Educated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
4.3.2 Start Small . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
4.3.3 Start Locally . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
4.3.4 Getting the Break . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
4.4 Networking Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
4.4.1 Industry Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
4.4.2 Make Yourself Available. Make Yourself Known. . . . . . . 96
C
HAPTER
5:
The Bidding Process . . . . . . . . . . 99
5.1 How Much Do You Charge? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
5.2 Let’s Play 20 Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
5.2.1 Details, Details, Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
5.3 Asking the Right Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
5.4 Pre-Production Made Simple . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
5.5 Contract Payment Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
5.6 Speculative Demos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
5.6.1 Covering Your Expenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
5.6.2 Words of Caution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
5.7 The Bid Submission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
5.7.1 The Bid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
5.8 There is Still More . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
x — TABLE OF CONTENTS
C HAPTER 6: Making the Deals . . . . . . . . . . 117
6.1 Understanding Industry Contracts and Terminology. . . . . . . . . . 118
6.1.1 Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
6.1.2 Work for Hire Agreements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
6.1.3 Copyrights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
6.1.4 Licenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

6.1.5 Platforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
6.1.6 SKUs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
6.1.7 Ancillary Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
6.1.8 Bonuses and Royalties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
6.1.9 Property Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
6.1.10 Talent Releases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
6.2 Negotiable Contract Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
6.3 Navigating Negotiations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
6.3.1 A Real World Negotiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
6.3.2 Negotiation Pointers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
6.4 Change Orders and Reworks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
6.5 Sample Agreements and Contracts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
6.5.1 Sample Non-Disclosure Agreement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
6.5.2 Sample Talent Release . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
6.5.3 Sample Contracts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
6.6 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
C
HAPTER
7:
Setting the Stage . . . . . . . . . . . 165
7.1 Company Liaisons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
7.1.1 Executive Producers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
7.1.2 Producers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
7.1.3 Creative Directors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
7.2 Meetings with the Game Development Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
7.2.1 Details to Discuss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
7.3 Pre-compositional Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
7.3.1 Sound Quality vs. File Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
7.3.2 Setting Up Shop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
7.4 ‘Gotchas’ and Other Things to Watch Out For . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

7.4.1 Placeholders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
7.4.2 A Developer’s Listening Preference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
7.4.3 Endless Reworks and Change Orders . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
7.4.4 Communication Breakdown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
7.5 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
TABLE OF CONTENTS — xi
C HAPTER 8: Creating Music for Games . . . . . 187
8.1 Game Music Varieties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
8.1.1 Intro, Closing, and Credit Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
8.1.2 Cinematic Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
8.1.3 Menu Screen Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
8.1.4 Game Play Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
8.1.5 Plot Advancement Music, Cut Scenes, and Tie-Ins . . . . . 190
8.1.6 “Win” and “Lose” Finale Cues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
8.1.7 Interactive Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
8.1.8 Loops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
8.1.9 Ambient Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
8.2 Exercises to Create Fitting Game Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
8.2.1 Watch and Listen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
8.2.2 Create in Different Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
8.2.3 Try Something New . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
8.2.4 Practice Makes Perfect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
8.3 Some Technical Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
8.3.1 Which Platform Is the Game Being Developed For? . . . . 199
8.3.2 What is the Playback and Delivery Format? . . . . . . . . 199
8.3.3 Is a Preset Sound Bank Available? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
8.3.4 What Memory Parameters Will You Have to Work Within? 201
8.3.5 Technical Wrap-up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
8.4 Musical Details to Reconsider. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
8.5 Compositional Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

8.5.1 Determine Your Best Personal Methods . . . . . . . . . . . 206
8.5.2 Choosing the Best Palette of Sounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
8.5.3 Stay Within the Theme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
8.5.4 Immersion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
8.5.5 Compose While Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
8.5.6 Using Loops as a Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
8.5.7 Experimentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
8.6 Recording Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
8.6.1 Traditional Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
8.6.2 Progressive Recording Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
8.6.3 Other Music Making Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
8.6.4 Streamline to the Final Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
8.7 Editing Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
8.7.1 Audio Editing Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
8.8 Conversions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
xii — TABLE OF CONTENTS
C HAPTER 9: Creating Sound Effects for
Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
9.1 The Creative Aspects of Sound Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
9.2 Types of Sound Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
9.2.1 Foley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
9.2.2 Sound Libraries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
9.2.3 Original Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
9.3 Editing Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
9.3.1 Using Audio Editing Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
9.3.2 Using Multi-Track Software for Sound Design . . . . . . . 238
9.3.3 Sequencing Software and Samplers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
9.4 Sound Design in the Production Cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
9.5 Specific Sound Design Questions to Answer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
9.6 Determining Necessary Sounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247

