Recording - August 2011 - 40

Elsewhere in this issue we list a bunch of worthwhile books for your recording education and delight, but this being the 21st Century, there are other things you can read, too. Here are a few titles you can keep on your iPad or other PDF or eBook reader to improve yourself while your friends and family think you’re playing Angry Birds.—MM
B Y M I K E M E T L AY

Game Audio 101: The Insider’s Guide to Music and Sound for Mobile Games
By Ben Long. $39.95; www.gameaudio101.com

Loyal readers will remember Ben Long’s article in our May 2011 issue, in which he describes the trials, tribulations, and rewards of doing audio for games. In this book, Ben discusses the past and current technologies of mobile gaming, getting into history, current technologies, examples of successful titles on a number of platforms, and more. At 46 pages, this book is a quick read, but the information in it is of great practical value for the budding game music developer. Its framework is historical: Mr. Long starts out by introducing the readers to the pitfalls of early game development for mobile phones, with its massive limitations on file size and audio quality, then explains how the coming of the iPhone blew the phone-game universe wide open with the option to develop high-quality audio in the form of ambiences, sound effects, button-push sounds, “audio logos” for developers, and more. We’ve come a long way from MIDI-triggered onboard sound sets using tiny amounts of data (under 4 kilobytes!) to modern iOS games, where the primary limitation game designers have to consider is that if a game can be kept under 20 MB it can be downloaded over the cellular network rather than Wi-Fi, and if you don’t care about that, your game can be up to 2 GB in size! Mr. Long explains how this sudden increase in available download size has moved game audio from a highly specialized form of development where the limitations of the tools essentially dictated every decision, to a world where conventional DAWbased composing can be ported to game sounds with comparatively little effort. A lot can be learned from getting inside the heads of developers who have had success with their games, and the book features extensive interviews with audio developers of such successful games as, yes, Angry Birds. But the best part of the book is the last, where Mr. Long shares his wisdom on getting a good-sounding mix that will work both on headphones and through a tinny little phone speaker, sketches out typical game audio contract language, offers tips on networking, and gives shout outs to the makers of tools and resources he’s found useful. Links in the book are relatively sparse except at the end, where Mr. Long provides easy links to many of the aforementioned resources, but what few links there are early on are good ones, mainly to interviews with developers and to YouTube videos demonstrating the very games under discussion, so the reader can hear the music and effects while reading about how they’re done. These links add value to a very interesting look at a rapidly growing and potentially profitable source of work for audio developers willing to learn a few new tricks.
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RECORDING AUGUST 2011
http://www.gameaudio101.com
Recording - August 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - August 2011
