Post Magazine

34 Post • May 2009 www.postmagazine.com level," says Barnes of the new space, which opened in February. "We set out to build a facility that Seattle did not have. Seattle does not have any good surround rooms, until this place, in my opinion." The 5.1 rooms are based around Pro Tools and feature high ceiling as well as a large music room and line-of-sight booths for isolated recording. The studio is also home to a suite hous- ing its four-year-old editorial division, a full time Web designer and facilities for DVD authoring and encoding. As such, two of its rooms serve a dual purpose, with both Final Cut and Pro Tools available. The quality of the new sound rooms, says Barnes, has given the studio more confi- dence in pursuing game work. "While we've always had a great reputation for sound de- sign, our previous facility was a little chal- lenged. Our booths were small. It was a facil- ity that we basically had built ourselves — we had a few noise floor issues.This new fa- cility, coupled with the rise in the necessary quality of deliverables, has really got the at- tention of gamers. I feel so much better now getting the word out because this facility is so well designed for it." Clatter & Din sound designer John Buroker says he's contributed to approxi- mately 15 games for publisher Her Interac- tive, which specifically creates games target- ing female players. The Nancy Drew titles, which are available on Windows PC, Wii and as casual Flash games on the Web, consistently show up on Top 10 lists. "I record all of the dialogue," says Buroker. "The [lead actor] — the Nancy Drew character — is in California, but I do all the post production on her voice. I record all of the dialogue and mix in any necessary sound effects — if they are in a cave or under water. I record it all in Seattle and the main character is recorded via phone patch, and then I am sent a giant .WAV file of the entire ses- sion.Then I do all the editing and effects for that character as well." Buroker says a single game could involve 1,000 cues, so there's quite a bit to manage. Other character voice performances come from local talent that come into the studio for sessions. "I use a Sennheiser 416 [mic] because by the time you compress ever y- thing, you want it to be really clean.The 416 does a good job of keeping room reflec- tions out." For the latest release, he recorded a three- piece traditional Irish band that could be heard throughout the game's castle setting. "I recorded the band and provided a dry, full mix and a re- verb-only split of the band so they could create distance within the game as [players] are walking around the castle." Buroker recorded the band performing nine songs that are public domain. He then created :10 and :60 edits to go along with the complete recordings. When the titles were deliv- ered on CD-ROM, Buroker says file size was somewhat of an issue. "Now the game is deliv- ered on DVD-ROM," he notes, "and people have such large hard drives. I deliver 16-bit, 44.1kHz files and file size does not seem to be an issue for them anymore." That said, he is still careful about not tak- ing up unnecessary space. "I make sure I edit ever ything tight, so there is no dead space taking up file size." Cue sheets, provided by the client, detail the deliver y specs. "They have cue sheets with specific file names, so I will create spe- cific files that reflect those names and deliver them 44.1k .WAV files. Usually I post to an FTP, unless it's really, really big, then I'll deliver a DVD-ROM." Panning and volume is then determined by the programmers working with the game engine. J E T S T R E A M S O U N D Boutique audio house Jet Stream Sound (www.jetstreamsound.com) opened in Bur- bank last summer, offering sound design, mixing and music services for film,TV, games and commercials. The studio was formed by supervising sound editor/re-recording mixer Rick Larimore and composer/re-recording mixer Steven Cahill, and includes two mixing studios based around Pro Tools set-ups. Larimore is a former re-recording mixer for 20th Centur y Fox and Warner Bros. His credits include DVD mastering for Prison Break, How I Met Your Mother and The Simpsons. Previously, he ser ved as di- rector of audio ser vices at Elektrofilm in Burbank, where he established the com- pany's sound depar tment. Cahill is also the owner of Sticky Notes Music, through which he provides music com- position and arrangement ser vices. His TV credits include music for Party of Five,Touched by an Angel, Six Feet Under and 'Til Death. Clatter & Din has worked on a number of Nancy Drew titles. The studio records the lead character remotely. Raleigh, NC-based composer Rod Abernethy and Rednote Audio (www.rednoteaudio.com) created an au- thentic and edgy score for Ubisoft and Midway's Wheelman, a new driving game starring actor Vin Diesel. The game is set on the winding streets of Barcelona and incorporates a hybrid score of Flamenco guitars, modern electronica and high-octane orchestral music. Abernethy says his goal was to "create a cinematic, hard-hitting score that has a traditional Spanish feel with a powerful, modern style." Jet Stream Sound's Steven Cahill (seated) and Rick Larimore. Audio for Games & DVD Audio for Games & DVD

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