9.6.1 Sound Effects Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
9.6.2 Alpha Game Versions and Other Visuals . . . . . . . . . . 252
9.6.3 Beta Testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
9.7 Creating Original Sound Effects That Fit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
9.7.1 Getting Organized . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
9.7.2 Creating a Sound Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
9.7.3 Effective Creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
9.7.4 Creative Forces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
9.8 Presenting the Final Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
9.9 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
C HAPTER 10: Blending the Total
Soundscape. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
10.1 Maintaining Consistency in Production with Audio
Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
10.1.1 Consistency in Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
10.1.2 Consistency in Sound Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
10.1.3 Consistency in Voice-Overs and Speech . . . . . . . . . . 267
10.2 Quality Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
10.2.1 Check Mixes on Several Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
10.2.2 Check Your Sounds in the Actual Game . . . . . . . . . . 269
10.2.3 Teamwork with the Developer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
10.3 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
TABLE OF CONTENTS — xiii
C HAPTER 11: Game Platforms and Their
Audio Development Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
11.1 Sony PlayStation 2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
11.2 Nintendo GameCube . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
11.3 Microsoft Xbox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
11.4 CD-ROM Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
11.5 Web-based Games — Java and Flash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

11.6 GameBoy Advanced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
11.7 Coin-Op Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
11.8 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
C HAPTER 12: For the Developer . . . . . . . . . 289
12.1 Understanding Sound. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
12.1.1 The Psychology of Sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
12.1.2 Soundscapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
12.1.3 Size Versus Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
12.2 Working with Contractors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
12.2.1 Reconnaissance and Homework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
12.2.2 Questions Composers and Sound Designers Will
Ask . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
12.3 Getting to Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
12.3.1 Working with Sound Designers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
12.3.2 Working with Composers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
12.4 The Next Step . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
12.5 Production Nightmares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304
12.6 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
C HAPTER 13: Game Over? Not Hardly . . . . . 307
A PPENDIX A The Grammy’s and Other
Game Audio Awards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
A.1 Who’s Eligible? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
A.2 NARAS Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
A.3 Applying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
A.4 Other Game Music Award Possibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
What’s on the CD-ROM? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
xiv — TABLE OF CONTENTS
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xv

Foreword
For the past 10 years, I’ve had the privilege to be involved in one of the most fascinating and
dynamic professions around. Composing, creating, and producing sound for video games is a chal-
lenging entertainment career — every bit as exciting as working in the film or television industry.
The games industry is a diverse and changing world, and this book can be your passport to a reward-
ing and fruitful career.
People often ask me how I got started in the games industry. Being a game composer or sound
designer isn’t the most well-known profession, so how does someone actually get started? Well, the
first rule of thumb is… you gotta love games!
Defender, Tempest, Berserk, Asteroids, Choplifter, Battle Zone, Phoenix, Sinistar, Dragon’s Lair,
Spy Hunter — these were the glorious programs that shaped my early life growing up. Sure my edu-
cation revolved around math, social studies, English, and all the usual school requirements, but
video games influenced me in ways that no class ever did. Video games opened my eyes to new
worlds, new ideas, and especially new sounds.
As a child, I remember seeing “Tron” in the theatre, and thinking how amazing it would be to
live in a universe of video games. My wish was soon answered when my father brought home an
Apple II computer for the family. I quickly realized that this new machine was much better
equipped as a home game machine than a mere family word processor.
As I got older, I became involved in synthesizers and bands, and discovered I could combine my
love of computers with my love of music. Throughout high school, much to my parent’s dismay, I
would drag our family computer to my local band gigs and sequence live on stage. After high
school, I went on to earn a Bachelor’s degree in Audio Engineering and Electronic Music Synthesis
— which perfectly integrated my passion for computers with music and recording. I was offered my
first record deal my freshman year of school, and I signed a recording contract with my band Conta-
gion on Capitol Records during my senior year of college.
Even on tour, I couldn’t escape my passion for games. One of my fondest memories from our
1992 North American tour was playing Street Fighter in the back of the tour bus between cities.
xvi — Foreword
One concert, we even hooked our Nintendo to the other band’s video projection wall and
played a match during their concert performance.

