For example, I’ll get the choir on one microphone in one part of the room, the piano on another microphone, and then another microphone for the soloists, if there are any. I’m thinking specifically about a recent recording I did for a local high-school, and how I took the raw sound, and (in my opinion) made it sound very professional. Read on, and specifically, there’s a little Flash toy I made that allows you to flip between the untouched raw sound, and the finished sound, after I have done all the stages in my process.

• Recording: So first there’s Recording. And again, I try to isolate the sound sources as much as possible, and record into a multitrack recorder. Often working with limited time, and equipment. Ideally the piano, for example, would be isolated in a different room, but this was all recorded in one room, and hence there was a small amount of “bleed” where the piano sound was picked up by the choir microphone. The soloist was easier, because during the recording the choir just stopped singing, the pianist kept going, leaving space into which we later recorded the soloist.
• Mixing: Secondly, once I have my multiple tracks, I take them to my home studio, and do the mixing. At this point, I import the audio tracks one at a time, so I have them all separated on my screen. Here I will balance, adjust, add some effects like compression, reverb, EQ and create the all-important stereo sound with EQ panning, and using the reverb to “expand” the space. The EQ in general brightens up the sound, and breathes the life into the recording. This is very important. It also allows me to spread the EQ spectrum, so that there are no muddy collisions – everything fits in its own space from low to high. The compression also helps me to even out the volume levels, so everything fits nicely into an initial mix.
• Orchestration: I will often augment the original piano/voice recording with orchestration and instrumentation taken from my many orchestral, band, percussion and other plugins like Collossus, Symphonic Orchestra, etc. Remember, I’m a composer, so I can intuitively feel what the instruments (strings, brass, woodwind, percussion) should be doing. So, I add a certain amount of this to the mix, and then go back and re-balance the levels, so the orchestration is not overpowering the original mix from the previous step. The voices should be clear, the original piano should be bright and audible, while the orchestration should not sound weak, but very present as well.
• Mastering: Once I’m happy with the overall sound, I run the final product through mastering software. This takes the final stereo sound, and adds that last dash of spice. Balancing the overall volume, equalizing it so quieter spots sound quiet, but aren’t actually quiet. Remember, loudness and quietness are not just about volume.  I can take a very loud “grunge metal” song, put it in my CD player, and turn the volume down to 1.  Now, the fact that it’s a “loud song” will still be apparent. I’ll hear that it’s a “loud sound”, even though, acoustically speaking, it’s physically quiet. The same in reverse. I can take a softly sung ballad, crank the volume to 10, and although I can hear that it’s a “quiet sound”, it will be physically and acoustically loud. So, during mastering, I pretty much even out the volume of the whole song, so that “soft parts” are brought up in volume, and “loud parts” are brought down – so that they almost match in true acoustic volume (so if you had a sound level reader, they entire song would be relatively equal in dB), even though, psychologically, to our ears, we’d feel the surge of the “loud sound” and the relaxation of the “quiet sound”, though they both were actually the same volume.  Perception of loudness, versus actual volume in dB, is the critical thing when mastering.

So, without further ado, press the green play button, and the original, raw version of the recording will begin to play. The slider thing, is NOT a playhead, so don’t expect it to move with the audio. But if you grab it, and move it to the right, you’ll hear the difference between the raw sound, and the finished sound, incorporating all the steps above. It’s quite remarkable to hear with headphones on, because you get the true feeling of the stereo effect.

This is the first few minutes of a choral medley of music from Sweeney Todd.

For those interested, the orchestration is strings (Cello, Bass, Viola, Violin) played in a few styles (Legato, Marcato and Pizzacato mostly), and Brass (Horns of varying dynamic from pp to ff).  Then there’s woodwind, which is mostly flute, for accentuation, and a trill.  Finally, percussion, which in this case is timpani (rolled, and hit), cymbal (crash and rolled/swell), triangle for accentuation, and chimes for the sounds of bells.

My wife and I thought of a different take on it; one that is positively oriented rather than almost like a ‘warning’.

Outside my hotel room window - Empire State Building peeking out.

I’m sitting here in the internet cafe at the hotel, The New Yorker Hotel, for Flashforward. What an amazing conference so far. I did my talk today – it was lots of fun. Everyone was really responsive and I didn’t even notice that I had gone 15 minutes over my 1 hour.

New York city is also amazing at this time of year. It’s so busy at lunch there’s hardly room to walk, but it’s better in the evening. Haven’t done much sight seeing yet, but I’ve walked up along Broadway, Madison avenue, 5th ave, and seen a bunch of things. Here’s the view from my hotel room. That’s the empire state building 3 blocks away.

Times Square

Paperback: 528 pages
Publisher: Charles River Media; 2 edition (June 1, 2006)

It’s not a “brand new book”, it’s a “Second edition”. For those who don’t have the original, it’ll be all great and new to you. For those who have the original, you’re going to find a few updates and items for Flash 8 (and that’s especially what Flash 8 is good at; games)… To me, the entire tile-game engine in Flash 8 is worth its weight in gold.

It’s a great book, and I hope people enjoy it – it took a bit of work to put together.

Click here to order!

I’m really excited about it, and it covers some of the best things that Flash 8 has to offer in relation to games. It’s currently being used as curriculum material at many educational institutions around the world.

We cover full tile game development (like Super Mario) making use of the BitmapData object in Flash 8, and you’ll get to learn all sorts of amazing things and effects that can be specifically applied to games.

