April Meeting Notice

April 2004 Meeting Notice

This presentation is intended as an overview of audio development for interactive video games, including sound effects, music, and dialog production.

It’s not post-production! Linear media such as film and television follow a traditional path of shooting the picture, then adding sound. While many of the techniques used in post-production such as Foley and ADR are now being integrated into game development, these methods cannot be applied in exactly the same way they were in the past.

Video games are, essentially, complex computer programs that manipulate sounds and images in real time based on input from a single player or multiple players. As such, games are fundamentally different than movies or television. Game development involves expertise from many different fields, such as physics modeling, graphic design, programming, and, of course, audio. It also requires new ways to approach production.

However, the basics still count. In addition to gaining insight into audio production for interactive video games, attendees will learn that among the many skills necessary for making a great game soundtrack, good communication and teamwork are still at the top of the list.

Jeff Kliment is an industry veteran with more than 20 years of experience in audio production. Jeff has been with LucasArts for the past seven years, starting as a Lead Sound Designer in 1996. He was promoted to Sound Department Manager in 2000. Prior to joining LucasArts, Jeff spent 15 years as an engineer at Russian Hill Recording in San Francisco. During that time, he worked on a wide variety of projects, including post-production for feature films, and sound design, voice, and music production for television and radio. He has engineered dozens of albums for independent and major labels, and mixed hundreds of live shows in venues across the country.

Career highlights include the films True Stories, Mrs. Doubtfire and The Right Stuff, album projects Deep Space/Virgin Sky by Jefferson Starship, Duets by Rob Wasserman, and My I’m Large by the Bobs, and video games Grim Fandango and Star Wars Rebellion. Jeff graduated from San Francisco State University with a B.A. in Broadcast Communication Arts.

Directions

http://www.dolby.com/company/directions_sf.html

From Peninsula/S.F. Airport/Silicon Valley (Hwy. 101 North) Take Vermont Street Exit. Make immediate left onto Vermont Street. Go 5 blocks and turn left onto Alameda Street. Three blocks up is Potrero Avenue. Dolby is the large, red, 3-story brick building on the corner of Potrero and Alameda.

From Bay Bridge (Hwy. 80 West) Take 9th Street/Civic Center exit. Go to the south onto Harrison Street. Follow Harrison to 10th Street. Turn left onto 10th Street and proceed under freeway overpass onto Potrero Avenue. Dolby is the large, red, 3-story brick building on the corner of Potrero and Alameda.

From Golden Gate Bridge (Hwy. 101 South) Cross Golden Gate Bridge, take the Lombard Street (Hwy. 101) Exit. Follow Hwy. 101 signs up Lombard to Van Ness Avenue. Turn right. Proceed on Van Ness to Fell Street and turn left. Proceed on Fell until it crosses Market Street and becomes 10th Street. Continue on 10th under freeway overpass and bear right onto Potrero Avenue. Dolby is the large, red, 3-story brick building on the corner of Potrero and Alameda.

Address:
Dolby Laboratories
100 Potrero Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94103-4813
415-558-0200