When I returned from the tour, I decided to make my introduction into the game industry by
approaching a local developer in Los Angeles. After quickly learning the ropes with early con-
sole development, I was approached by Virgin Interactive to become their in-house staff com-
poser. Within a year, I was promoted to their Director of Audio and began supervising all music
and sound for Virgin’s internal and external titles. Directing audio for one of the largest game
publishers in the United States and Europe gave me a fantastic first-hand education, and a won-
derful working experience in one of the fastest growing industries of its time. In 1999, I decided
it was finally time to establish a dedicated, interactive audio company and started PCB Produc-
tions, to focus on high-end game audio. Since starting my own facility, I have had the great
opportunity to work with some of the industries finest developers and publishers. Over the past
two years, some of my more recognized titles include: Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2, Tony Hawk Pro
Skater 3, Ridge Racer 64, Thrill Kill, Disney’s Emperor’s New Groove, Spiderman 2, Draconus,
X-Men2 and many, many others.
The Industry Now
The games industry can be a very exciting and dynamic place for musicians and sound design-
ers. Through sound and music, a game can completely immerse a player in another universe or
reality. The creative freedom to manipulate moods and environments is limited only by the
technical capabilities of the machine and a musician’s imagination.
While being creatively liberating, interactive game audio can also be technically demanding.
Scoring and designing audio for games can often be much more challenging than motion pic-
tures. This is due to the simple fact that games are, by nature, non-linear. An example of this can
be simply demonstrated by a car passing the camera. In a film or television program, where the
picture is established and consistent, the image of the car pass-by is a linear, time-established
scene that can be scored, synchronized, recorded, and mixed by a sound designer or musician.
By contrast, in a 3-dimensional game environment, there can be hundreds of variables that deter-
mine how and where the car exists within a 3D space. Because a player can view the car from a
multitude of angles, the sound must be capable of being manipulated to match the image from
any viewpoint. A simple car sound may need to be looped, layered, panned, pitch shifted, down-
sampled, and format converted — just to accommodate a simple car pass sound.
One other obvious difference from films is that an audio designer typically doesn’t always

“mix” the sounds in a game because all games require each sound to be individually manipu-
lated and programmed within the code. In a game environment, there may be hundreds of
pieces of dialog, music, ambience, and Foley sound effects — each with their own volume,
pitch, and positioning within the 3D environment. It is generally up to the programmer’s code
to determine how these will be mixed real-time in the game. (It’s no wonder that even the most
amazing sound effect or piece of music can be utterly annoying, if it is played incorrectly or too
repetitively in a game!) It is important that audio designers learn as much about how their
The Industry Now — xvii
sounds will be implemented, as how their sounds will be created. Having a strong understanding
of game mechanics, programming techniques, and platform limitations will make your life
much easier.
Until recently, software sound design had not been recognized as a well-regarded, well-paid
industry profession — mainly due to the lack of game system fidelity. In the past, PC speakers
and console systems had limited audio fidelity and kept the resolution of sound to a minimum.
In recent years, there has been a strong effort to enhance sound for games, and next generation
systems and speakers have made great strides to address memory and bandwidth for audio.
Dolby encoding, DVD drives, surround sound speakers, and increased memory have given
sound professionals a new field to play on.
One fascinating aspect about the games industry is that its technology changes constantly.
With every new technological development, enhanced software package, or hardware device,
each new game title tries to out-perform the previous one. As technology improves by leaps and
bounds each year, every game title attempts to implement new ways of making games faster, big-
ger, and louder than before. For an audio professional, this means constantly adapting to new
recording techniques and establishing new compositional methods to keep up with an ever-
evolving industry.
Because the games industry tends to be a “hit-driven” business, many titles these days are
based on major motion picture properties, allowing game players to interact with worlds origi-
nally created for the silver screen. Almost every box office hit will spawn multiple interactive
games based on the property. This is also true for well-known superheroes, comic books, sports
teams, racing cars you name it. For a game audio engineer and composer, this often means