This year I had the honor of writing a chapter in a truly amazing book. The book is called simply “Introduction to Game Development”, published by Charles River Media, and it is a whopping 1000 page hard cover.The book is written by 27 of the worlds best game designers, developers and artists. I did the chapter on Flash games. This book is the first of its kind – it covers every facet of game development yet it is not lacking in detail. So far, interest is high, and this is going to be used in a multitude of university curriculums.

The book covers everything from History of Games, to 3D lighting and textures, to physics, to music and 3D audio, to QA cycles, to the Business of games, to documentation, to team building, and everything else in between.
For anyone who wants to know anything at all about games; this is an incredible place to start.

Some of my co-writers include developers at Nintendo, Sierra, Microsoft Games, Blizzard, LucasArts and some of the games they’ve worked on include Spinter Cell, Deer Hunter, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Mechassault, Microsoft Flight Simulator, Magic: The gathering, The Need for Speed and more. I feel incredibly lucky to have been a part of this book.

Based on the curriculum guidelines of the IGDA, Introduction to Game Development is the first book to survey all aspects of the theory and practice of game development and design. The book, which might be used as a textbook for an introductory course, or for newcomers to the game development arena, is divided into several independent parts, including game programming, game production/design, and the business of game development. Selected topics include discussions of basic programming in C++ and Java™, visual design, culture and society, mathematics, physics, artificial intelligence, business, level design, game genre, sound, and many more.

The accompanying CD-ROM covers tutorials, animations, images, demos, source code, and Microsoft PowerPoint lecture slides to reinforce the concepts presented in the book. Each chapter has been written by leading game developers in their respective areas. This is a must-have resource for anyone looking to understand the entire! game development process.

KEY TOPICS: * Critical Game Studies: The History of Video Games Game Studies (Ludology) Games and Society * Game Design: Conceptual Game Play Play Mechanics Ideas Game Theory Abstract Design Elements Psychological Design Considerations Interface Design Gender Inclusive Design; Practical Game Design Spatial Design Task Design Design Integration Control Schemes Training Play Testing Player Analysis Design Implications of Platform Choice * Game Programming: The Process of Game Programming Practical Game Programming Issues Programming Fundamentals Math and Physics Artificial Intelligence Graphics and Animation Audio Programming Network Programming * Visual Design and Production: Graphics Design User Interface Design 3D Modeling 2D Textures and Texture Mapping Animation Cinematography in Games 3D Environments Lighting and Shadows Surface Effects * Audio Design and Production: Audio Design Skills Fundamentals Interactive Audio Sound Effects;Music 3D Audio * Game Production and Management: Team Make-up Phases of Game Development Group Dynamics Design Documentation Scheduling Quality Assurance Coordinating Efforts Product Post Mortems * The Business of Games: Business of Gaming The Publisher-Developer Relationship Marketing Intellectual Property Content Regulation
The Most Complete Game Development Book Available, July 8, 2005

This huge book is the best attempt yet to cover virtually all of game development while still maintaining the depth necessary to truly understand and appreciate the state of the art as it exists today. The book is based on the International Game Developers Association Curiculum Framework.
Steve Rabin, the editor of the book is a ten year vet in the game industry, and is currently a senior software engineer at Nintendo. He contacted twenty seven of the world’s leading game developers, programmers, and designers to do chapters on their specialty. These are not professional writers, but are actively engaged in and work for some of the best known companies in the gaming business.
Game programming is nothing without movement, so the book almost had to contain a CD. On the CD are all the animations, documents, source code, demos, etc that are referenced in the chapters. In addition are the actual images being discussed in the text. Finally there is a PowerPoint presentation that complement each chapter.
This is perhaps the most complete book on gaming development that exists.

This is an article on how to use Flash to create a dynamically generated soundtrack. Using a careful blend of musical elements, with matching tempos, one could transition between different feelings and intensities of music, without a seams in the transition.

Making a dynamic soundtrack where music seamlessly shifts to match the visual subject matter.

Music is perhaps the most powerful tool we have at our disposal, as web and Flash developers, for drawing an emotional response from our visitors. For years, Hollywood has used music to enhance a scene and give it maximum emotional impact. In fact, music in movies often strictly guides our emotions along, making us feel certain ways from moment to moment; suspense, relief, suspense again, relief, more suspense, disaster, relief.

The ability of the composer to move the music smoothly from one state to another is something that we can imitate when we create dynamic soundtracks in our websites. Essentially, we’re going to be using several pieces of music and tying them smoothly together, changing based upon what we’re viewing on the main site. The music will be seamlessly transitioned from one piece to another.

The trick here is that all the pieces of music must have several fundamental things in common. First, they must all be in the same key. In order to transition from one piece to another, crossfading smoothly, we can’t use two pieces in harshly opposing keys, otherwise, as they fade, the sound will be jarring. Secondly, all the pieces must have the same tempo, or speed. This is necessary for them to “line up” properly.

In Flash, we’ll be using the Sound object extensively. We can have up to 8 sounds playing at once in Flash, and we’re going to take advantage of this. Our dynamic soundtrack will consist of 7 possible genres of music. Each genre consists of a single looping piece of music, 16 seconds in length. At the launch of the Flash site, all 7 pieces will be started, and set to loop indefinitely. The volume of all these will be set to zero (silent). We then smoothly fade between them to create our dynamic soundtrack.