Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1538144
64 M PS E . O R G focused more on visuals, I gravitated toward the audio courses and knew I wanted to find a path that blended those interests. So, I ended up getting a Certificate of Technology in television broadcasting and production. Due to my love of sound, I still wanted to work at a recording studio, so straight out of college, I found a job at a local recording studio as a runner. After a few months, I realized that I would need to work there as an assistant for five or six years for very low wages before even having a chance to be an engineer. I started to wonder if I really wanted to follow that path. Around this time, I met a few influential women working in audio— Zenobia Millet and Carolyn Tapp— who helped steer me toward audio post-production and interactive media. This was the beginning of my new direction in audio for games, which blended many of the things together that I loved! of interactive media. They had these super-packed meetings on the west side, with 200+ people attending multiple meetings per week ranging from virtual reality to games and everything in between. There was so much enthusiasm in this group that I became hooked on everything interactive. I also saw interactive media and games as being the future of entertainment. I recall a particular meeting with something they called Picture Tel, which was an early video call technology. We called someone on the East Coast of the U.S. during the meeting, and they came up live on the TV screen—and we could even talk back! At the time, this was cutting-edge technology well before smartphones. The dot-com boom was also just around the corner, and game sound was slowly improving in quality. I was trying to figure out how to put all these different pieces together and what to focus on. Breaking into Game Audio "There was so much enthusiasm in this group that I became hooked on everything interactive." What inspired you to delve into the world of game audio, and how did your audio post-production background influence your approach to Foley and sound design for interactive media? Caron: A turning point for my getting into game audio was meeting Scott Gershin at a talk he gave for the AES LA chapter soon after I moved to Los Angeles to pursue my sound career. We started talking about building a game audio division for Soundelux, which eventually evolved into Soundelux Media Labs and then later became Soundelux DMG. I was also very involved in the IICS (International Interactive Communications Society) at this time. They were a groundbreaking organization delving into the world A young Caron Weidner at Disneyland with her favorite Chip 'n' Dale character. Caron was a big Rick Springfield Fan.