8363 | A Game Audio Blog

New Layout

2008-01-29T23:53:21Z

Squarespace has some awesome new styles now, so we're rocking teal. I'll find some time to adjust it a bit since I think the fonts are too small, but so far it's got the look of freshness.

Also freshly updated is my resume.

Again with the foreign markets...

2007-09-18T01:51:45Z

Well, hopefully it does well in the UK and they start selling them over here! Yamaha is on a roll lately.

TENORI-ON [Yamaha]

Japanese Vocal Synthesizer

2007-09-16T20:56:48Z

So it's Japanese language only, and only available in Japan so far. But everyone needs to listen to this...

VOCALOID 2 [Gamersweb]

Switched to BlueHost

2007-09-10T17:32:15Z

Although this site is built on SquareSpace, my domains and hosting for general FTP (as well as my old RabiteMan site) were hosted at a discount hosting company.

After repeated problems and horrendous tech support, I have switched to BlueHost. There might be some downtime for my websites while the domain transfers take place, but it should be much smoother after this.

For anyone looking for hosting solutions, just read the reviews at Web Hosting Geeks.

Immortality at Last!

2007-09-05T16:12:09Z

Probably one of the highest honors in the gaming world has been conferred upon me.

Angry Video Game Nerd - Nintendo Power [GameTrailers]

Money shot at 11:45.

I think I was about 14 when I wrote in. We were studying permutations in math class, so I decided to run the numbers on Mario Paint. I almost didn't write in, but see, they found the information very useful! So I'm glad I did.

Thanks Eric for finding this one.

Review: The New Backpack

2007-08-01T17:38:05Z

I have been using Backpack for a little over two years now. In the first year it was great, and my life was centered around it. But 37Signals seemed to forget about it and focus on other new products, so I was pretty sure it would never see another update. I had moved my todo's and stuff over to Remember the Milk and had stripped away most of my Backpack pages. After not using it for a couple months, I figured I could save $9 by canceling the service.

When I went on last week to harvest the last few pages for data and cancel the service, I noticed it had finally been updated. So I figured I would give it another couple weeks.

Well, my first impression was "too little, too late." The only real addition was the ability to move things around to any point on the page. But linking pages had been removed, which meant I had to manually create page links. I checked the forums and sure enough, plenty of people were incensed over having their pages reordered overnight, some rollout bugs, and not having their favorite wishlist features added. 37Signals' responses were a bit aloof and arrogant. I almost added a post of my own based on the strength of that. But, I gave it some time instead.

I switch list services every so often, because it forces me to review everything. It's well worth the couple hours it takes. So I decided to move back to the Pack and see how it worked.

I like the divider tabs. I made pages to organize my current major projects, and really enjoyed being able to put more stuff on one page. The dividers let me have multiple pages worth of info on a single page, which means less navigation.

For example, I made dividers for different milestones of a software project, and could put lists, related notes, and other stuff within the appropriate divider. As the project plays out, I can move stuff to new divisions easily.

I'm going to stick with them for a while longer. This may be the last update we see in a long time, which is too bad. It's really only a matter of time before someone copies this web app and makes small improvements on it...

If you ignore the comments on both sides, this is a very solid service and I still highly recommend it.

New Office Space

2007-07-23T04:39:18Z

So I have external office space now. Since I started doing this over five years ago, I have been working out of a home office (literally my bedroom). I was able to get things done but it was just too frustrating working at home every day. Those of you who freelance from home know how this goes... there are tons of tips out there on Lifehacker and similar sites (in fact, this month's Wired had tips on working from home). "Get dressed for work." "Set specific work hours." "Buy a Do Not Disturb sign." These helped me maintain sanity in the short term, but the basic fact is that I need to work somewhere away from home, and every now and then I need to work around other people.

No more isolation! :-)

The psychological effect of "going to work" and "coming home from work" is amazing. Not to mention having my house back--all work related hardware is now a 10 minute drive away. When I am at the office, I am in work mode. When I am at home, I can relax.

My officemate and I don't work on any of the same projects. I met him through a "coworking" wiki and after meeting for coffee a couple times, we decided to split the cost of an office. Having someone else working in the same room has really helped me want to "look busy" when the temptation of distraction or zoning out kicks in.

It's been forever since I've posted. Too busy? ...My workload hasn't been as insane as it's been in the past. I've been enjoying weekends and nights off. I have spent the past few months hunkering down on some projects, and this site has been kind of neglected. I think there are even a couple recent releases that need to be added to the resume.

Basically, I just needed to take a break to think about what this blog really is to me. Is it my personal journal that other people might be interested in reading? Is it marketing so I can land new gigs? I haven't really decided, but my aim is to post on a more personal level from here on out. Trying to be ultra professional has really just stifled my ability to post, since I was second-guessing everything I saw. It's just a blog.

I'm not really sure if there is a particular topic I'll be writing on from here on out. I think I'll mostly touch on what it's like to do what I do, as a freelance game audio guy.

I also got an Indian Banjo last week, so if I have time I'll post pictures. And maybe even sounds.

Film shows respect to artistic game, soundtrack mentioned

2007-03-22T23:47:54Z

Kotaku feature on how SOTC made its way into Reign Over Me. This is the first time I've seen a movie portray a game as a critical plot device, not to mention something artistic. They specifically mention the soundtrack as a driving force in this decision.

Even Cooler than the MIT Drawing Board

2007-02-14T21:04:00Z

Check out the brief glimpse at what computer music making could be like in 5 years...

Gamespot interview with Lost Planet composer Jamie Christopherson

2007-01-24T23:00:18Z

I haven't played the game yet, but I'm adding it to my wishlist after hearing the main and opening themes. The interview is a good top-level perspective of what it must be like to score a massive, AAA title.

Here's my favorite quote:

One thing that we did was to actually use a lot of silence in the game. Silence is another composer's tool that is often overlooked in game music.

Sometimes silence is the most effective emotion wrench. Resident Evil 4 comes to mind.

Q&A: Scoring Lost Planet [GameSpot]