Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/713016
C A S Q U A R T E R L Y S U M M E R 2 0 1 6 13 In an attempt to gain more insight into the approaches and thought processes involved when working with adaptive audio, I reached out to a few professionals who create audio assets (sound designers and composers) and assemble audio for games (the mixers and supervis- ing sound editors of the genre): an audio director/composer (Brad Derrick), a composer (Erik Desiderio), and an audio implementer (Brian DiDomenico). Above: Audio director and composer Brad Derrick looking extremely serious. Brad Derrick: Audio Director & Composer Brad is a composer, audio director, and sound designer whose credits include Elder Scrolls Online, Dark Age of Camelot, and Air Warrior II. For those who come from a more traditional film or TV sound back- ground, describe your role as an audio director for games. The audio director's chief responsibility is determining the audio "vision" for the game, overseeing numerous sound designers, voice-over artists, and other teams—both in-house and outsourced—to make sure they're all coming together to consistently execute on that vision. Additionally, the audio director is partially or wholly responsible for designing the systems that drive sound, music, and voice- over implementation. This means working closely with programmers and members of the sound team to create the means of taking thousands of individual sounds and creating an immersive and robust soundscape at gameplay runtime [when players are playing the game]. And, of course, the audio director gets to go to lots of meetings, spending time with other teams, acting as a liaison between the audio world and the other branches of game development. Adding 3D and immersive audio options to a project in the interactive environment has got to require some different approaches than doing so for a linear project. How do you go about approaching the sound field to take advantage of the additional sound source options? We put a lot of effort into how we utilize the multichannel sound environment, both for aesthetic and feedback reasons. The location of sounds in the 3D space, Erik Desiderio conducting an orchestral recording of his music at Warner Bros. for the game Time Traveler.