Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1538144
34 M PS E . O R G From Composition to Implementation "I got hooked on the combination of creative and technical that came with the role." –Colin Andrew Grant, on discovering music editorial during his PlayStation internship Breaking Into Game Audio How did you first break into game audio, and what drew you specifically to music implementation? Was there a moment when it all clicked for you creatively or technically? Colin Andrew Grant: Yeah, so I guess my first break into game audio was when I was able to obtain a music internship at PlayStation back in 2017. Before then, I was studying in the Technology and Applied Composition (TAC) program at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. I know, it's a bit of a mouthful. I had come into that program with a bit of a background in composition and sound design, as well as an interest in music editing because of a paper I wrote in undergrad, where I interviewed people who worked on music for anime for dubbed titles and ended up learning about music editorial as a career. The TAC program had a class partnership with Sony, where we the fully composed cues from the composer is very useful. Defining Music Design in Games For those coming from film and TV, how would you define what music design is and describe the key differences between linear music editing and interactive editorial? CAG: Sure! So, for me, music design is the process of editing music, implementing music into the engine and middleware, and working with folks like the audio programmer and music or audio director to create the systems that make music in a game interactive. From simple one-shots to complex combat systems, it's how the player interacts with the game's soundtrack and how music cues flow into each other or into silence. Depending on the game, there may be other tasks asked of the designer. Most of my experience comes from AAA, narrative-heavy, single-player games, so I guess take everything I say with a grain of salt since it doesn't apply to every game. I think one of the key differences between linear music editing and interactive editorial is the random aspect of interactive. We spend a lot of time thinking about creating rules that can best serve a variety of situations. When combat ends, do you want the ending stinger to come in immediately with the visuals, or wait to transition on the beat? If a player gets stuck, do we let the music run out or loop a section of the previous piece to make sure it connects to the next track? There's also just a lot of time when we're not necessarily listening to the music, because we need to figure out how to hook it into the middleware and game engine. Golden Reel Spotlight: Star Wars Jedi: Survivor "Survivor has been one of my most fulfilling projects to work on in music." –Colin Andrew Grant, on winning the MPSE Golden Reel Award learned all about the process of writing to a pitch and prepping a session for recording. It was taught by Matt Levine and Jonathan Mayer. That's how I learned about what a music editor for games does, and it seemed like the perfect combination of what I loved. I was lucky enough to get the internship that year and really got hooked on the combination of creative and technical that came with the role. Since then, I've had jobs in dialogue editing and sound design, but I've recently found my way back to music. With your background in both composition and post-production, how does that inform your approach to implementing music in a dynamic game environment? CAG: I think those two elements of my background come most into play when I'm making music edits. The projects I tend to work on will record between two and eight hours of music, with eight being on the more extreme end, and that music needs to support more than 40 hours of gameplay. Many times, the music designer is tasked with finding ways to extend the usage of the music. Being able to call on both my music knowledge and my sound editorial skill set to make sure these edits blend with GADA GDC scholars, mentors, and organizers at GDC post the GANG awards (© all rights reserved The Game Audio Diversity Alliance).