working on prestigious titles — sometimes working with star talent and being involved with big
Hollywood productions.
Another interesting observation about the games industry is the youthful age of its creators. In
most companies, the average age of game development teams ranges from 20–40 years old. This
is not an industry of children, but rather a generation of people who grew up playing games, and
chose to deviate from a “normal” career route. Up until recently, a career in the games industry
was seen as a low wage job for kids. However, in recent years, the games industry has yielded
higher profits than the music and film industries combined. Because most musicians and audio
designers already know the struggles of justifying their careers, the game environment is a great
place to fit in…and never have to wear a tie.
Given the relative youth of the industry, the game community is unfortunately void of experi-
enced role models. There are not many well-known game professionals who stand as an exam-
ple of how to make a living in games. Sure, Bill Gates is an inspiration for computer entrepre-
neurs everywhere, but there aren’t many game audio professionals who lead the road for future
generations.
The Complete Guide to Game Audio serves as that role model for game audio and is a great
resource for anyone looking to enter this fascinating industry. New and old engineers alike will
find this book as a strong reference tool to understand the boundaries of the interactive arena
xviii — Foreword
and how to survive in it. This sure would have been useful when I was getting started! Good luck
with your future projects, and I look forward to playing one of your games soon!
Keith Arem
PCB Productions
Game composer/sound designer
About the Author — xix
About the Author
Music had always been a part of
Aaron Marks’ life. But it wasn’t until
1995, when his overgrown hobby
became On Your Mark Music Pro-

ductions, that he began selling it to
the world. He began with the local
radio and television scene, compos-
ing jingles and scoring Public Ser-
vice Announcements with eventual
sights on Hollywood. Instead he fell
headfirst into the games industry,
where his sound design talents also
exploded, leading him to music and
sound effects credits on a PlayStation
2 game, five CD-ROM game
projects, 60 on-line casino games, eight touch screen arcade games, and numerous multimedia
projects. He continues to pursue fame and fortune while also sidelining as a writer of game
music and audio interests for Game Developer Magazine, Gamasutra.com, and Music4Games.
The Author’s Gameography:
ESPN MSL Extra Time Konami Computer Entertainment of America. Music cues and
sound bank programming for this PlayStation 2 soccer title.
Bloxx, Shanghai
Express, Palm Reader,
Zillionaire, LoveOMeter,
Mezmerized, Kubis,
Slide ‘Em
uWink, Inc. Sound effects and music cues for these touch
screen arcade games.
Online casino/arcade
game sound effects and
music
Flipside.com, VirtualVegas.com, PrizeCentral.com, iWin.com.
Currently completed 60 individual Java based games for
these extremely popular free web sites.

The Many Faces of
Go Deluxe
Smart Games. Sound effects for this CD-ROM strategy game.
1st Earth Battalion Enemy Technology (Developer). Musical score, sound effects
and narratives for this upcoming space strategy game.
Hardwood Solitaire II Silvercreek Entertainment (Developer). Sound effects.
xx — Foreword
Hardwood Hearts Silvercreek Entertainment (Developer). Sound effects. Finalist
at 2nd Annual IGF held at GDC.
Fallen Heroes A&B Entertainment (Developer), ionos, inc (Publisher). Sound
Effects and character narratives for this currently unreleased
CD-ROM title.
SC3 A&B Entertainment (Developer), ionos, inc (Publisher). Musi-
cal score, sound effects and character narratives for this cur-
rently unreleased CD-ROM title.
The Author’s Gameography:
xxi
Acknowledgments
It would have been nearly impossible to write a book of this scope without the help and inspiration
of many remarkable people. I’d like to give special thanks and recognition to the many teams and
individuals who helped keep my facts straight and the proverbial nose to the grindstone.
A Heartfelt “Thank You” to:
My family (all of the Marks’, Sartors, Rodgers, and Van Cleaves), Alex Dunne, David Tractenberg,
Mark Temple, Michael Striler, Lou Ellero, Pete Bernard, Jon Holland, Keith Arem, Jamey Scott,
Todd Fay, Tommy Tallarico, Joey Kuras, Chance Thomas, Tim Larkin, Greg Rahn, Will Davis,
Stephen Rippy, Darryl Duncan, Chris Rickwood, Brian Tuey, Jennifer Olsen, Steve Trushar, Glen
Stafford, Terry Bratcher, Jack Buser, John Griffin, Jon Hoffberg, Jon Jones, Mark DeLoura, Paul
Temme, Michelle O’Neal, Matt Kelsey, Dan Huebner, Unkhakook, Scott Selfon, Brian Schmidt,
Michael Henry, Nicola Tomljanovich, Greg O’Connor-Read, Kevin McMullan, Murray Allen,
Christian Anderson, Lee Moyer, Lori Solomon, and Joe Encarnacion.

Thanks also to:
Dolby Labs, Cakewalk, Sonic Foundry, Syntrillium, SoCal TRACON, Game Developer Magazine,
Gamasutra, Music4Games, NFG, Ensemble Studios, and the game companies who have given me
the chance to not only prove myself but to gain the wisdom to teach others.
And to all of the many others I’m sure I forgot. Your contributions were all very much appreci-
ated!
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1
C HAPTER 1
An Introduction to Game Audio
1.1 Insert Quarter Here
They say a journey begins with a first step, followed by another and another. Regardless of whether
you are already many miles down the road or are just about to take that first step, this book is
designed with you in mind. Working in the multi-billion dollar game industry as an audio content
provider is a challenging and rewarding avenue — best traveled with a useful guidebook in hand.
My thanks to you for bringing this particular one along.
There are as many reasons as there are individuals for wanting to work in the games domain.
Doing something you enjoy, creating games which millions will play and experience, and getting a
paycheck for it, are undoubtedly given most often. Another motivation, perhaps, is the mystique
and prestige associated with it. Most of the world is practically computer illiterate and those of us
who can get inside “the box” and make it do incredible things holds a high place in our society. We
like to be that kind of person.
There are countless job descriptions within the industry: programmer, artist, animator, game
designer, producer, etc. But the ones which probably led you to pick up this book are titles such as:
composer, musician, sound designer, or audio content provider. These are the jobs that bring us the
kind of satisfaction we crave — creating music and getting paid to do it. It will also give us another
way to get our music “out there” and maybe even receive a Grammy Award in the process, getting
us the needed recognition and acceptance from our family and friends who thought being a musi-
cian was a “waste of time” and might even serve as a stepping stone to another career such as film.
There are endless possibilities for meeting your personal and professional goals as a game score

composer and sound designer. And it’s not such a bad career either.
Music had always seemed to be a part of my life and like everyone else, I had big dreams. I just
didn’t have a clue as to the “what” or “how” part of it though. I did know how to spend money,
2 — CHAPTER 1: An Introduction to Game Audio
however, and as my abilities and interests grew, so did the number of instruments and record-
ing gear in my inventory. So much, in fact, that my wife became concerned with the excessive
outflow. The foot was brought down with a thud and a new challenge was posed. I could not
buy any more “gear” unless I made money with it, and after that, this little hobby of mine was
to remain self-sufficient.
Originally, local television and radio seemed
to hold some promise but as I jumped into that
chaos with both feet, I soon realized the competi-
tion was fierce and little ’ol me was just a tadpole
in a piranha-infested sea. Out of necessity, my
strategy widened and diversification became fun-
damental. I looked into composing for music
libraries, local video production companies, and
multimedia. I had to have more gear, after all.
I soon learned just how these other businesses
worked. They all wanted grand, original orches-
tral scores, á la John Williams, but only wanted to
pay $200 for them. Considering the amount of
time and effort you need to pursue this course,
there was no way to see any return on the invest-
ment. It became painfully obvious that even
though I was still overwhelmed by the urge to sell
my music to someone, this was not the way to go
about it.
I didn’t naturally move to video games. I was still playing the original Nintendo at this point
and didn’t consider the noise I was hearing to be music. And I’m sure nobody was making any

money for those simple compositions either.
But when scoring for video games finally did run up and slap me across the face, I realized my
perceptions of this strange, new world were woefully distorted. The gaming world has advanced
far beyond what I had imagined and the music had become utterly fantastic! And to top it off, I
discovered some game composers were making $50,000+ per game for just a month or so of
work. Now I was interested!
Thus began an incredible journey — making money selling my brand of noise, realizing my
goals and my dreams, raising my “hobby” to a successful business and most importantly, bring-
ing peace and harmony to the home front. But, because I knew absolutely nothing about the
business, it took a couple years to struggle into it, learn the ropes, and find my niche before I
began to realize success.
That, in a nutshell, is the purpose of this book:
• to educate you,
• to help you decide if this industry is right for you, and
Figure 1.1 The constant pursuit of
more gear is great motivation for
selling your music to the games
industry.
(Photo courtesy of AMC Studios.)